Foodie's Diary: Era of Small Chops

uniuyo (32)in #food • 6 years ago (edited)

What is Small Chops?

In Nigeria Small Chops, Finger chops, Finger foods, Bite-sized food, are all rage tiny tasty bites made up of traditional recipes, eaten conveniently with fingers in a bite, one bite – at most, a few bites. They are popular at events for the variety they offer. At a point I dare say, people go to parties for the small chops as much as they do for the Nigerian Jollof.

How are they served or packaged?

They typically contain 5 – 6 items which include

Puff Puff – fried dough
Chinese-style spring rolls,
Indian samosas,
peppered snails
Meats and many more.
Others

The contents of each pack contains different amounts of each mentioned item. Puffpuff is usually the most plentiful thing in the pack thus it is what makes the whole pack Litt.

Here in Nigeria, we apparently are not concerned about the odd or even numbers. Take for instance in China there are suprisingly a few lucky numbers. Like 8 which seems to be the luckiest number of all times in the Chinese culture. Apparently, if they were Nigerians, the might want to have 8 small chops per box! You get the point.

Content Per Box Serving?

Puffpuff / Fried Dough

Puff Puff is mostly presented in any pack. It may come in 3 – 6 balls of puff puff. Lets say it's Generosity or economics?

I say it's Economics due to the fact that flour is relatively cheap, yeast does its work on the mix and sweetener in form of sugar as well as nutmeg are required. And relatively, for a small investment, one reaps a bountiful amount of fried dough.

I love to pair my puff puff with the meat so it can give me that amazing sensation of a chewy head it can be. Not to mention how soft and amazing it's gonna be due to the fact that at this time, the puff puff is steaming fresh and warm from the fire/oil hot which it was seived out.

Spring rolls

Spring rolls from the Chinese culture these cigar rolls generally consist of the most minute amounts of meat: beef or chicken bulked up with vegetables: cabbage, carrots, onions. They are mostly served one or two per pack and thus they require some time investment to make the wrapper.

I’ve also never ever seen a regular small chops pack with more than 3 spring roll. Thus if you are lucky to have two spring rolls in your pack you'll be feeling like you just made it in life. You'll be having this kinda feeling.

The Meaty Contents

Fried beef, Grilled chicken, turkey, gizzards, snails feature. Often only one of these is mostly "delegated" to attend the party. Whichever one it is, I take it as an accompaniment to our royal Puff Puff. It is always enjoyed by many due to its meaty qualities and thus no Nigerian will skip the meat option.