The archive
Recipes with the memory left in.
Every dish here carries its context: who made it, when it appeared, what nobody measured. Cook from ours: then interview your family and write down theirs.
66 recipes in the archive, and counting
One-pot rice · West Africa
Family-Style Party Jollof
The rice that ends arguments and starts them. Every family's pot has a secret: this template helps you record yours.
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Stew · West & Central Africa
Groundnut Stew with Greens
Peanut-thickened, slow and generous: the stew that stretched to feed whoever showed up at the door.
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Braise · Jamaica
Sunday Oxtail with Butter Beans
Brown it deep, stew it low, and don't rush it: the Sunday centerpiece that made everyone come home by two o'clock.
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Rice · Jamaica
Rice and Peas Like Sunday
Coconut, thyme, and kidney beans: the quiet side dish that secretly runs the entire Sunday plate.
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Dal · North India / Pakistan
Nani's Everyday Dal (A Template)
The dish made so often nobody thought to write it down: which is exactly why it disappears first.
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Layered rice · South Asia, many claims
Celebration Chicken Biryani
Layered, sealed, and judged by the whole family: the dish that turns a gathering into an occasion.
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Braise · Philippines
No-Recipe Chicken Adobo
Soy, vinegar, garlic, bay: four ingredients, a thousand family versions, and none of them written down.
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Dry curry · Indonesia / Malaysia
Slow Sunday Beef Rendang
Coconut milk cooked past curry into something darker and deeper: the dish that teaches a family what patience tastes like.
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Porridge · Southern China / Cantonese diaspora
Morning Jook, Sick-Day Jook
Rice surrendered to broth: the dish that appeared, unasked, whenever you were sick, sad, or home late.
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Dumplings · Northern China
New Year Dumplings, Folded Together
The filling is a recipe; the folding is a family meeting. Both need to be inherited.
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Wrapped & steamed · Mexico
Tamalada Pork Tamales
Nobody makes tamales alone. The assembly line, spreader, filler, folder, judge, is the recipe your family actually owns.
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One-pot rice · Pan-Latin, many homes
Abuela's Arroz con Pollo (A Template)
Chicken and yellow rice from one pot: simple enough to make weekly, specific enough that only one person makes it right.
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Rolled & simmered · The Levant
Grape Leaves, Rolled Together
Fifty leaves, ten hands, one long afternoon of talking: the dish that was never meant to be made alone.
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Baked parcels · Samoa
Palusami, the Long Way
Taro leaves and hand-pressed coconut cream, wrapped and baked low: umu food, translated for an oven far from the umu.
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Fried rice · Your house, specifically
Two-Grandmothers Fried Rice
One wok, two heritages: the remix dish that only exists in your family, which makes it the most endangered recipe you own.
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Fritter · Nigerian-American
Akara (Black-Eyed Bean Fritters)
Crisp-edged, fluffy-centered bean fritters that announce Saturday morning before the oil even hits the pan.
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Steamed pudding · Nigerian-American
Moi Moi (Steamed Bean Pudding)
Silky steamed bean pudding: savory, soft, and wrapped in memory whether it comes in a leaf, a foil cup, or your mother's baking pan.
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Boiled root & sauce · Nigerian-American
Yam and Egg Sauce
Fluffy white yam beside a pan of peppery scrambled eggs: the weekday breakfast that feels like home even on a rushed American morning.
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Pan-fried breakfast · Nigerian-American
Plantain and Eggs
Ripe plantain caramelized in a hot pan, eggs folded through: the diaspora breakfast that needs no specialty ingredients and still tastes like Nigeria.
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Porridge · Nigerian-American
Pap / Ogi / Akamu
Silky fermented corn porridge, called pap, ogi, or akamu depending on who you ask, the spoonable breakfast that held Nigerian mornings long before cereal aisles existed.
