Beef Recipes Hausa Recipe Rice Recipes

How to make Garo Garo

 

My visit to mile 2 in Lagos recently was interesting as Garo Garo a rice dish caught my eyes. I don’t go to mile 12 market Lagos often as I don’t see the point being that I don’t bulk-cook often. The hassle and distance is not worth the bargain I could possibly get. This last weekend I had to cater for a friend’s party . So I made a trip to this market to pick up large quantities of cabbage, carrots and tomatoes.

The sight that greets you as you get into this market are heaps of yam, trucks loaded with sacks of onion and basket of tomatoes.  Beans and rice being off loaded, wheel barrow pushers, the familiar screams in a market coming from drinking water hawkers “Buy Pure Water!” or even the shorter version “Pure Wo” (advertising with local content) the  general hustle and bustle of a market. Sometimes you wish you had 10 eyes on your head so you don’t bump into fellow shoppers or the ladies called ‘alabaru’ who assist to carry your purchases to the car for a fee.

When it rains in this market, my advice is go with rubber shoes or rain boots, keep a jerrycan or bottle of water in the car to wash your feet after. Sometimes rain boots are available for rent but do you really want to stick your feet into those boots?

Something else that caught my eyes whilst at mile 12 market was the food that the Hausa traders were eating, Garo Garo. This is one of the simplest and cheapest savory meals I have seen in a long time. Basically made of boiled rice, Yaji (Suya pepper) seasoning cube and drizzle of vegetable oil. I watched as the traders mainly from the north relished their early morning meals, which is sold by food hawkers in the market. By the way Garo Garo is a common Nigerian food eaten in the Northern part of the country.

I tried to replicate this meal at home and bring some more character to it by adding some crushed groundnuts, pieces of Suya and replaced the regular vegetable oil with olive to bring that interesting flavor. The result was simply amazing. The addition of steamed carrots and cabbage can even take this dish to a whole new level. Sounds like a rice salad. I now know why the mallams in the market were eating with much relish. “Garo Garo” I just like the sound of the name J

Enjoy the Life!

 

Recipe for Garo Garo

Ingredient

2 cooking spoons freshly boiled Rice

1/2 teaspoon Yaji

1 tablespoon crushed Groundnut

1/2 Seasoning cube

1 tablespoon Olive oil

1 cooking spoon shredded Suya

Method

  1. Serve up the rice, and sprinkle on all the other ingredients . Lastly drizzle with the oil and add the Suya.
  2. You may even want to jazz this up further with boiled carrots and cabbage.

 

 

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16 Comments

    • Hello Ugo. Yaji is basically Suya spice. In the north Yaji is the name given to a mix of dried spices. The one I used is made of dry ginger, dry pepper and black pepper. Some people also include seasoing cube in the mix.

  • I served in the north so I have a first hand experience of this. To even make the oil more flavourful, heat it up with diced onions, ginger and garlic and strain before sprinkling on the rice. Sometimes, the rice is eaten with beans, spaghetti and yam, crazy combo but the taste is lovely!

    Welldone ma for inspiring peole like us to cook more!

      • Oh my, I am overwhelmed to discover I have a gift from you. I will email you in a bit and I am super chuffed to even compose myself to say the least. Thank you ma, you are awesome!

  • Goes well when you add beans to it and a little seasoning and salt to the yaji.its a very delicious meal.

  • Great,but do not use mai-sanu oil.This is because this oil lacks sufficient DHA Docosahexaenolic acid.thus it contributes to malnutrition and stunted growth amongst mothers’ offsprings.

  • Good morning ma am a student of hospital management at federal polytechnic ilaro ogun

    I love practicing new dishes mostly during my exam pratical
    Now am to prepare 3 course meal of Fulani or hausa and 1 main meal of Mexican

    And dis Garo Garo really caught my attention

    Can you help me more on it an some others

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