Top 10 Yoruba foods, their names, pictures, and ingredients

Yoruba foods are some of the most famous African dishes worldwide. You must have seen how lovely they look on social media and YouTube cooking channels. You can learn the unique culinary inventions of the Yoruba people. Cooking them is easy because the recipes are simple.

Yoruba food has many health benefits. They usually buy fresh ingredients from the market, and most of them, including spices, are organic. Most Yorubas use homemade palm oil instead of processed cooking oil and fats.

10 Yoruba foods and their ingredients

You will also find several mouth-watering Yoruba meals for vegans and non-vegetarians. You can make these irresistibly delicious meals from home. Below are beautiful pictures of Yoruba foods and a list of their ingredients:

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1. Gbegiri

Gbegiri is one of the best Yoruba foods. The black-eyed bean soup is appetizing. It is made of ground brown or black-eyed beans, beef or chicken, fish, vegetables, and seasonings. You can serve Gbegiri with pounded yam or yam flour meal.

Ingredients for Gebegiri

• Ground brown or black-eyed beans
• Mackerel (smoked fish)
• Beef or chicken (with stew)
• Crayfish (ground)
• Seasoning cube
• Palm oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper (ground)
• Vegetables (kales, spinach, etc.)

2. Efo Riro

Efo Riro is mixed greens, and its history is connected to the Afang soup of Efik origin. Efo Riro is prepared with smoked fish or meat stock, tatashi, spinach, and local condiments. You will get a lot of proteins and vitamins from this traditional meal.

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Ingredients for Efo Riro

• Onions
• Ground crayfish
• Ogiri
• Dawadawa or iru (toptional)
• Palm oil
• Bell peppers
• Tomatoes
• Shoko or spinach leaves
• Scotch bonnet peppers
• Stock cubes
• Assorted fish (smoked or stockfish)
• Assorted meat (which is beef, cow skin, or tripe)
• Salt to taste

3. Ewedu

Ewedu is the most popular Yoruba foods in Nigeria. The soup consists of Ewedu leaves, crayfish, and unique spices. You must add the Ewedu broom to attain a mouth-watering flavour. Ewedu sauce goes well with Semo, Amala, or Eba.

Ingredients for Ewedu

• Fresh or frozen jute leaves
• Locust bean
• Crayfish
• Salt to taste
• Bouillon powder (cube)

4. Ewa Agoyin

Agoyin originates from the Beninoise people. They call beans Ewa. You boil the beans till they are well cooked before mashing them into a soft paste. Make Ewa Agoyin sauce using the beans paste, palm oil, ground crayfish, dried pepper, and other ingredients.

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Ingredients for Ewa Agoyin

• Black/brown-eyed beans
• Red palm oil
• Tomatoes
• Crayfish
• Onions
• Salt to taste
• Pepper
• Stock cubes

5. Iresi Eyin

Iresi Eyin is simply Yoruba jollof rice. Its origin is traced back to ancient times of the Yoruba tribe. Iresi means riсe, and Eyin refers to a Palm-nut fruit or egg; it depends on your pronunciation. You don't need much for the preparation. Mix all necessary ingredients and let them simmer.

Ingredients for Iresi Eyin

• Rice
• Palm nut cream
• Iru (locust beans)
• Ede (dried crayfish)
• Dried catfish (Cleaned)
• Dried pepper powder
• Chopped Onion
• Salt to taste
• Maggi crayfish cubes (optional)
• Chopped vegetables (carrots and peas)

6. Amala

Amala is a classical Yoruba dish made out of cassava flour or yam. You only make yam flour into a smooth cake-like dish and serve it with different soups like Ewedu or Gbegiri. Amala food gets a dark brown color from the dry yam flour.

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Ingredients for Amala

• Water
• Sifted yam flour
• Hot water

7. Akara

Akara is a popular name in the Nigerian food culture. You blend raw beans and deep fry them for breakfast. Akara dish is protein-filled and can also be used as a snack any time of the day. You can call them aromatic bean cakes. Try it with a glass of juice.

Ingredients for Akara

• Beans
• Onions
• Salt to taste
• Crayfish (optional)
• Palm oil

8. Igbin

Original Igbin chops by the Yoruba tribe are the best for snack time. The dish is made of snails garnished with pepper sauce and onion. You can also turn it into a stew and serve it with fermented cassava fufu (Akpu), dried cassava (Eba/Garri), boiled & pounded yams (yam fufu), or green plantains fufu.

Ingredients for Igbin

• Shelled jumbo snails
• Onions
• Scotch bonnet peppers
• Bell pepper
• Limes (or lemons)
• Shrimp powder
• Seafood bouillon powder
• Bay leaf
• Palm oil

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9. Dodo

Dodo is a favorite Yoruba food in Nigeria. Many foreigners also fall in love with it the first time they taste it. The dish is prepared from fried plantain and salt. You can serve it with soup as the main dish or have it alone as a snack.

Ingredients for Dodo

• Plantains with black skins
• Pepper
• Salt to taste
• Palm oil

10. Asun

Asun is among the primary meals of the day in the Yoruba food culture. You prepare this finger-licking food by frying goat meat with a lot of pepper. Asun dish's breathtaking aroma makes it irresistible. You will love it if you are a fan of meat dishes.

Ingredients for Asun

• Goat meat (cut with the skin)
• Habanero peppers
• Onions
• Stock cubes
• Thyme
• Salt to taste
• Palm oil
• Black pepper (optional)
• Green bell pepper
• Red bell pepper

What is the traditional food of Yoruba?

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The Top 10 Yoruba traditional foods are:

• Efo Riro
• Iresi Eyin
• Ewa Agoyin
• Akara
• Ewedu
• Igbin
• Amala
• Gbegiri
• Asun
• Dodo

What is the best Yoruba food?

Other delicious Yoruba foods are:

• Ofada rice
• Iyan
• Eba
• Ikokore
• Ofe Akwu

What are the Yoruba famous for?

Yoruba were traditionally skilled craftsmen in Africa. They did blacksmithing, ivory and wood carving, leatherworking, weaving, and glassmaking.

What is Oyo traditional food?

The Oyo Empire was a powerful Yoruba empire in West Africa. People from Oyo state in Nigeria grow and eat yams, maize, millet, plantains, cassava, beans, tobacco, fruits, etc.

Yoruba foods are on the menus of many international five-star hotels worldwide. If you find one of these hotels, but the name of the Yoruba cuisine escapes your mind, remember a few ingredients from the dish, and the chefs will sort you out.

READ ALSO: How to cook yam porridge: the most delicious recipe you have ever had

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Legit.ng also shared a simple recipe for preparing yam porridge. It is the most delicious porridge ever. Cooking yam porridge is easy and fun.

The recipe requires yams, prawns, cloves, and other ingredients. You might never want different types of porridge after tasking this one.

Source: Legit.ng