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Fried dough · Nigerian-American
Puff Puff
Golden, airy balls of fried dough that disappear from the party tray before the guest of honor arrives: Nigeria's answer to every celebration's snack table.
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Savory pastry · Nigerian-American
Nigerian Meat Pie
Flaky pastry wrapped around peppery minced beef and potato: the hand-held snack that built Nigerian bakery culture and every diaspora kid's after-school appetite.
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Fried snack · Nigerian-American
Chin Chin
Crunchy, bite-sized fried dough squares: the snack tin that lived on every Nigerian grandmother's shelf and still turns up at every diaspora holiday.
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Fried dough · Nigerian-American
Nigerian Buns (Sweet Buns)
Dense, sweet fried dough balls: softer and richer than puff puff, with a tender crumb that pairs with tea the way Nigerian aunties intended.
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Grilled meat · Nigerian-American
Suya (Spiced Skewers)
Smoky, peanut-spiced beef on skewers: the Hausa street food that conquered all of Nigeria and every Nigerian-American block party with a grill.
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Stir-fry · Nigerian-American
Gizdodo
Gizzard and ripe plantain tossed in pepper sauce: the Lagos party dish that sounds odd until you taste it and understand why the tray always empties first.
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Roasted snack · Nigerian-American
Boli (Roasted Plantain)
Charred ripe plantain split open and served with groundnut: the Lagos street snack that needs nothing but fire, salt, and patience.
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Savory pastry · Nigerian-American
Scotch Eggs (Nigerian Party Style)
Hard-boiled eggs wrapped in seasoned sausage, breaded and fried: the British import that became essential Nigerian party food, especially in the south.
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One-pot rice · Nigerian-American
Party Jollof Rice
The rice that fills the hall at every owambe: smoky, red, and never quite the same pot to pot.
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Rice dish · Nigerian-American
Nigerian Fried Rice
Colorful, seasoned, and built for the party tray: Nigerian fried rice is a celebration dish with its own rules.
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One-pot rice · Nigerian-American
Coconut Rice
Fragrant, mildly sweet, and often studded with corn: the rice that smells like home before you lift the lid.
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Rice with stew · Nigerian-American
Rice and Stew
White rice, red stew, and the Sunday rhythm that held Nigerian households together across time zones.
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Rice with sauce · Nigerian-American
Ofada Rice with Ayamase
Earthy local rice with a blisteringly green pepper sauce: the Yoruba special-occasion plate that announces itself.
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One-pot rice · Nigerian-American
Concoction Rice
Igbo one-pot rice cooked in palm oil and pepper, humble name, serious flavor.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Egusi Soup
Ground melon seed thickened into something between stew and soup: Igbo and Yoruba tables both claim it, differently.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Ogbono Soup
Draw soup: slick, nutty, and thickened by wild mango seeds until it pulls from the bowl.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Okra Soup
Fresh okra cut fine for maximum draw: the soup that teaches you what slippery should taste like.
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Stew · Nigerian-American
Efo Riro
Yoruba spinach stew: rich with palm oil, locust beans, and assorted meat, built to sit on rice or wrap around swallow.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Afang Soup
Cross River's great soup: afang leaves and waterleaf in a rich palm oil and periwinkle pot.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Edikang Ikong
The Efik and Ibibio vegetable soup so rich it is reserved for people you respect.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Bitterleaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu)
Igbo bitterleaf soup: washed until the bitterness becomes depth, thickened with cocoyam and loaded with protein.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Oha Soup (Ofe Oha)
Igbo oha leaf soup: delicate leaves, cocoyam-thickened, and one of the east's most prized pots.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Nsala Soup (White Soup)
Igbo white soup: pale, peppery, and traditionally made for new mothers and honored guests.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Banga Soup
Delta and Urhobo palm fruit soup: orange, nutty, and unlike any other pot on the Nigerian table.
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Soup · Nigerian-American
Groundnut Soup (Miyan Taushe)
Northern Nigeria's pumpkin and groundnut soup: sweet, savory, and central to Hausa-Fulani home cooking.
