My Recipes
for Christmas Day Lunch
By Grandma
Grandpa
(The Webmaster) and I are planning a Christmas Lunch with a difference this
year. At first, I wanted to keep the plan a secret and spring it as a
surprise on Christmas day. But the webmaster wants the story in advance for
this page, so I'll let you into the secret now. Maybe our family members and
others around the world
will like to plan a similar project for their own Christmas day lunch with
my recipes!
Traditionally, Nigerian lunch
consist of only one complex dish - the main meal with the soup thrown on it
- unlike western meals which starts with an appetizer followed by the soup, then
the main meal and a dessert.
I am planning a buffet lunch
for at least 20 guests. Really, this is not a single recipe but an assembly of the
best of my recipes with the introduction of an appetizer and Iyan with
spinach/melon soup (pounded
yam). The appetizer will keep our guest's
jaws busy while waiting for the the main meals.
Here is the line up:
1. Appetizers: Beef and
Chicken pepper soups; Coconut snacks; Meat Balls; Nigerian Suya.
2. The main dishes:
Iyan (pounded yam) with spinach and melon soup; Asaro
Oniyeri (yam portage); Jollof Rice with Chicken stew
garnished with Moyin Moyin; Amala with Ewedu soup. Some of
these are in my recipe archive and I will not repeat those recipes here
3. The desserts or sweets:
For dessert, there will be choice from pineapple and water melon fruit
salads, cakes and pastries with puddings.
4. Drinks: We have
ordered our Palm Wine from the best palm wine taper available in town. It will be
delivered fresh a day before Christmas. This will give us ample time to
bottle it and keep it in the refrigerator to cool. Palm wine is best taken
chilled.
There will be ample supply of
our best wines and soft drinks like maltina, coca
cola, sprite and fanta. In addition, we have harvested a lot of oranges from
our citrus trees in the garden this year. We are keeping some for Christmas,
and they will be squeezed fresh for the buffet lunch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are the recipes for the new items that are not in my archive.
Appetizers:
1. BEEF BALLS
Recipe for
five
dozen meatballs.
-
One Kilo of
Ground beef
-
Half a cup of
chopped onion
-
One teaspoon
salt or to taste
-
A dozen
beaten eggs with yoke
-
Hot water as
required
-
Half a cup
of melted butter or margarine
-
Four cups of flour
-
Six
tablespoons tomato sauce
-
Two tablespoon
of spice
-
Add the
onions, salt, eggs, flour, tomato sauce to the ground beef and mix thourouly
using a mixer. Make into small balls and fry in groundnut oil.
-
Keep in your
cooker oven before serving.
-
Serve with
the drinks.
|
2. NIGERIAN SUYA (meat on sticks)
-
Two
Kilo of tender beef.
-
Cut
thinly to tiny bits.
-
Put 5-10 pieces on each stick.
(the sticks can be purchased from a meat shop or make your own).
-
Brush with groundnut oil.
-
Sprinkle some ground roasted groundnuts
and ground pepper and ginger on
each.
-
Make an open fire with charcoal in
the garden and arrange the sticks with the meat around the fire to roast.
-
Turn often to avoid burning.
-
Keep in low temperature oven
before serving.
IYAN (pounded yam)
-
Fresh yam tubers. Quantity depends
on number of Guests.
-
Peel the yam, cut to pieces and
boil.
-
Pound in a wooden mortar or use
electric yam pounder.
-
Put in a large warmer bowl with cover and
keep warm before serving.
Spinach/Melon Soup for the Iyan
-
Spinach as required from the
garden or market.
-
Ground pepper.
-
Ground melon seed
-
Ground tomato
-
Ground onions.
-
Wash the Spinach in warm water.
-
Cut into bits.
-
Put in a bowl and poor boiling
water on.
-
When tender, transfer into the soup
pot.
-
Mix with the pepper, melon, tomato
and ad salt to taste.
-
Boil on the cooker and add palm oil as desired.
-
Stir to prevent burning and set
aside by the cooker to keep warm.
OTHERS
The other appetizers, soups and
meals for the buffet lunch are in my
Recipes Archive. They are:
SERVING THE LUNCH
Sufficient plates, spoons, forks,
knives and serviettes will be set on the dinning table. The meals, in the
different warmer bowls, will also be there.
The drinks and glasses will be on
a side table. As the guests arrive they will start with drinks and the
appetizers. After the drinks the guests will move to the dining table and take whatever
they like into their plates and find a place to seat. Traditionally, men usually eat
first but our men have now imbibed some Western cultures and so they will allow
the women and children first.
Oh, I forgot. There will be
Nigerian music for the background. Enjoy!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!! |