Masa

Northern Nigerian table. Hausa and northern dishes built around grains, rice swallows, dried spices, groundnut, baobab leaves, and street foods.

• Adding too much liquid after the rice goes in.
• Stirring too often once the grains should be steaming.
• Stopping the base before the pepper, onion, or spice edge has mellowed.

• The grains should be tender but still distinct, with steam carrying the seasoning upward.
• The sauce should coat the spoon and taste rounded, not watery or raw.
• The bread or batter should smell pleasantly fermented, toasted, or nutty rather than floury.

palm oil, crayfish, iru or ogiri, scotch bonnet, melon seed