Sunday, May 3, 2015

FOOD: How to make Egusi Soup

Hello Shines,

It's being a while I posted something on here. Did you all miss me? lol

I have been busy trying to juggle school, work, and my social life for the pass month. But the good news is, school is almost out and I am so delighted and I would be back in full effect soon.

Anyway, lets talk about what I have for you guys today... Any Guess?!!!!!!! FOODDDDDD....

Just in case you'll didn't know, I love food especially my African Dishes. They are just so yum and spicy. If you like spicy, then, you know what I mean. lol

So today, I decided to cook one of Nigeria's best delicacy, EGUSI SOUP. This soup is a popular food in Nigeria and it can be eat with almost anything. Below, I am going to provide the ingredients details and way to cook it.
Happy reading and learning.

INGREDIENTS:
Egusi (grounded dried melon seeds)
Crayfish
Meat(Beef, Chicken, Bush-meat or your choice)

Steaming egusi soup in the pot.

Fish(Dried or Fresh)
Red Palm Oil
Tomato Sauce
Grounded red pepper
Onions
Star Maggi or your choice
Water
Chopped Leaf (Ugwu or Spinach)
Bitter leaf
Salt

HOW TO PREPARE:

Step 1: Wash your meat and put it in a pot of water and then, add sliced onions, salt to taste as well as maggi.

Step 2: Allow the meat to cook until it becomes tender enough to your taste. May sure, there is a favorable amount of meat broth left because that would give flavor to the soup.

Step 3:Pour the meat and the stock in a bowl.

Step 4: Take a different pot or same pot used in cooking the meat and then, put it on the stove or cooker. If there is water in the pot, allow to dry because we don't want it to mix with the next added condiment just yet.

Step 5: When the pot is dry, pour in a desired quantity of red palm oil. After the oil is added, a little lather is formed in the pot but it eventually disappears. Make sure, the lather disappears before adding the next ingredient and it takes less than 5 minutes for it to disappear. By the way, there will be a little smoke due to the steaming process of the palm oil but do not be perturb because it eventually clears off.

All ingredients in the pot.

Step 6: Add salt and the sliced onions to the hot oil. Allow it to cook for less than a minute because you don't want it to burn.

Step7: Immediately, add your tomato sauce. Cover and allow to cook for 5 to 10 minutes as desired.

Step 8: At this point, it is time to add the egusi to the tomato sauce. The egusi can be added either dried or wet. Today, I did wet because that is my mom's way of cooking her egusi soup. After adding it to the sauce, stir continuously to avoid it from burning at the bottom of the pot because at this point it is prone to burning.

Step 9: Now, it is time to add the meat and broth, maggi, crayfish, and pepper. Note: the meat stock now provides the quantity of water needed for the soup to cook.

Step 10: Cover the boiling pot for another 5 minutes. So, that it can cook to derive good flavor.

Step 11: This is the final step because the fish and the leaf are about to be added. They are added last because they don't need to be over cooked especially the leaf. The leaf because the nutrient has to be preserved and over cooking does take away that. After adding the fish and leaf, stir and cover the pot to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes or less. At this point, it has to be checked regularly to prevent it from searing.

After this step your food/soup is ready to be served and eaten.