Recipes with vegetable stock cube

14 recipes that use vegetable stock cube, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Broccoli yogurt soup, takes 17 minutes. It is most often cooked with red palm oil, onion and scotch bonnet chillies.

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Mpotompoto

Mpotompoto, also called yam pottage, is the dish Ghanaian mothers make on a rainy evening or for someone who needs comfort: chunks of yam and cocoyam simmered in a red, peppery broth of palm oil, tomato and onion until some pieces collapse and thicken the pot while others stay whole. It is soft, savoury and warming, eaten with a spoon from a bowl. Fante cooks on the coast often add smoked fish; this one is meat-free, with a handful of greens at the end. Chef's tip: stir gently and only a couple of times; the mistake is mashing it, which turns the whole pot into glue instead of a chunky porridge.

50 min

Ghanaian Vegetarian

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Gbegiri (Yoruba bean soup)

Order amala at any buka in Ibadan or Oyo and the server will ask "abula?", meaning a ladle of gbegiri and a ladle of ewedu poured side by side, usually crowned with a spoon of pepper stew. Gbegiri itself is smooth, mellow and earthy: peeled black-eyed beans cooked until they fall apart, beaten to a cream and simmered with red palm oil and pungent locust beans. Many cooks add ground crayfish or smoked fish; this is the meat-free way, which loses nothing of its velvet texture. Serve it with amala and ewedu or spooned over boiled yam. The mistake to avoid is leaving bean skins in, which turns the soup grey and gritty, so rub and rinse until the beans are white. Chef's tip: whisk the cooked beans with a balloon whisk or the traditional ijabe broom rather than a blender for the lightest, fluffiest gbegiri.

90 min

Nigerian Soups

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Ewedu (jute leaf soup)

Bright green, light and famously slippery, ewedu is the soup that makes amala slide down so easily, and in Ibadan and across Oyo State it is rare to see one without the other. Only the tender jute leaves are picked from the stems, boiled for a few minutes and then beaten with a small broom until finely shredded and stretchy, with a few locust beans for a savoury, funky depth. Some cooks add crayfish; this version keeps it meat-free. It tastes fresh and grassy and is eaten with amala, gbegiri and a red pepper stew. Frozen chopped ewedu or Egyptian molokhia leaves work well outside Nigeria. Chef's tip: cook it briefly and uncovered; long boiling or a lid turns the bright green an olive drab, the most common ewedu mistake.

25 min

Nigerian Soups

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Asaro (yam pottage)

Lagos home cooks make asaro on busy weekdays because it needs one pot and very little fuss, and children usually love its soft, sweet-savoury comfort. Chunks of white puna yam simmer in a blended sauce of red bell pepper, tomato and scotch bonnet with palm oil, and as they cook some pieces collapse into a thick, orange porridge while others stay whole. It is often made with crayfish or smoked fish; this meat-free version gets its depth from locust beans and a vegetable stock cube. A handful of greens stirred in at the end turns it into a full meal, and it needs nothing alongside. For children, use half a scotch bonnet or leave it out. Chef's tip: don't stir in the first 15 minutes; mash only a third of the yam at the end, so there is both creamy sauce and tender chunks.

50 min

Nigerian Vegetarian

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Ikokore (Ijebu water yam pottage)

Ikokore is the Ijebu people's own pottage, made in Ijebu-Ode and towns across Ogun State from water yam, the purple-tinged yam that grates into a sticky paste. Spoonfuls of that paste go into a pepper and palm-oil sauce and set into soft, dumpling-like lumps, so it is part soup and part porridge, rich and spicy. Smoked fish and crayfish are traditional; this meat-free version uses mushrooms for their savoury bite. It is eaten as a complete meal, often on its own or with a cold drink. Water yam makes the skin itch, so wear gloves to peel and grate it. If water yam is hard to find, white yam works but sets softer. Chef's tip: drop the paste in and leave it for 10 minutes before you stir; stirring too soon is the mistake that turns the lumps into a smooth paste.

60 min

Nigerian Vegetarian

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Ofada rice with green pepper sauce

Ofada rice takes its name from a town in Ogun State and is grown on small farms across the Southwest; the grains are short, unpolished and sometimes speckled, with a nutty, earthy aroma that some love and others find strong. It is served wrapped in uma (thaumatococcus) leaves at parties and in Lagos restaurants, with ayamase, a fiery green pepper sauce cooked in bleached palm oil. Ayamase is usually loaded with assorted meats and boiled eggs; this vegan version keeps the green peppers, scotch bonnets and locust beans and adds mushrooms if you like. Banana leaves or a plain plate stand in for uma leaves. The mistake to avoid is skipping the picking and washing: local rice often holds small stones and husk. Chef's tip: bleach the palm oil with the lid nearby, the window open and the extractor on full, and never leave the pan.

75 min

Nigerian Rice & Grains

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Abacha (African salad)

Abacha is the evening snack of Anambra and Enugu, sold by women on street corners and served at Igbo weddings and funerals, where people call it African salad. Dried cassava shreds are softened in water and tossed in ncha, a thick yellow emulsion made by stirring palm oil with potash water, together with fermented oil bean (ugba), sliced onion, pepper and ground calabash nutmeg, then finished with garden egg leaves and fresh garden eggs. It is chewy, oily, peppery and fresh all at once. Stockfish, ponmo or crayfish are often added; this is the meat-free way. Outside Nigeria, African shops sell abacha and ugba; leave the ugba out if you cannot find it. Chef's tip: soak the abacha only until it is just pliable; left too long it turns mushy, which is the mistake that ruins the texture.

