There are hundreds of famous salad recipes in the world, but there is no Nigerian wedding, birthday party, or other celebratory dinner where you won’t see a bowl of Nigerian salad. Find out how to make Nigerian salad!
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1. Why is Nigerian salad so popular?
Before you finally learn how to prepare vegetable salad at home the Nigerian way, let’s find what exactly makes this dish so universally loved. We believe there are at least three reasons why Nigerians can’t get enough of this salad.
- Nigerian salad looks very appetizing and festive. Its vibrant colours and beautiful presentation instantly make you want to help yourself to a large serving of the dish.
- Thanks to the many ingredients included in the Nigerian salad, it has a very unusual and unique taste. With every bite, you will discover a new flavour, and that is exactly what makes this salad such a popular choice for any occasion.
- This famous diversity of ingredients makes Nigerian salad a very filling meal that contains all necessary food groups, including proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.
2. Nigerian vegetable salad ingredients
You can’t learn how to make Nigeria salad without knowing the necessary ingredients for salad making. Here are the ingredients you need if you want to find out how to cook salad according to the classic Nigerian recipe:
- Lettuce – 2 cups
- Cabbage – 2 cups
- Carrots – 2
- Tomatoes – 2
- Cucumber – 1
- Baked beans – 1 small can
- Corn – 1 small can or 2 cobs
- Boiled eggs – 2
- Pasta or boiled potatoes – 1 cup
- Heinz salad cream – 8 tbsp
If you don’t have access to Heinz salad cream right now, you can make your own! Simply combine 6 tbsp of mayonnaise with 2 tsp of mustard, 2 tbsp of white vinegar, and 2 tbsp of icing sugar. Mix well and store in the fridge until you’re ready to serve the salad.
3. How to prepare Nigerian salad
Now you know the list of salad ingredients and have all necessary products at hand. Ready to learn the classic Nigerian salad recipe? Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make vegetable salad at home.
- Wash and hard-boil the eggs beforehand, so that they are not too hot to work with.
- Boil the pasta or potatoes in salty water. Let it rest and cool down.
- Wash the lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, and carrots. Slice the cucumber and carrots, shred the lettuce and cabbage, and either shred or grate the carrots.
- Open the cans with baked beans and corn and drain them.
- Add the vegetables, pasta, baked beans, and corn to a large bowl. If you’re not ready to serve the salad immediately, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- When you want to serve your salad, remove the wrap, add the salad dressing, toss the salad together, and then add the sliced boiled eggs on top of the salad.
- This amount of salad will feed approximately 5 people as a main dish or up to 10 people as a side dish. If you want to know how to prepare salad for a bigger crowd, simply increase the amount of ingredients accordingly.
In case you want to find out how to prepare salad at home beforehand, our advice is to prep all the ingredients except for lettuce – it tends to get limp when mixed in too early. Shredding the lettuce won’t take you more than 10 minutes, and then you can finally serve your salad.
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