Most times when i make soy milk, i make it traditionally in my kitchen from scratch. Luckily for me, the soya bean seed is always readily available whenever i need it. It's mostly used as a beverage which can be sweetened and served hot as tea for breakfast or cold. Please take note that soya bean milk and soya bean powder are totally different. 
Soy milk is the most nutritious and best protein source because it has well balanced amino acid levels than other vegetable sources. it's rich in essential fatty acids, amino acids like lysine and methionine, fiber, vitamins and minerals. This is one drink which is highly essential for kids due to its nutritious benefits and can also be taken by diabetics. 

Homemade Soy Milk Recipe
•Prep time: 6hrs 30mins
•Cook time: 20 mins

Utensils Needed:::
• A pot
• A sieve with handle
• A Cheese/Pap cloth

Ingredients:::

•1 cup Soya beans

• Water - As desired

• Sugar/ Honey - As desired

• Flavor essence - Optional

Directions:::

Step 1: Soak the Soya bean seeds in water Overnight or for 6 hours

Step 2: Drain and rinse the seeds with clean water. Rub the seeds between your hands to de-haul it till the skin removes(Just the same way beans is de-hauled for moi moi ). This process is very important as the skin is more of fiber and insoluble.  Sieve out the chaff and rinse with clean water several times. Pour the washed seeds into a blender, Add some water and blend till smooth.

Step 3: Place the Sieve with handle on the pot and place the pap sieve cloth within. Gently pour the blended soya bean slurry into the pap sieve. Squeeze the Liquid filterate into the pot. The chaff can be reused by placing in the blender again with water, blending and squeezing till all the milk is extracted.

Step 4: Place the pot with the filtered soya milk on fire and cook on low heat for about 15-20mins till it starts to boil. While it cooks, keep stirring because it has the tendency to curdle if you don't. Sieve once more (Hot filteration) to remove the insoluble soy pulp fiber (Okara)and leave to cool.

Step 5: Add your sugar and flavor essence and mix. Serve warm or Refrigerate and Serve Cold

Kitchen note::: 

Soya needs to be given heat treatment before use. This is done to destroy the soya bean trypsin inhibitors that has unfavourable effect on growth and utilization of soya as well as sterilize the milk. If not given heat treatment before use, it could retard growth and lead to death due to toxicity. Heat treatment could be done by boiling or toasting to ensure the heat penetrates into the seed. it's only after heat treatment that you can now dry, grind or process into any edible form of administration. By giving heat treatment, your main aim would be to destroy the inhibitor but not denature the protein therefore you have to work at an optimal temperature between 120-150°C or probably boil for about 15-20 mins (Chinadi O, 2014)

So i woke up this morning to find out we had run out of bread (The usual Saturday breakfast). The bakery close to where i stay don't open shop early and where the bread vendors sell their wares is a long walk from home. To get breakfast ready and on time, i had to make egg rolls since most of the basic ingredients were readily available in the kitchen. Fast forward few hours later, i was done with breakfast and the whole family enjoyed it as well. 
Nigerian egg roll is a popular snack similar to scotch eggs but unlike scotch egg which is made with minced meat and egg , Egg roll is made from flour dough and egg. The dough is made almost the same way doughnut dough is made (Non-sticky). Once done, it should look slightly like Nigerian Buns on the outside with egg in the middle.

How to make Nigerian Egg roll
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time:30 minutes
• Total Time: 60 minutes
• Makes:        10 egg rolls

Things you'd need::: 
• Flat working surface/ chopping Board
• Rolling pin
• Frying Pan
• Mixing Bowl
• Empty Saturated Milk Cup for measuring

Ingredients:::

• 10 Whole eggs

• 4½ Cup Wheat flour (all-purpose flour)

• ½ Cup Sugar

• 4 tbsp. Margarine, Butter

• ½ tsp. Baking powder 

• 1 tsp. Mixed Spices - Optional 

• Pinch of salt 

• 1 cup warm water 

• Vegetable/Soya oil (for deep frying) 

Directions:::

Step 1: In a medium sized pot, boil the eggs for about 10mins till hard boiled. Once cooked and while hot, place the hard boiled eggs in cold water. This is to ensure the shell comes off easily. 

