A glossary of Nigerian food words

Nigerian cooking is not technically difficult to understand. It is just that the words are unfamiliar, and a menu written in them looks impenetrable until somebody translates about thirty of them for you.

Nigeria has over five hundred languages. Most food words on a menu here come from Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa, and many dishes carry two or three names depending on who is cooking. Where that matters, it is noted.

The structure words

Ofe — Igbo

Soup. Every Igbo soup name starts with it: Ofe Owerri, Ofe Egusi, Ofe Onugbu, Ofe Nsala.

Obe — Yoruba

The Yoruba equivalent. Obe ata is pepper stew.

Swallow — Nigerian English

The soft starchy dough eaten with soup. Pinch, dip, swallow without chewing. Covers pounded yam, fufu, eba, semovita, amala and others.

Draw — Nigerian English

The stretch in okra and ogbono soup when you lift a spoon. A compliment. A soup that "draws well" is doing its job.

Assorted — Nigerian English

Mixed offal and cuts in one pot, usually shaki, ponmo and beef. "Assorted meat" on a menu means variety, not leftovers.

Small chops — Nigerian English

Party finger food: puff puff, samosa, spring roll, peppered meat, chin chin. Served standing up, before the real food.

The swallows

Pounded yam (utara ji)

Boiled yam pounded to a smooth, dense, slightly sweet dough. The most prestigious swallow.

Fufu / akpu

Fermented cassava. Soft, stretchy, distinctly sour. Akpu is the Igbo name.

Eba

Garri — dried, granulated cassava — stirred into hot water. Firmer and grainier than the others, mildly sour, and the everyday staple.

Semo / semovita

Semolina wheat. The mildest and lightest swallow, and the easiest starting point.

Amala

Yam flour or cassava flour, dark brown to near black. Yoruba, usually eaten with ewedu and gbegiri.

The thickeners and seasonings

Egusi

Ground melon seed. Thickens and enriches, with a nutty flavour. Fried in palm oil until it clumps, which is the step that makes the dish.

Ogbono

Ground wild mango seed. The classic drawing thickener.

Ede — cocoyam

Boiled and pounded to thicken Ofe Owerri, bitterleaf and oha soups. Gives body without slime.

Achi / ofor

Powdered thickeners used when cocoyam is not available. Quicker, less prized.

Ogiri

Fermented oil bean or melon seed paste. Extremely pungent on its own, and essential to the deep savoury back note of Igbo soups. A little goes a long way.

Iru / dawadawa

Fermented locust bean, the Yoruba and Hausa counterpart to ogiri. Central to efo riro and ayamase.

Crayfish

Dried, ground shrimp rather than crayfish in the European sense. Used as a seasoning in almost every soup.

Yaji

The Hausa spice rub for suya: ground peanut, ginger, chilli, onion powder and more. What makes suya taste like suya.

Palm oil — mmanu nri

Unrefined red palm oil. Deep orange, distinctly flavoured, and structural rather than incidental. Not interchangeable with palm kernel oil or vegetable oil.

The leaves

Ugu

Fluted pumpkin leaf. Soft, mild, faintly sweet. The workhorse green.

Okazi / ukazi / afang

A tough forest vine leaf, shredded to threads before cooking. Central to Ofe Owerri and afang soup.

Uziza

Peppery leaf with a distinct warm bite, used in small amounts. The seeds are used as a spice too.

Utazi

Bitter, aromatic leaf, sliced very thin. Used in nkwobi and isi ewu.

Onugbu — bitterleaf

Washed repeatedly to remove most of the bitterness before cooking.

Oha / ora

Torn by hand rather than cut, because a knife is said to blacken it.

Waterleaf

Soft and quick-cooking, used with afang to balance its toughness.

Scent leaf — nchanwu, efirin

Closely related to basil. Goes into pepper soup at the very end.

The proteins

Ponmo / kanda

Cow skin, cooked until gelatinous and soft. Texture rather than flavour, and much loved for it.

Shaki

Tripe. Needs long cooking, ends up pleasantly chewy.

Okporoko — stockfish

Air-dried cod, usually imported from Norway. Rehydrated and simmered. Expensive and irreplaceable.

Panla

Dried or smoked fish, softer than stockfish.

Isi ewu

Goat head, prepared in a spiced palm oil sauce. A delicacy and a statement dish.

Nkwobi

Cow foot in the same style of spiced palm oil sauce, with utazi and onion. An evening dish, eaten with a cold drink.

Suya

Thin beef, yaji-rubbed and grilled. Hausa in origin and now eaten everywhere.

Asun

Peppered goat, smoked then tossed in hot pepper sauce.

The rice and sides

Jollof

Rice cooked in a tomato and pepper base until it catches at the bottom of the pot. The smoke from that catching is the whole point. Subject of a permanent and unresolvable argument with Ghana.

Ofada

Short-grain local Nigerian rice with a distinct earthy aroma, served with ayamase.

Ayamase — designer stew

Green pepper stew with locust bean and assorted meat, cooked in a lot of bleached palm oil.

Dodo

Fried ripe plantain. Sweet, soft-centred, caramelised at the edges.

Moi moi

Steamed bean pudding, made from peeled blended black-eyed beans with peppers and onions.

Akara

The same bean batter, deep fried into balls. A breakfast food.

Chin chin

Crunchy fried dough cubes, lightly sweet and nutmeg-scented.

Puff puff

Sweet yeasted dough balls, deep fried. The Nigerian doughnut.

The drinks

Zobo

Chilled hibiscus drink with ginger and pineapple. Tart and spiced.

Chapman

A non-alcoholic cocktail of Fanta, Sprite, grenadine, bitters and cucumber. A Lagos invention.

Kunu

Millet or sorghum drink, lightly spiced, from the north.

Palm wine — nkwu

Sap tapped from palm trees, fermenting from the moment it is collected. Sweet in the morning, sharp by evening.

Words you will hear in the room

Daalu — Igbo

Thank you.

Kedu — Igbo

How are you? The standard greeting.

Aso ebi — Yoruba

Matching fabric worn by a family or group at a celebration.

Owambe — Yoruba

A big, loud, well-catered party. The kind we cook for.

If we have missed a word you have run into, tell us and we will add it.