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Stew · Nigerian-American
Nigerian Red Stew (Obe Ata)
The tomato-pepper stew that lives in every Nigerian fridge: fried until the oil rises red.
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Meat & fish · Nigerian-American
Asun (Yoruba Party Goat)
Smoky, peppery goat that disappears before the DJ starts: the Yoruba party tray everyone hovers over.
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Meat & fish · Nigerian-American
Peppered Goat
Tender goat braised first, then finished in a blistering pepper-onion sauce: the cousin of asun that sits on rice.
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Meat & fish · Nigerian-American
Peppered Turkey (Diaspora Party)
The Nigerian-American party bird: turkey wings and thighs in pepper sauce because turkey is what the grocery store had, and it worked.
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Meat & fish · Nigerian-American
Grilled Fish (Coastal Point-and-Kill, Home Version)
Whole fish, spice-rubbed and charred: the home translation of choosing your fish at the market and eating it by the water.
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Meat & fish · Nigerian-American
Nigerian Fried Fish
Crisp golden fish in a shallow pepper-onion bath: the weekday anchor beside rice, yam, or bread.
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Meat & fish · Nigerian-American
Goat Pepper Soup
Thin, fierce, aromatic: the soup that clears sinuses, honors new mothers, and opens party weekends.
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Meat & fish · Nigerian-American
Fish Pepper Soup
Catfish in clear pepper broth: fast, fragrant, and the soup that proves pepper soup is a category, not one recipe.
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Side & condiment · Nigerian-American
Fried Plantain (Dodo)
Caramel-edged plantain that turns every plate into a party: dodo is never optional when jollof is on the table.
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Side & condiment · Nigerian-American
Boiled Yam
Plain boiled yam: the quiet side that carries stew, pepper sauce, and every argument about which yam is 'real.'
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Side & condiment · Nigerian-American
Ewa Agoyin with Sauce
Mashed beans under a dark, slow-fried pepper sauce: Lagos street food with Benin roots that Nigerian-Americans crave on Sunday morning.
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Side & condiment · Nigerian-American
Ata Din Din (Fried Pepper Sauce)
Fried pepper sauce that goes on everything, eggs, yam, rice, fish, the condiment Nigerian refrigerators always have a jar of.
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Swallow · Nigerian-American
Pounded Yam (Iyan)
Stretchy, smooth pounded yam: the Yoruba swallow that demands two people, a mortar, or a stand mixer and honest effort.
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Swallow · Nigerian-American
Eba (Garri Swallow)
Golden garri stirred into hot water until smooth: the fastest swallow and the one every Nigerian child learns first.
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Swallow · Nigerian-American
Amala
Dark, earthy yam-flour swallow: the Yoruba classic that wants ewedu and gbegiri together on the plate.
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Swallow · Nigerian-American
Semovita
Smooth semolina swallow: the modern pantry staple Nigerian-Americans reach for when garri runs out and pounded yam is tomorrow.
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Drink · Nigerian-American
Zobo (Hibiscus Drink)
Deep red hibiscus cooled sweet and spiced: the drink that every Nigerian party has in a cooler beside the jollof.
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Drink · Nigerian-American
Chapman (Non-Alcoholic Version)
Nigeria's signature red cocktail: this version skips the spirits so the whole table can drink it, with a note on the original.
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Sweet · Nigerian-American
Coconut Candy
Chewy, caramelized coconut squares that live in party take-home bags and childhood memory in equal measure.
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Drink · Nigerian-American
Kunu Zaki (Millet Drink)
Slightly sour, spiced millet drink: the Northern Nigerian refresher that tastes like patience and cloves.
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Drink · Nigerian-American
Nigerian Ginger Drink (Chukku/Jinja)
Sharp, sweet, throat-warming ginger drink: the home remedy and party refresher in one glass.
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