Mother’s Day 2023: 14 Brilliant Hacks from Real Mothers’ Kitchens
It’s pretty much a fact at this point that mothers are basically superhuman. I mean, who is Thor beside my mother? Really? And it’s not because of the Struggle Olympics our society tends to applaud women for; there’s just a kind of maternal wisdom and know-how that’s akin to none, and a lot of it plays out around the house — especially in kitchens.
I have too many fond memories of watching my mother pulling out some new brilliant trick from her hat, while making a pot of something, and just wondering: How did this woman even think to do this in the first place?!
A lot of these techniques are a big help to me now that I’m out in the real world that is scam-adulthood, so for Mother’s Day this year, I decided to go poking around and asking other people about their own mother’s cooking hacks, a lot of which have been passed down through generations. Most of them had interesting things to say, and now my arsenal of Mom Tips is even larger.
Here’s a bookmark-worthy list of tips and tricks you should give a go.
Legit fried Fried Rice
1. “My mum actually fries the rice in oil for a while before cooking fried rice. It gives it a crispy texture and nutty flavour. Also, according to her, the rice cooks faster since frying is also a method of cooking.” — Temi
Photo by Anna Tarazevich from Pexels
Jollof Rice with a twist
2. “We’re really basic, but sometimes we put MSG* in Jollof Rice and it actually really slaps. It adds an additional flavour profile different from sweet-salty. It tastes almost kinda like if you’ve ever had sushi with soy sauce, but it’s really its own taste.” — John
*MSG is short for Monosodium Glutamate and it’s most popularly found in Ajinomoto, a name you’ve probably heard before.
DAMMIT, ROAST YOUR VEGGIES
3. “One of the hacks I learnt is to roast your tomatoes, peppers and onions before blending, so you can skip boiling and go straight to frying it. It bangs for Jollof Rice especially.” — Gbemi
Little water, low heat
4. “I learnt from my mother that it’s always better to cook specific foods (rice, spaghetti, etc.) on low heat to prevent a burnt bottom and an undone top.” — Smish
A WORD ON SEMO PREPARATION
5. “I learnt to remove a small bowl of water from Semo water before turning it. No matter how accurate the quantity seems, just remove some water before mixing it, because if the water is too much, the food is ruined, but if it’s small, you just need to add a bowl. The same applies to draw soups like Okra and Ogbono.” — Chidimma
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels
Ginger and garlic for the win — ALWAYS
6. “We use ginger in everything and it’s great because it doubles as medicine. From tea, to the average Jollof Rice, we always make it a requirement to have ginger in the food. To be honest, in most cases when it’s fried with onions, it dulls the sweetness of the onions and gives the food a more savoury taste. I personally tend to use ginger powder even when boiling things like pasta out of habit.
Also, when you have a cold, ginger with lemongrass always works as a natural remedy. It doesn’t taste good, but it gets the job done.” — David
7. “I learnt to fry garlic first, before starting the rest of the cooking process. It smells nice and gives it more flavour. You can sha taste the difference with that method and it’s nice.” — Ebun
8. “We prepare ginger and garlic paste ourselves and keep it for any food that needs spices.” — Gbemi
Let’s talk about Meal prep
9. “My mum dissolves Maggi in water before adding it to eggs and then frying. It helps the flavour spread better. I think she said she picked it up in Uni days.” — Deji
10: “I soak egusi before putting it into my sauce mix and then put it in spoon by spoon. It changes the texture of the egusi and makes the taste better, in my opinion. Then also, with porridge, I learnt to make a salt sugar mix in the water before adding the yam or veryyy black overripe plantain.” — Chidinma
11. “Instead of buying beans flour for Akara and Moin Moin, we peel and wash our beans and freeze it for up to two weeks ahead. It’ll still be fresh when we defrost it, rinse and then blend to make the Akara or Moi Moi.” — Gbemi
how to Save your coins
12. “We buy tomatoes, pepper, proteins and co from Sagam or Ile Epo in basket quantity for mad cheap rates and keep them in the deep freezer. It lasts for like 3 months. When I got married, I tried Lekki Market a few times and the pepper mix (tomatoes, pepper, bawa, tatashe) for 1-2 weeks cost 5-7k. That’s like the price of a whole basket of tomatoes from my mom’s plug.” — Bisi
Outsource! Outsource!
13. “My mum doesn’t like cooking, so the main thing I really learnt from her was to let someone else do it. She would get our help to cook soups and stews to keep in the fridge and then she’d boil rice or make swallow when we needed it.” — Ayo
By the way: Ayo’s mum for the win, abeg! 🙌🏾
The “bread sponge”
14. “The most striking kitchen trick I learnt from my mum is using bread to absorb the burnt taste in food. So for instance, you’re cooking rice and you forget yourself and the rice burns. You can put a slice of bread in the pot and it absorbs the burnt taste. You drain the water first from the pot and then you lay the bread on top; basically, the bread acts as a sponge.” — Tiolu
Saved the best for last!