Whatever you do as a cook (be it professional or you cook for your own enjoyment), here are foods you shouldn’t put tomatoes in.
1. Beans.
Tomato has no business being in beans. Not now, not ever. Unless you’re making a separate stew for the beans, then that is a different case. I have heard people trying to make a case for tomatoes to be put in beans and I am going to try it first. Until then, no beans in tomatoes.
2. Egusi soup.
Tomatoes have no business in egusi soup. Really. Unless you are cooking the egusi like stew. Even then, e get as e be. Some tribes in Nigeria add it though. Something about preference.
3. Okro (Ila alasepo)
I admit I may have been tempted to add tomatoes to okro cooked with pepper. It didn’t bode well, and now I understand why the ancestors forbid such a union.
4. Efo riro.
This one does not need repetition. They don’t match. But at the end of the day, do what you want, because I have added tomatoes once or twice to my efo riro too. So I don’t have the right to judge you.
5. Fried rice and coconut rice.
No, please. The answer is no. Remove tomatoes from these things. Remove them completely.
Here’s something you need to see: 8 Unbelievable Things Nigerians Actually Eat
