Top 3 Hausa Food Recipes
Every tribe in Nigeria is known for some dishes and their special way of preparing them. One can easily point out a Hausa dish as well as Igbo and Yoruba dishes. It might be the same ingredients but the method of preparation is what sets them apart. Hausa people are known for several dishes; let’s find out the top 3 and how to prepare them.
- Tuwo Shinkafa
These rice balls are the most served and most known Hausa food in restaurants. It’s usually prepared with the soft rice variety. You can see it served with soups, like Miyan Taushe and Miyan Kuka.
Ingredients
- Medium or even short grain rice (must be soft)
- Water – should be enough quantity to prepare the food
Preparation Method
- Place the rice in a pot and add enough water. The water should cover the whole quantity of rice. Place the pot on medium heat.
- At the time when the first portion of water is dried up, you can check the quality of it by mashing the pieces between fingers. If the rice has even the slightest resistance, then you will need to cook it once more.
- If the rice is soft enough, you will need to reduce the heat and add some more water.
- Once you are satisfied with how warm and melted the rice is, you can mash it with a spatula. You will need to move the rice from the far end to the sides to mash it.
- Take the mound of tuwo and fold it into the rice. Repeat the process until the tuwo is combined with rice.
- You will need to leave it for at least two minutes to cool down.
- Mix everything thoroughly and get the rice into balls and then into the plastic to prevent tuwo from drying up.
- You can serve the balls with Nigerian soup and Okra soup!
- Masa or Waina
Another favorite Hausa dish, also known as Rice Cake. This type of cake is very popular in Northern parts of Nigeria. It may remind you of puff puff, but there is a slight difference between these two dishes. First of all, it’s the type of rice used for this meal. It’s the same as with tuwo. It’s very soft and almost broken into particles.
Ingredients
- Raw rice – 2 cups
- Cooked rice – 2 cups
- Dry yeast – 2 teaspoons
- Water – 2 cups
- Akaun – one half of a teaspoon
- Salt
- Pepper
- Sugar
Method of preparation
- You will need to soak the raw rice in water and leave it overnight.
- You will need to mix together, sugar, Akaun, and yeast until they become uniform. Set aside the mixture in a warm area. It will need to stay there for 10-15 minutes at least.
- It’s necessary to drain the rice completely. Blend the rice with the mixture the above-mentioned ingredients to make a smooth batter.
- When everything is done, you can add the cooked rice to the mixture. The batter that you are about to receive with this mixture should be very thick.
- If everything is good, you can pour the batter into the bowl and leave it in a warm place for 8-12 hours.
- When everything is good, you can add salt and sugar if you want to. At the same time, do not forget to add some water to the mixture so, it could be a little bit more watery.
- Take a pan and heat it over medium heat. Add a few drops of oil. After that, you will need to pour some butter depending on the size of the pan.
- The first side will need to be cooked for at least 3 minutes. After that, you will need to cook another side for at least 2 minutes. You will need to repeat the process until all the raw rice is cooked.
- After that, the dish is ready, and you can enjoy your meal!
- Dambu Nama
Dambu Nama is the real Northern Nigeria delicacy that you must try at least once in your life. It’s delicious dried shredded meat. Dambu Nama meat easily complements Tuwo Shinkafa and Masa, the first two recipes.
Do not forget that the meat needs to be very tender. You will need to boil it for at least 2 hours on medium heat. It should almost melt in your mouth.
Ingredients
- Beef – 3 kilos
- Salt
- Sugar
- Pepper
- Red pepper
- Spice seasoning
- Stock cubes
- Onion
- Hot chili pepper
- Ginger powder
- Groundnut oil
Preparation Method
- You will need to trim off all visible fat from the meat. It should be clean muscles with no fat at all.
- Cut the meat into big chunks. Rinse the meat and put it into the pot. After that, you will need to get everything together in this pot, like red pepper, stock cubes, onions, salt, sugar and cook everything together. It should be cooked on medium heat.
- The meat should be very easy to pull up when everything is done thoroughly.
- After that, you can transfer the meat to the cutting board. You will need to use forks to pull it apart. When the meat is shredded properly, you can transfer it to a large bowl.
- After that, just add one more stock cube. It’s also needed to add Ginger Powder, Hot Chili Pepper, and Suya. The ingredients must be mixed thoroughly.
- Take a frying pan and get some meat there with oil and pepper. The shredded meat, if it’s thoroughly sliced, then it will not take much time for cooking. Therefore, once the meat is fried, you will need to remove it from heat immediately. You don’t need the meat to be overbaked. That’s all! Your dried meat is ready to be served. You can try it with some drinks.