If you have celebrated Christmas in Nigeria, you will already know what an unforgettable Christmas looks like. Nigerians have a way of creating memorable experiences in the form of art, dance, drama, decorations, food, and drinks. This article is focused on popular Nigerian food for an unforgettable Christmas experience.

With many delicious home-cooked meals, families carve memories into their brains and hearts that will stay with them forever. So, when making your Christmas meal plans, make these Christmas foods part of your list.

Meal plan typical of Christmas day in Nigeria

For most families in Nigeria, on Christmas day, lunch is made of rice, meat, and some veggies. Dinner is swallow served with a sumptuous soup, and breakfast is often light – made of bread and tea, or pap with egg or akara. This is because the celebration begins just after breakfast, and you don’t want to be so full and miss out on the delicacies served starting from midday.

The format of eating goes like this –

Morning – light meal (tea and bread or akara and pap)

Midday – pepper soup

Lunch – rice, meat, and veggies

Early evening – drinks (palm wine, zobo, soda, wine, …)

Dinner – swallow (eba, semo, fufu, …) with soup (egusi, vegetable, afang …)

Now, read on to get the variations of rice, soup, veggies, etc. You can choose from these to make your Christmas celebration unforgettable.

Popular Nigerian Food for an Unforgettable Christmas Experience

RICE

Jollof rice

Nigeria Jollof rice always makes the top of the food list for many occasions and celebrations. Every family has its taste preferences, as such, the choices of the garnish, meat, and side dish vary with preferences. This goes to say that you can always make your Christmas jollof rice just as you like it. Serve it with chicken, turkey, beef, goat meat, or fish. You may also serve it with vegetable garnish or any form of salad. 

In case you don’t know, jollof rice is known as Nigeria’s National Dish. You can follow this guide to cook your jollof rice.

Fried rice

Besides the famous Nigerian jollof rice, Nigerians also have their version of fried rice. The ingredients vary from region to region and sometimes, from family to family, even to individual taste. When you visit your Nigerian friends on celebration days like Christmas, besides the inviting aroma of jollof rice and fried meat, you will smell fried rice somewhere in between. One of the favourite parts of Nigerian fried rice is the cube-diced gizzard or liver mixed with the rice and vegetables.

Rice and stew

This is rice boiled white and served with tomato stew. This means that your stew taste must be uniquely chosen to make the rice meal mouth-watering. You can prepare your stew with any choice of meat you like. You can also fry or boil the tomato; it is a matter of choice.

Coconut rice

Coconut rice is made with coconut milk. This lends this meal a unique taste. Coconut rice is the substitute for jollof rice. If you want a taste of ‘not jollof’ for Christmas but not any other type of rice, go for coconut rice.

Ofada rice

Ofada rice is made of Nigeria’s local rice boiled and served with pepper stew on the leaf of the miraculous plant. When prepared for Christmas, Ofada rice pepper stew is often filled with pieces of meat and a fair amount of locust beans.    

Moi Moi

Moi moi is made of bean slurry. You can blend your beans wet or make your slurry out of bean powder. Some call this meal bean budding. Nigeria’s name for this meal is moi moi. You can eat it alone or with another food, often carbohydrate food like rice and pap.

Salad

Appetizing vegetable salad is often the choice in many Nigerian homes. Some also prefer coleslaw, onion salad, or vegan pasta salad. Whatever your taste, one food you should have on your menu for Christmas in Nigeria is salad.

MEAT

Every celebration food in Nigeria is accompanied by meat or fish. Therefore, to complete your Nigerian food for an Unforgettable Christmas plan, choose a suitable meat to serve. 

Oftentimes, Nigerians celebrate with fried chicken. This does not mean that other forms of meat don’t make it to the table. On the contrary, Nigerians serve various types of meat at celebration times like Christmas. Below are some popular choices.

Grilled fish

This is eaten as grilled. Therefore, the fish is often spiced and ready to eat.

Pepper gizzard

A serving of the gizzard pepper spiced and tender boiled. You want a taste of this meat.

Asun (spiced goat meat)

The goat meat is cut into small pieces and prepared well spiced. Asun is specially made to taste with unique spices.

Nkwobi

Nkwobi is made of cow head or cow leg, prepared in a special broth with uziza vegetables and seeds to give it a unique flavor. This is unique to the Igbo. Other tribes in Nigeria also cook this meal. Nkwobi is enjoyed with fresh palm wine. However, you can make do with the drink available to you.

Peppered snail

In this part of the world, snail is a delicacy. Nigerians have a way of enjoying different types of snails. For an occasion like Christmas, pepper snail made from the giant African snail is one of the mouth-watering meats you will find on the table.

Pepper soup (meat, catfish, goat meat, Assorted meat, etc.)

Nigerians love to enjoy a spicy protein meal called pepper soup. Just as the name goes, it is a pepper-spiced meal made of purely meat or fish boiled in water with various spices. If you have not had this food before, ensure you do so this Christmas.

SOUP

 Whatever celebration it is, Nigerians do not forget to enjoy their swallow (eba, fufu, semolina, starch, unripe plantain pudding, etc.) with a delicious soup. The choice of soup you will find most often includes –

– Egusi soup with fresh fish and vegetables

– Banga soup

– Edikang Ikong Soup

– Afang soup

– Ofe nsala (Nsala soup)

Each soup mentioned here will complete your plan for Nigerian food for an unforgettable Christmas experience. You should add at least one to your meal plan for the Christmas season.

HOMEMADE DRINKS

Make unforgettable Christmas memories with these homemade drinks – Zobo, Palm wine, kunu, and Nigerian Chapman.