I made chicken and chorizo sauce and mashed potatoes for dinner today. No recipe books involved. Saute onion and garlic together in some coconut oil and a pinch of salt until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the chopped / diced chicken and chorizo pieces with a sprinkle of ground mixed spice and stir until the chicken is starting to cook and turn white, don’t let the chicken stick to the pot! Then add a can of chopped tomato to the pot and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, ensure the chicken is cooked. Then serve with a plate of mash potatoes or rice.

From a distance this meal looks like a bowl of pounded yam and soup.

Pounded yam, Ground rice, Ẹ̀bà, ámala , Àmàlà served with ọbẹ (soup) were our childhood staples. In my early years I had very much a love-hate relationship with these foods. I detested ground rice with a passion and struggled if Mummy made the soup too pepper hot. But a freshly made soup with fried chicken and eba – oh my Lord, food heaven! 😋

It wasn’t until adulthood that I truly appreciated the effort and toil Mummy had put in to make these meals for seven people on multiple evenings during the week. These meals are not something I carried with me when I left my parents’ home – seems I’m all about the jollof rice. But if there is a plate of eba and spinach/ fish soup waiting for me at Mummy’s house – it’s difficult to say no.