HOMEMADE NIGERIAN SALAD CREAM

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Salad dressing with vegetable salad
NIGERIAN SALAD CREAM ADAPTED FROM THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING
HOMEMADE NIGERIAN SALAD CREAM

My delicious Homemade Nigerian salad cream inspired by Thousand Island dressing.

It just occurred to me again this morning that the reason all my kids love vegetable salads could be the dressing I use.

After trying so many salad dressings, the one that clicked with my Nigerian palate is the thousand Island Dressing.

When I use it on the kids’ burgers, they just eat and eat. When it’s used on salads, the bowl clears within minutes.

Then, all of a sudden, around last year, the price of Thousand Island dressing just rose like that and aside the price skyrocketing, we couldn’t find it easily like we used to.

Sometimes we went round different supermarkets and see other salad dressings sitting elegantly on shelves but no Thousand Island and we till now
do not know what happened but, when I got tired of searching and sometimes not finding, I took a walk to Almighty Google to look at the ingredients in this delicious salad dressing and to see if they include what one can find easily in Nigeria. 

Surprisingly, ALL except the Worcestershire sauce can be found easily in my kitchen. I searched to read more about this one salad dressing that goes so well with our local Nigerian taste buds and thanks to wikipedia…

It originated in the Thousand Islands between the United States Of America and Canada by a fisherman’s wife, Sophia. Many Thanks to Sophia, we have a salad dressing that’s not slappy on my Nigerian cheeks and not making my kids reject vegetable salads. 

 

So, I laughed because the recipe is just a 5 minutes stroll around the kitchen and my rich altered USA/Nigerian salad cream is ready.

In five minutes, just add everything in a bowl and mix. That’s all the work involved. The first time I mixed, everyone ate their salads, some used in their burgers but no one could tell that this was not store-bought.

No one could tell the difference. I only heard compliments like ‘mummy, this salad dressing tastes better, what happened to it?” Lol.

 

Tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, vinegar, olive oil and the mixed salad dressing.

 

After convincing myself that they prefer my homemade thousand Island salad dressing adapted to suit the Nigerian taste buds, I revealed to them that mummy made this salad dressing from just ketchup and mayonnaise as the main ingredients. They were all shocked and my Business loving teenager added “mummy can you make some salad cream for sale, please? Everyone will love it” 
My four-year-old takes vegetables sometimes to school in his lunch box and I realise that anytime there’s no dressing on those vegetables, he returns some back home but whenever I spray or just drop a blurb of cream on his salad in the lunch box, it comes home empty.
When I posted the Nigerian school lunchbox timetable, that was the dressing on the cucumbers in his school lunch and he cleared that too. Since then I decided to share the recipe on the blog but couldn’t find the time until this morning.
After mixing a little for his school lunch, I brought out all the ingredients and the camera, mixed in just five minutes and here is my Nigerian salad cream adapted from your yummy Thousand Island dressing.
You will sure like this and maybe reduce the use of only mayonnaise on your bread and salads.
Try using this in your bread. Many Nigerians love to spread mayonnaise on their sandwiches, like butter on sliced bread and even salads.
sometime heinz salad cream is used to add flavour to Nigerian salads. The day you try this mixture, will be the day you ask yourself why you didn’t use this all these years. It’s super delicious and great for any taste bud. Try it!
 Keeping this in the fridge.
 This little spread of cream makes his cucumber appetizing and tasty.

INGREDIENTS FOR NIGERIAN SALAD CREAM ADAPTED FROM THOUSAND ISLAND

1 cup mayonnaise (I use Heinz Mayonnaise)
1/2 cup tomato ketchup, or less to your desired taste.
1 teaspoon Olive oil
 A little pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon white vinegar (Optional)
1/4 teaspoon oregano (Optional)
 Half teaspoon sliced red onion (Optional)
1 teaspoon chilli sauce (Optional)
All the optional ingredients are the ones I sometimes add when I make salad dressing for adults.
When I mix for the girls and their little brother, I use only the first four ingredients above. One sweet thing about this my yummy Nigerian salad cream is that it can be adapted to suit any taste bud.
Pepper loving pregnant moms can add more chilli sauce and even lemon juice if you love that zesty flavour. It is very easy to make because the only two main ingredients are found in almost every kitchen and sweet thing is you can just mix the ketchup and mayonnaise alone with more mayo than ketchup and your lovely dressing is ready.
The more the mayonnaise, the paler it looks. This quantity can store in the fridge for long if only they let it stay there.
Sometimes, I mix this and serve on the table as a dipping sauce when I  like, serve dry foods that need some sauce. I place ketchup, chilli sauce and this homemade dressing too side by side and the honestly, the one that finishes first is this my Naija dressing. I see guests dipping even fried chicken and other finger foods in it and asking for more of the “yellow sauce” Lol.

DIRECTION for making Nigerian salad DRESSING

1.Add all the ingredients in a bowl and just mix well.
2. Place in the fridge for a few minutes to chill and 
3.serve your homemade Nigerian salad cream/dressing with joy.

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