Excerpted from Chop Chop by Ozoz Sokoh. Copyright © 2025 by Ozoz Sokoh. Photographs copyright © 2025 by James Ransom. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

Simply known as “salad,” this colorful, coleslaw-like mix is present at almost every Nigerian event, dressed with sweet, tangy, pale yellow salad cream.

In its simplest form, the salad is vegetarian, and combines cabbage, carrot (raw and grated, or chopped and cooked), lettuce, tomato, cucumber, green bell pepper, and boiled eggs. Add-ins might include cooked elements like baked beans, boiled potatoes, cooked green beans, fresh or blanched white or red onions, sweet corn, green peas (commonly marrowfat peas), kidney beans, and pasta (elbow macaroni and fusilli are common). Non-vegetarian versions might feature canned corned beef, sardines in oil, or flaked panfried tilapia.

Whichever way you choose to make it, this salad is best served cold. Make it up to a day ahead and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup (100 g) shredded white or green cabbage
• 1 cup (100 g) shredded carrots
• 1 cup (75 g) shredded romaine or iceberg lettuce
• ½ cup (90 g) chopped firm Roma (plum) tomatoes (seeded, if you like), plus 1 firm tomato, cut into ¼-inch- thick (6 mm) slices
• ½ cup (65 g) chopped peeled cucumber (seeded if you like), plus ½ medium cucumber, cut into ¼-inch- thick (6 mm) slices (peeled and seeded, if you like)
• ¼ cup (30 g) diced green bell pepper
• ¼ cup (25 g) chopped scallions
• up to 3 tablespoons homemade Salad Cream (recipe follows), plus more for serving
• ½ cup (125 g) canned vegetarian baked beans, preferably heinz original brand
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into quarters, wedges, or slices

METHOD:

In a shallow dish or platter, combine the cabbage, carrots, lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped cucumber, bell pepper, and scallions. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons of the salad cream over the top. With a spoon, combine the vegetables gently but thoroughly.

Spread the coated vegetables into an even layer over the dish and spoon the baked beans over the top. Garnish with small piles of the tomato slices, cucumber slices, and hard-boiled eggs. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.

Serve with extra salad cream.

Ozoz Sokoh is a Nigerian food writer and educator. A geologist by training, she began documenting her food journey online in 2009. Central to her work is connectedness through food, food sovereignty, cultural identity, reclamation of food systems, and the joy of eating. Her research and documentation explore the roots of Nigerian and West African cuisine and the impact of West African intellectual contributions to global development. She is a professor of Food and Tourism Studies at Centennial College in Toronto. She makes her home with her three teenage children in Mississauga, part of the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Find her online @KitchenButterfly.