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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Company Dinner Recipe - Nigerian Curry

When I was young we lived in Nigeria, a country in west Africa.  The photo below is me at the Ibadan Zoo (say the sign out loud and you will see who is allowed past the gate).   


When we lived there we often ate Nigerian Curry.  According to my mother it was not the kind of curry that the local people ate, but rather a curry brought over from India by the East Indian workers and modified to accomodate local foods. 

It is chicken in a curry peanut sauce, served on rice, with a variety of fruit toppings.  In our family we use the following toppings:
  • pineapple
  • grapefruit
  • orange
  • banana
  • coconut
  • peanuts
  • raisins

The original recipe I have was very homestyle.  You boiled a whole chicken and removed the meat to use in the curry and used the broth in the recipe to make the sauce.  You also were instructed to "fry the onion small".  I have simplified the recipe so it is actually quick and easy to make.

Ingredients (serves 6 people):
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup chicken stock or bouillion
1 -2 tablespoons curry (depending on taste)

To prepare:
Cook chicken and onion in oil, until chicken is no longer pink.
Add the rest of the ingredients and cook gently until blended (adding water if it thickens too much) for about 10 minutes.
Serve with rice and a variety of fruit toppings.

This is one way to eat Nigerian Curry - the organized way (this was my plate)


This is another method - the big pile (this was my son Malcolm's plate)

Both methods are yummy!!!

I usually serve Nigerian Curry with boiled eggs in it as well - sounds strange, but it is really good.  

This is our family's favourite meal - I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!




p.s. Anyone guess what the sign says in the first photo?

Linked to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum 
and Best of 2010 Blog Party - Recipes at House of Grace

15 comments:

  1. This sounds delicious and looks easy. Thanks for sharing.

    FlowerLady

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  2. This sounds so yummy!! I will definitely give this a try... We all love curries in our household. My older son is traveling to Rwanda this summer with a friend. He is so looking forward to it...

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  3. Oh it sounds spectacularly delicious... thanks for the recipe... will cook this one up for sure. Love the photo! A-M xx

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  4. I hope you all like the curry as much as we do. Let me know if you make it.

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  5. This is my family favorite too! I lived in Lagos and ate this meal every Sunday at the Polo Club. Thanks for sharing the recipe and pictures!

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  6. Dori, that is so amazing - I've never met anyone else who has eaten Nigerian curry as it is quite different than other curries. We lived in Ibadan in the 1960s.

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  7. I grew up in Lagos too and have very fond memories of that delicious meal. Thank you so much for posting it - that recipe reminds me of my childhood! I will soon cook it for my family - they will be surprised.

    My plate always looked just as Malcolm's, by the way :)

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  8. We lived in Sapele in the 1950s and now live in new Zealand. My mother has requested a traditional Sunday curry lunch for her 92nd birthday in June.

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  9. Our Steward always used fresh coconut milk in the recipe (and toasted and raw coconut on the side). And our family still makes it that way, years later. None of us have J's skill with a machete and a coconut from the yard, though.

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  10. I lived in Ghana as a child in the 60's as well. When we returned to Canada we took our curry recipe home and it was one my parents always served for company. Ours differed a bit we used many more condiments such as fried plantain, bananás, onions fried and raw, vegetables such as cucumber,tomatoes, and mango, papayas, and all citrus fruits and raisons, dates, coconut toasted and freshly grated.
    I have looked for this recipe many times on the internet and was never sucessful until now. Whenever I make this dish I cannot help but remember my parents and how we always had fun serving this dish and how everyone use to rave about how good it was. Both my parents have been deceased for many years now but this is one recipe that will be passed down thru my family forever. Thank you so much for posting this!
    Did anyone on this site ever have kuli-kuli in rings .. we use to get them at the Tamale market. It was the only thing my father had no success in recreating when we returned. Recipe anyone???

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  11. I also was a child who grew up in Ghana. We had this curray often but ours differed slightly. We had many more condiments mangos, papayas, fried plantain, any and all fruits, vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, onions fried and raw, dates, raisons, toasted coconut and freshly grated and sometimes some chutneys. In the sauce we used less peanut butter but there must be many variations on this recipe similar to the italian spagetti sauce!
    Thank you for posting this it brings back fond memories of parties my parents(both deceased now) threw and all the canadians who ate this curry and loved it. As a matter of fact I will be making a lot myself because I am having a dinner party when my brother Irvine and his lovely family arrive for vacation.
    Have any of the commentors on this site hear of kuli-kuli? We used to get it at the Tamale market in rings. It was the only recipe my father could not replicate, much to my disappointment. Recipe anyone??

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  12. Opps it's me again .. forgot to answer the question about the picture. It say Zoo Keeper only. Pigion english or some such translation maybe. Tell me if I am correct .. lol

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  13. HI Valerie. You are so right about what the sign says. Thanks for the interesting details about the curry you used to have. I do remember that our cooks would try and compete with the other family's cooks to put out the most condiments. We just narrowed it down to our favourites once we got home.

    I have never heard of kuli-kuli, but would be curious to try it if you ever figure out how to make it.

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  14. Dear Grace,

    like you I live in Nigeria (1984-1988) and was on a german school (Deutsche Schule Lagos). Now we came for a reunion together and enjoy “Nigerian Curry” at a Lagos Party. Thank you !

    You can find me on Facebook

    André

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  15. We were served this at a friend's house recently. They were mission workers in a hospital there and 2 of their children were born there. It is truly a delicious meal, made a lot of fun when we started comparing eating styles. One of their children also made "the big pile", much to the concern of the more traditional adults present.

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