How to make Garo Garo

 

My visit to mile 2 in Lagos recently was interesting as Garo Garo a rice dish caught my eyes. I don’t go to mile 12 market Lagos often as I don’t see the point being that I don’t bulk-cook often. The hassle and distance is not worth the bargain I could possibly get. This last weekend I had to cater for a friend’s party . So I made a trip to this market to pick up large quantities of cabbage, carrots and tomatoes.

The sight that greets you as you get into this market are heaps of yam, trucks loaded with sacks of onion and basket of tomatoes.  Beans and rice being off loaded, wheel barrow pushers, the familiar screams in a market coming from drinking water hawkers “Buy Pure Water!” or even the shorter version “Pure Wo” (advertising with local content) the  general hustle and bustle of a market. Sometimes you wish you had 10 eyes on your head so you don’t bump into fellow shoppers or the ladies called ‘alabaru’ who assist to carry your purchases to the car for a fee.

When it rains in this market, my advice is go with rubber shoes or rain boots, keep a jerrycan or bottle of water in the car to wash your feet after. Sometimes rain boots are available for rent but do you really want to stick your feet into those boots?

Something else that caught my eyes whilst at mile 12 market was the food that the Hausa traders were eating, Garo Garo. This is one of the simplest and cheapest savory meals I have seen in a long time. Basically made of boiled rice, Yaji (Suya pepper) seasoning cube and drizzle of vegetable oil. I watched as the traders mainly from the north relished their early morning meals, which is sold by food hawkers in the market. By the way Garo Garo is a common Nigerian food eaten in the Northern part of the country.

I tried to replicate this meal at home and bring some more character to it by adding some crushed groundnuts, pieces of Suya and replaced the regular vegetable oil with olive to bring that interesting flavor. The result was simply amazing. The addition of steamed carrots and cabbage can even take this dish to a whole new level. Sounds like a rice salad. I now know why the mallams in the market were eating with much relish. “Garo Garo” I just like the sound of the name J

Enjoy the Life!

 

Recipe for Garo Garo

Ingredient

2 cooking spoons freshly boiled Rice

1/2 teaspoon Yaji

1 tablespoon crushed Groundnut

1/2 Seasoning cube

1 tablespoon Olive oil

1 cooking spoon shredded Suya

Method

1. Serve up the rice, and sprinkle on all the other ingredients . Lastly drizzle with the oil and add the Suya.
2. You may even want to jazz this up further with boiled carrots and cabbage.