Nigerian Wedding Catering: The Food Menu

Jan

Nigerian Wedding Catering: The Food Menu

A wedding reception menu is a list of meals to be served to the guests. It may include a three or four course meal. It also adds a beautiful decor element to your wedding table decoration, as the menu cards are placed in the charger plates that are arranged on the table.

At a Nigerian Wedding, it is the caterer that provides the menu cards to be placed on the tables.

But in a case where there are two or more caterers, it is preferable to outsource the wedding menu, so as to have a uniform look.

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How many items can you have on your Nigerian wedding menu?

For many Nigerian weddings, it is only the main dish that’s on the wedding menu. This is as a result of the large number of guests that the Nigerian culture inhabits.

It is only the main course that goes round the number of guests that has been invited.

The appetisers and desserts is normally for just a portion of the wedding guests. Say 200 guests out of 500 guests, gets to eat desserts and appetizers.

So it is advisable to have only the main course on the menu, since that’s the only meal that all the guests will have a portion of.

A Nigerian menu will be worded in this order

African dishes or main course
Solids
Protein
Accompaniment or sides
Continental dishes

1. AFRICAN DISHES OR MAIN COURSE

Under this category, you have African meals for whatever ethnic the couple is from. It could be Yoruba meals, Igbo meals, Benin meals, Hausa meals etc… but all meals under this category are African meals:

Some of these African meals may include but not limited to:

1. Jollof Rice (this is a must have at every event regardless of the tribe or ethnic or tradtion)

2. Fried rice

3. Ofada rice with plantain and ayamase sauce (this sauce is the only sauce used to eat this particular rice). It is normally served in banana leaves. The banana leaves gives the rice a nice aroma.

4. Yam pottage with efo riro (efo riro is a kind of vegetable)

5. Ewa Agonyin (this is beans cooked in a special way) it also comes with it’s own special pepper sauce

2. SOLID FOODS

Here is where you can have the mix of different ethnic foods, as these foods come in Solids with their different soups to go with them.

Some of these Solid meals may include but not limited to:

1. Amala with ewedu and gbegiri (Ewedu and gbegiri is the soup that many Nigerians eat with amala, some may prefer a different kind of soup, so it may be advisable to make other soups available for this Amala meal)

2. Pounded yam with egusi soup (egusi is a type of soup with normally has vegetables in it)

This can be made with raw yam which is boiled and pounded in a mortar and pestle or prepared with processed yam powder. The processed yam powder is called poundo yam.

3. Semo with preferred soup

4. Eba with okra soup, bitter leaf soup or efo riro (Eba is made from cassava flakes)

*Yellow garri (Eba) with efo riro. Credit: Fabulous Nosh and Recipes*

5. Wheat with preferred soup

3. PROTEIN

This is the type of protein/animal that would be added to the meals. A meal is generally considered incomplete without the protein.

Once the protein finishes at any event, even if there is still food available, Nigerians won’t eat the food without protein on it.

So it is advisable to make provision for protein in excess. One or two pieces of protein per meal. It all depends on the size of protein and also the budget.

Some of these proteins may include but not limited to:

Beef (which is gotten from Cow)
Chicken
Fish
Snail
Goat meat

4. ACCOMPANIMENT OR SIDES

These are the side dishes that comes with some of the main courses.

This may include but not limited to:

1. Moi moi, is made from beans. (which is normally wrapped in banana leaves and served with the jollof rice and fried rice).

2. Vegetable salads

3. Coleslaw

4. Fried Plantain: it can be diced, oval shaped, round or irregular shaped. The amazing thing about fried plantain is that, it can be a side dish to any of the main dishes

Round-shaped plantain on a stick, as a side dish with fried rice

*Diced plantain as a side dish with ofada rice*

*Diced plantain as a side dish with yam pottage*

*Oval-shaped plantain as a side dish with ewa a*goyin

5. CONTINENTAL CUISINES

*A typical continental dish served at a Nigerian wedding*

Continental food refers to dishes made and consumed in the European countries. Dishes of French, Spanish and Italian cuisine fall under the category of ‘Continental food’.

Nigerians normally add this category of food to their wedding menu to be able to accommodate the not-so-Nigerian guests.

It is normally prepared for a small ratio of the wedding guests, compared to the African dishes.

Some of the food on the continental dish are but not limited to:

1. Basamti rice: Indian traders introduced Basmati Rice to the Middle East through cultural exchange and since then it has become an important part of continental cuisine in Arab, Persian and other cuisines as well.

Basmati is a variety of long, slender-grained aromatic rice which is traditionally grown in India, Nepal and Pakistan.

2. Singaporean or vermicelli noodles: Singapore Noodles are made with thin rice noodles called vermicelli noodles. Vermicelli is similar in appearance to noodles but is much thinner. They are a form of rice noodles. They are often referred to as rice noodles or rice sticks.

3. Chicken sauce is a sauce made with chicken and mixed vegetables.

4. Shredded beef in green pepper sauce: Shredded beef sauce is a sauce made with shredded beef and peppers.

5. Sweet and sour fish sauce: This is a fish sauce cooked in a sweet and sour slurry sauce.

Nigerian Wedding Appetizers

As we all know that appetizers are the first food served to wet the appetite. At Nigerian weddings, appetizers are normally referred to as small chops.

Small chops can have as many items on a plate, depending on the budget allocated to small chops.

A plate of small chops cost beween N500 to N1,500 (Naira) per plate, depending of what it comprises of.

Small chops comprises of, but not limited to the following items in a plate:

1. Spring rolls

2. Samosa

3. Puff puff

4. Mosa also called plantain puffs

5. Chicken bites

6. Stick meat

7. Gizzard

8. Corn dog

9. Fish in Barter

10. Prawns wrapped spring roll

11. Diced plantain

12. Money bag

Nigerian Wedding Desserts

Desserts normally comes after the main dish and much later during the reception.

There are a variety of dessert options that can be chosen from. The dessert vendor will normally provide 6 or 7 options depending on the dessert budget.

Nigerian dessert vendors charge per plate and the price ranges from N900 to about N1,500 (Naira) per guest.

Dessert bars are always very exotic and beautiful and can add glamour to your wedding reception decorations.