10 Day YOU Challenge: 5 Foods

Day 6 – Now that I’ve decided to utilize pictures in this challenge it would be criminal not to use any in this particular post. I looooooooove food so much I wish I could breakfast, lunch and supper twice a day. Fortunately I don’t add the pounds but I hear that changes once you’re married to a ‘concerned’ wife. In no order, here are my top 5!

1. Egusi: This is a soup made from melon seed powder and cooked with bitter leaf or spinach and palm oil (seafood, chicken or beef is optional). It is usually served with a starch like Garri, Semolina or Pounded yam but it could also be served with rice. It’s usually spicy but mostly fresh pepper for that kick. It’s a rich savoury dish that is appreciated by most Nigerian husbands after a hard day at work (and most Nigerian builders in the morning right before they start work). I guess what you’re waiting to hear is how delicious it is. If you’re ever in Nigeria just send me an email and I’ll direct you to just the place where you could titilate your taste buds.

2. Yam Porridge: This works best when ‘Old yam’ is used (it tastes semi-sweet). I hate New Yam with a passion. It tastes like no matter how long you cook it there’s this feeling I get like it’s still semi-raw. It’s cooked with palm oil and also crayfish (green veg is optional). I can eat yam porridge 8 days a week. My future wife has a tall order if she thinks marrying me is going to be a walk in the park – She needs to know how to prepare all the items on this list or at least be willing to learn how. I have a craving right about now…(moan).

3. Special Fried Rice: I would like to use this medium to express my deepest gratitude to God for creating The Chinese takeaway! Back when I was in London I used to look forward to picking up a pack of special fried rice with extra chilli sauce. Each bite is different from the last – rice, green peppers, shrimp, red peppers, pork, yellow peppers, cabbage, shredded chicken, liver, chilli sauce, etc in no order and in no combination. It’s food that I want to make last (the saddest moment is when I start to see the bottom of the foil pack).

4. Beans and Plantain: Aside from the inevitable flatulence, this dish is scrumptuous! Pressurized beans never tasted so good. Back in primary school kids were encouraged to eat as much as possible in order to grow taller (and for all the short kids who didn’t listen they only have themselves to blame. This is by no way comparable to baked beans in a can. That is something I don’t indulge in anymore as it still brings back nightmares of being a broke hungry student when I had used some of my pocket-money to settle some unexpected bills. To date I have a baked beans can in my kitchen shelf – not for consumption, but to serve as a stark reminder!

5. Club sandwiches: After a hangover the next best cure to a full English breakfast is a club sandwich. I love sandwiches generally but the combo in a club sandwich remains unbeaten in my digestive system. Bacon and Cheese are the key ingredients for me and everything else is secondary. It looks as good as it tastes and it’s best served with chips. I’ve been lucky to get decent ones in Cactus (Victoria Island, Lagos). I also like to think it’s healthier than a Burger King Whopper (no offence BK). I think I better end this post right here and wipe off the drool on my keyboard…yuk!

12 thoughts on “10 Day YOU Challenge: 5 Foods

  1. I had to laugh because I didn’t recognize any of the dishes…until the last one. A club sandwich? Really? It’s so different than the other items! At least you like variety.

    P.S. If you want your future wife to prepare #4 for you, you’d better not mention the flatulence. At least you’ll get to eat it once in your married life 😉

    • I bet you’d recognize a club sandwich just as much as the next guy…girl, lol. Your taste buds are missing out on the other five dishes, seriously! About the flatulence, if I marry a Nigerian girl I’m sure she’ll understand 🙂

  2. Beans & Plantain !! That’s so Costa Rican =) my best friend at uni used to make that for us … my girlf who is Nigerian has suggested that next time her mom is around – she will make veg Egusi and Yam Porridge for me so I can get a taste of the authentic foods wooohoo !!

  3. I love plantain! I think the best ones are found in DR Congo! I am looking forward to visiting Nigeria and trying out the rest of the dishes except the club sandwich of course.

      • How about Easter? All my friends were in Nigeria last week(me being under the weather and threatening did not help) and refuse to go back till next year! A girl can’t party alone.

        • It’s all in the planning. Tell yourself, ‘I am going to Nigeria on …., 2012’ and you will see that you’ll naturally start doing things towards it e.g. saving, researching, booking, etc – that’s what I did on my last two trips this year (and I have another one on 30 Dec which I planned in October. I know you can do it 🙂

  4. On planning, i had it all planned to be Nigeria last week but i was under the weather three days to the trip! I actually have two trips(if going home is a trip that makes them 3) during the festive season that i am really looking forward to.

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