Pepper: Peppers, including all hot peppers like fresh, dry, chili, habanero or scotch bonnet peppers are very important meal ingredients for most Africans. With the exception of some snacks, hot chili pepper is present in virtually all African foods. Even if you don’t like pepper, it is always good to add a tiny quantity because this will make your African meals taste better. If pepper is absent, foods taste bland to any African.
Unprocessed Palm Oil
Unprocessed palm oil commonly known as red oil in Africa is the preferred cooking oil for preparing West African Soup recipes. The best palm oils to use are ones that are bright red and free-flowing. If the palm oil color is orange or even yellow, it means it contains a lot of water and was not well processed. This may cause your palm oil to be smelly and will badly affect the taste of your soup. Congealed palm oil is not bad, contrary to what some people think. Most palm oil sold in the Western Africa may be congealed due to the cold weather.
Onions (Red or White)
Onions are added to almost every African dish. Onions, however, is often used when cooking beef or chicken for stews, beans, and rice. It can also be used for some soup recipes like Okra Soup, Pepper Soup, Banga Soup and Edikang Ikong Soup. Onion contains vitamin C which helps improve immunity. It also has antibiotic properties and improves mood and sleep. It is often not advisable to use onions for soups like Egusi Soup. Still, NEVER add onions to Bitter leaf Soups. It will take away the traditional/classic taste of these soups.
Vegetable Oil
Pure vegetable oil is used to cook all African rice recipes and tomato stew recipes. It is also used for any recipe that requires frying like fried yam, fried meat, fried plantain and all the fried snacks recipes.
Groundnut Oil is used as an alternative to pure vegetable oil but because of its strong taste, it is not widely used. Sunflower Oil is a good alternative to pure vegetable oil. Olive oil isn’t used in African dishes (except in cases of individual preference) because it’s strong taste isn’t typical of African dishes.
Stock Cubes
In Africa, women use stock cubes to cook almost various recipes like Soups recipes, Rice recipes, Beans recipes or Plantain. Stock cubes add a flavorful and salty taste to African dishes and if you’ve ever eaten any African dish, you know it’s the perfect blend of salty and spicy.
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