Nigeria

A dark, richly flavoured Nigerian leafy soup built on finely shredded wild afang leaves (Gnetum africanum) and waterleaf, fortified with red palm oil, ground dried crayfish, assorted meats, dried fish, and periwinkle.

A West African deep-fried fritter made from peeled black-eyed peas ground into a smooth, aerated paste, seasoned with onion and chili, and fried until puffed and golden.

A dark-brown, smooth, elastic Yoruba swallow made by stirring dried yam flour (elubo) or unripe plantain flour into boiling water until a pliable, cohesive dough forms, served hot alongside soup.

A Nigerian soup built on extracted palm-nut pulp, seasoned with oburunbebe and banga spices, and cooked with catfish and dried crayfish.

A crunchy West African fried snack of lightly sweetened wheat dough cut into small cubes or strips and deep-fried until hard and golden, usually scented with nutmeg.

A stiff, smooth swallow dough made by stirring garri — fermented, roasted cassava granules — into boiling water until a cohesive, pliable mass forms, then eaten by hand alongside soup.

Edikaikong is a dense, oil-rich Efik feast soup built exclusively from two fresh leaves — waterleaf and fluted pumpkin — layered over assorted meats, stockfish, dried fish, and periwinkle, bound by palm oil and ground crayfish with no added water.

A richly palm-oil stewed dish of leafy greens cooked with assorted proteins, locust bean, and aromatic peppers into a thick, deeply flavored sauce.

A thick, rich West African stew built on ground dried melon seeds fried or simmered in palm oil with crayfish, assorted meats and/or fish, leafy greens, and peppers.

A Yoruba draw soup made by blending boiled jute leaves (Corchorus olitorius) into a viscous, deeply green liquor seasoned with fermented locust beans and ground crayfish, served as one leg of the abula trio alongside gbegiri and amala.

Fried Plantain is a West African side dish or snack consisting of sliced ripe plantain shallow‑fried until caramelized, yielding a sweet‑savoury, crisp‑tender result.

A celebratory West African stir-fried rice dish made with parboiled long-grain rice, mixed vegetables, liver, shrimp, and aromatic seasonings cooked in palm oil.

Gbegiri is a Yoruba thick, smooth black‑eyed pea soup enriched with palm oil and flavored with crayfish, traditionally served as part of the abula trio.

A West African one-pot dish in which parboiled long-grain rice is cooked entirely inside a blended, fried tomato-onion-pepper base until the liquid is fully absorbed and the bottom layer caramelizes into a smoky crust.

A northern Nigerian (Hausa) fermented-rice pancake, soft and spongy with crisp edges, cooked in a dimpled pan and eaten with savory pepper sauce or sweetened.

A Nigerian steamed pudding of peeled, blended black-eyed peas seasoned with pepper and onion, often studded with egg or fish.

A Nigerian Igbo delicacy of tender cooked cow foot tossed in a thick, spiced palm-oil sauce thickened with edible potash and scented with utazi leaves.

A Yoruba Nigerian pairing of unpolished local Ofada rice with Ayamase, a fiery offal stew built on bleached palm oil and green bell-and-scotch-bonnet peppers.

An Igbo Nigerian palm-fruit soup made from the extracted pulp of boiled palm nuts, cooked with assorted meat and dried fish, eaten with rice.

A slow-cooked Igbo soup built on washed bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) thickened with pounded cocoyam, enriched with palm oil, assorted meats, stockfish, dried fish, and ground crayfish, with controlled residual bitterness as a defining characteristic.

A Nigerian soup thickened with ground wild mango (ogbono) seeds, cooked with palm oil, crayfish, meat or fish and leafy greens, prized for its slippery mucilaginous texture.

An Igbo Nigerian soup thickened with cocoyam (or ofor) and starring fresh oha leaves, cooked with palm oil, dried fish and assorted meat.

A fiery, thin, aromatic West African broth built on a signature blend of indigenous spices — principally ehuru, grains of selim, and uziza — in which meat, fish, or offal is simmered until deeply infused.

A smooth, elastic swallow dough made by vigorously pounding boiled white yam (Dioscorea rotundata) in a wooden mortar until it achieves a cohesive, stretchy consistency, eaten by hand alongside soups and stews.

A West African street and party snack of round, deep-fried yeasted-batter balls with a thin golden crust and a soft, airy, lightly sweet interior.

Thinly-sliced skewered beef coated in a roasted groundnut-spice crust and grilled over open flame, constituting a quintessential West and Central African street food.

A soft, smooth, cohesive swallow made from soft (short-grain) rice cooked until it breaks down and is mashed into a thick paste, eaten by hand alongside Northern Nigerian soups.

A deep-red West African infusion of dried hibiscus calyces steeped and spiced with ginger, cloves and citrus.