How to Prepare Eba

Teaching a Nigerian how to prepare eba, is probably not unlike teaching an old woman how to suck an egg. Sometime, you come across an old lady who has been too busy to find the time to learn how to suck an egg or you find a young lady who want to learn how to suck egg. I hope both old Naijas who know how to make eba would leave their valuable comments about the eba making method in this post and the young ones and other people who are learning to make eba for the first time find this tutorial useful.

Eba is popular across Nigeria, especially in the South, East and Western Nigeria. It is eaten throughout the year, regardless of the season. Eba is also a popular meal in other parts of West Africa including Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana. Because garri, the base ingredient for eba is one of the cheapest food item in Nigeria, eba is particularly popular with low-income family.

There are subtle differences between how various tribes and regions of Nigerian (and other West African countries) make this starchy food. Garri, the main ingredient of eba is made from processed cassava. From the instruction below, you can quickly make eba without much fuss. Here are the steps you need follow:

Ingredients & Utensils for Making Eba
Garri
Water
Cooking pot or a bowl
A Kettle to boil water
Big wooden spoon

Steps To Making a Perfect Eba

1. Have a bag of garri ready.
2. Boil some water in a kettle or a pot
3. Pour the water into a bowl or cooking pot
4. Preferably using your hand, pour the garri into the hot water, doing it slowly to avoid getting lumps in your eba. Spread the garri around in the bowl as you pour it
5. Do not cover the water completely with garri, allow an inch or so of water to float above the garri.
6. Leave it like this for about a minute or two, then pour the water at the top of the garri away.
7. Using wooden spoon, turn the garri that is now becoming eba around in the bowl till you have a nice smooth soft eba. If the eba is too hard for your liking, add a bit more hot water and stir. If the eba is too soft for your liking, add a bit more garri and stir.
8. Your eba is ready, serve into a flat plate. It can be enjoyed with Okra, Ewedu or Ogbona soup served on the same plate or on a separate plate.

Hints and Tips

* There are several varieties of garri, though the are all made from the same base ingredient (Cassava) the finishing is quite different and some even have additives such as palm oil which gives the garri a yellowish appearance.

* With some garri, the hot water you use to make eba must not be at boiling point, you need to allow the boiling water to cool a bit before starting your eba making.