Step 2: Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, mixed spices (if you are using) and salt into an empty bowl. Mix thoroughly then add the margarine/butter. Work into it with the tip of your hand till it looks crumbly like breadcrumbs.

Step 3: Make a well in the center and gently add water little by little. Work into it some more till you get a Smooth non-sticky elastic dough. Divide it into 10 and roll the divided dough into balls

Step 4: Dust your flat working surface with flour and roll out each dough. Wrap each dough around each egg and roll into balls

Step 5: Pre-Heat your vegetable oil in a deep fryer or pot and fry the egg rolls till golden brown. To ensure it cooks well on the inside, reduce the temperature of the burner once you drop the egg rolls into the oil.

Step 6: Remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel. Serve!

Egusi soup (Melon Soup) is Unarguably the most popular Nigerian soup everyone loves. It's quite versatile too as it's prepared by every single tribe in Nigeria though the methods of preparation might differ slightly. No matter how it is prepared, the end result still remains the same good old tasty soup. In the north it's known as Miyan Gushi, in the east it is known as Ofe egusi, in the west it is known as efo-elegusi. It could also be prepared with different leaves such as Ugu leaf "fluted pumpkin leaf", Onugbu "Bitter leaf, Afang "Wild spinach", water leaf e.t.c View full list of Nigerian leafy vegetables here - A different leaf means a different flavor. 

One of the reasons why i love preparing Egusi soup with bitter leaf is, with bitter leaf the soup tends to last longer without the taste changing while being refrigerated but when prepared with ugu leaves, it's best eaten within a time frame. Also, bitter leaf makes it fingerlicking good. 

How to make Egusi soup with bitter leaf

• Prep Time:  30 minutes

• Total Time: Over 45 minutes

• Serves :       6

Ingredients:::

• 2 Cups Melon Seeds "Egusi"

• 600g Red beef

• 1 medium sized Stock fish

• 2 Medium Smoked fish

• 1/2 Cooking spoon Cray fish

• 5 chili pepper "Shombo"

• 3 red scotch bonnet pepper "Ata rodo" 

• 1 medium sized onion

• 1½ Cup palm oil

• 1 Cup Bitter leaf - Pre-washed

• 3 Seasoning cubes

• Salt to taste

Directions:::

Step 1: The first step is to peel the egusi by removing the white Egusi seeds from the brown shell. Place the peeled Egusi in a dry mill (The smaller grinder that comes with the Cup blender) and grind till smooth. It might start to cake up but never mind, that's not a problem.

Step 2: Bitter leaf is always sold pre-washed in the Nigerian market. To be on the safer side and to avoid making your soup extremely bitter, it's always advisable to Boil and re-wash the already washed bitter leaf.

Place the pre-washed bitter leaf in an empty pot and add some water. Cook on medium heat for 10mins. Strain and rinse about 2-3 times more. Squeeze out the excess water and set aside for later use. Please taste it before adding to the soup (There's no remedy to Bitter Egusi soup - If you've got, please share below)

Step 3: Wash the chili pepper and scotch bonnet. Dice or blend into a puree - Set aside. Click here to view steps on how to make pepper puree

Step 4: For the Stock, you could use any type of meat or fish you choose to. For this particular recipe, i used a mixture of Stock fish, Smoked fish & Beef.

Wash the Beef, Stock fish and Smoked fish (remove the bone). Place the beef in an empty pot, add the blended pepper puree and Chopped onion (you could also blend the onion), Crushed seasoning cubes and just enough water to cover the content of the pot. Cook on medium heat for about 25 minutes. Add the salt, washed stock fish and smoked fish, Cook for another 5 minutes. Turn off the burner and set aside.

Step 5: In an empty pot, pour in the palm oil and ground Egusi. On medium heat, stir fry for about 3 minutes till it starts to dry up but don't let it burn. 

Step 6: Pour in the meat & fish stock in step 4 above, add the ground crayfish, Stir and cover the pot. Leave to cook for about 15 minutes till the Egusi swells and cakes up a little. By this time, the oil would have settled on top.