40 min

Nigerian Salads

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Okpa (Bambara nut pudding)

Early in the morning in Nsukka and Enugu, sellers set out wheelbarrows piled with steaming okpa wrapped in leaves or cooked in small tins, and students and workers eat it standing up with a bottle of cold drink or a cup of pap. It is made from Bambara nut flour beaten with palm oil, warm water, pepper and salt into a bright orange batter and steamed until it sets into a firm, dense pudding with a nutty, earthy taste. It is filling and naturally high in protein. Bambara nut flour is sold in African shops as okpa flour. Undercooked okpa tastes raw and bitter and is hard to digest, so steam until a knife comes out clean. A common mistake is a batter that is too thick, which steams into a hard, dry block instead of a soft-set pudding. Chef's tip: mix the oil into the dry flour before adding any water; it keeps the batter smooth and gives okpa its even colour.

95 min

Nigerian Breakfast & Brunch

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Ukwa (African breadfruit porridge)

Ukwa is festival and family food in the Igbo Southeast, cooked for guests and for the New Yam season, and its price in the market shows how prized it is. The seeds of the African breadfruit are dehulled and slow-cooked with a little potash until soft and creamy, then finished with palm oil, onion, pepper and fragrant utazi or scent leaves, giving a rich, nutty, slightly beany porridge. Dried fish is often stirred in; this version stays meat-free. Some cooks add fresh sweetcorn or cooked maize in the last 10 minutes. A pressure cooker saves an hour of simmering. Chef's tip: add the salt and stock cube only once the seeds are soft; seasoning early, a common mistake, keeps them hard for much longer.

120 min

Nigerian Vegetarian

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Akidi (Igbo black beans with plantain)

Akidi, a small, glossy black bean, is a quiet staple of Igbo home cooking around Enugu, Anambra and Imo, cooked like beans porridge and usually with ripe plantain for sweetness. After a long simmer the beans turn creamy inside while holding their shape, and they are finished with palm oil, onion, scotch bonnet and a handful of fragrant leaves, so the pot tastes earthy, sweet and peppery. It is a filling meal on its own, often eaten with a cold drink or a side of fried plantain. If you cannot find akidi, black turtle beans are a good substitute. Chef's tip: add the plantain only for the last 15 minutes; put in at the start, it dissolves into the beans, which is the usual mistake.

120 min

Nigerian Vegetarian

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Fio fio (pigeon pea pottage with cocoyam)

Pigeon peas are called fio fio or echicha in Enugu, and around Udi and Nsukka they are cooked into a thick pottage for family meals, sometimes with fresh corn in season and often with cocoyam, which melts into the pot and thickens it. The peas stay firm and nutty, the cocoyam turns soft and creamy, and the palm-oil pepper sauce ties it together into a hearty, savoury meal. Dried pigeon peas are sold in African and South Asian shops (as toor or gandules). Pigeon peas are tough and need a long simmer; the mistake is seasoning or adding cocoyam before they are completely tender. Wear gloves to peel cocoyam, which can itch. Chef's tip: soak the peas overnight and boil them hard for the first 10 minutes; it shortens the cooking and makes them evenly tender.

120 min

Nigerian Vegetarian

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Bole (roasted plantain with pepper sauce)

Roadside grills all over Port Harcourt send up smoke from bole, the city's beloved street food, and the Rivers State capital even holds a festival in its honour. Plantains and pieces of yam are roasted over charcoal until the skins blacken and the flesh turns smoky, sweet and creamy, then split and served with a spicy palm-oil pepper sauce. The full version comes with grilled fish; this meat-free way pairs it with a handful of roasted groundnuts, which is also how many people snack on it at the roadside. A gas flame, barbecue or a very hot oven all work at home. Chef's tip: choose plantains that are just yellow and still firm; very ripe ones turn mushy and burn before the inside cooks, the commonest bole mistake.

50 min

Nigerian Snacks & Starters

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Unripe plantain porridge

Green plantain porridge is everyday home food in Rivers and Delta states and well beyond, and many Nigerians cook it when they want something filling but lighter than yam or rice. Hard, green plantains are cut into chunks and cooked in a pepper broth with a little palm oil until they soften and the starch thickens the liquid into a savoury, slightly tangy stew, finished with peppery scent leaf. Smoked fish, crayfish or periwinkles often go in; this version is meat-free and still deeply savoury. It is a meal in itself. Adding the scent leaf too early is the usual mistake; stir it in at the very end so it stays fragrant rather than bitter. Chef's tip: oil your hands before peeling green plantain to stop the sticky sap staining your skin.

45 min

Nigerian Vegetarian

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Broccoli yogurt soup

A quick, bright green broccoli soup blended with garlic and basil, with yogurt for a gentle tang. Cook it just until hot: boiling it hard would split the yogurt. Serve hot with toast.

17 minSoups

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Goes well with vegetable stock cube