Step 7: Add the washed bitter leaf, stir and cover the pot. Leave to simmer for 5-7 minutes before turning off the burner. 

Serve with any "Swallow", Yam or Rice.

Recipe by www.dobbyssignature.com

Hausa masa is a very popular snack in the northern part of Nigeria. As early as 7am, the vendor always had hot balls of masa ready for hungry customers. As I watched from the side, I couldn't help but marvel at her level of expertise. Masa reminds me of puff puff though the batter is made slightly watery unlikepuff puff batter and not as sweet as puff puff. It's prepared in such a way that, as you are removing a batch from the pan you are also adding a new set into the pan due to the uncontrollable heat from the firewood burner. The rice usually used for this meal is the type used for tuwo known locally as sinasir (very white in color with broken rice particles, sold mostly by Hausa vendors, soaks up water when cooked). From my perspective, it requires some level of skill to achieve.

Traditional pan used for masa

Ingredients:::

•3 cups Rice (Tuwo rice)

•1 tsp. Potash (Akaun/Kanwa)

•1 tbsp. Sugar

•1/2 tsp. Salt

•1 tbsp. Yeast

Directions:::

Step 1: Dissolve the potash in water. In a medium sized bowl, pour the potash-water liquid into 2 cups of raw rice making sure it covers and soaks it (Don't pour in the potash residue). Leave to sit for about 8-10 hrs or overnight. This is done to ensure the potash which acts as a local tenderizer softens the rice while it ferments.

Step 2: Boil 1 cup or raw rice till soft. mash in the pot with a spatula and set aside

Step 3: Wash the soaked rice and blend till smooth with clean water. The batter should not be thick but runny.

Step 4: Mix the Mashed rice with the ground rice, add yeast, sugar, salt and leave to froth and rise for about 25mins or less. Mix Once more and set aside

Step 5: Grease the masa pan by pouring a little vegetable oil in each hole. Gently pour the masa batter into the holes and drizzle the top with more vegetable oil. Cook for about 1min till golden brown then flip over to cook the other side.

Step 6: Remove from the pan and serve. Masa is usually served with Yaji (dry spicy pepper), honey, stew, suya, soup,or just plain sugar

Recipe by www.dobbyssignature.com

Spring roll is a light, Simple yet elegant snack which could be placed in the Nigerian Small chops Category. For the filling, you could use just about anything such as vegetables, chicken, beef, noodles e.t.c. If you are making vegetable spring rolls, you could lightly steam the vegetables to be filled into the pastry. For me, i prefer slicing my vegetables very thinly and filling it into the spring roll pastry before frying. This is because i like my vegetables fresh and not soggy as is the case with most pre-packed springrolls. Here's a step by step guide on how to make springrolls at home with Homemade spring roll wrap.

Homemade spring roll recipe
Prep time:  40 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Makes:        25 spring rolls

Ingredients:::

• 1 Small Carrot

• ¼ Small Cabbage

• ¼ Small bunch Spring onions 

• 5 Green runner beans 

• 25 Spring roll pastry

• Vegetable oil for deep frying

Directions:::

Step 1: Scrape the back of the carrot, rinse and grate thinly. Wash the cabbage and dice thinly. Wash the spring onions and dice thinly. Wash the green runner beans and dice thinly - Set aside.

Step 2: To assemble, take one spring roll pastry (you could also use the pastry like that without cutting it into squares), place a very small amount of each vegetable on it. Placing a small amount of vegetable helps prevent the spring roll wrap from breaking. 

Step 3: Roll it up gently making sure it's firm and not loose. This is to prevent it from loosening in the hot oil.

Step 4: Once you get to the end of the spring roll pastry, seal up the contents permanently by rubbing a mixture of flour and water liquid at the edge. you could also dip your hand in water and rub at the edge for the same purpose.

Step 5: Deep fry the Spring rolls in Pre-heated oil till golden brown.

Step 6: Drain on a wire sieve or paper towel....Serve!

Recipe by www.dobbyssignature.com