There's this saying that, there's no place like home.
In the African context, a typical African does not joke with his stomach, especially when it has to do with bush meat of various kinds, stockfish, vegetables of various kinds, depending on the type of soup you're about to prepare.
Now let me narrow it down to Nigeria, a typical Nigerian man or woman, while traveling abroad, what you will likely find in the luggage(s) is some dried processed meat or fish, ogbono, Melon, dried pumpkin seeds for planting, fresh palm oil, just to name a few.
Permit me to explain further, a typical Nigerian man/woman living abroad, will not consume everything or store them, they recreate, I mean plant some of these things at the back of the house, an example is Pumpkin seeds (vegetables), Melon seeds, ogbono, etc.
With this plant in their garden, all they need to do is water the plants and make sure they are fresh and doing well.
All they go to the supermarket to purchase is the choice of meat with which they wish to prepare the meal.
Fast forward to why am writing this story, my very good friend and acting colleague in the Nollywood industry traveled back to the US last week, let me tell you a bit about him, Abel is a fun-loving and fun-seeking fellow, a jolly good fellow who loves to have loads of memorable moments, did I also tell you how much he loves food... Hmmmmmmmm..... A day does not go by without him not having a taste of bushmeat and freshly tapped palm wine, he loves to travel, especially where fun and good foods can be found.
Today, he desired to have a taste of Melon soup, garnished with lots of stockfish and cow head meat, only typical Africans can relate to this.
Melon soup can not be complete without these ingredients.
Well below is my good friend combining the supermarket in and out in search of grinding Melon to make Melon soup while he easily bought other ingredients from the shelf.
Abel at some point decided to shop for frozen fish, tomatoes, etc. to make fish stew and eat with white rice.
Need I remind you that white rice and either fish stew or cow head/tail stew is an African man's delight.
So, in order not to leave the supermarket not buying everything completely, he decided to purchase condiments for stew, now let me give you a recipe for fish stew:
Frozen crocker fish/catfish
Cottonseed oil
Cowskin (Kanda)
Tin and fresh tomatoes
Fresh pepper
Curry
Thyme
Salt
Rice
With these items, you can comfortably prepare fish stew and white rice.
Now, Abel had to make a few calls across the Nigerian community in the US, few hours later, a friend delivered a package..... Blended Melon... LoL.
Immediately, his face shone with so much brightness that his appetite for Melon soup climaxed.
He took the condiment from the lady, thanked her, and offered her something chill to drink while he went straight to the kitchen to do justice to the Melon.
While the lady sat in the living room watching a documentary, Abel was busy washing the veggies, drying stockfish, and washing the cow head meat.
Immediately, he turned on the gas burner, placed the pot on the burner, put the meat and stockfish into the pot, remember, you have to steam the meat and stockfish together to get a soft texture and marinated taste of both ingredients brings out the best taste in Melon soup.
Note, Abel was singing and humming in the kitchen, in a typical Nigerian kitchen, anytime you hear music oozing out of the kitchen, simply be prepared to be thrilled to a sumptuous meal, now I guess you can relate to why his singing and humming is headed... Smile
A few minutes later (25mins), Melon's soup is ready to eat.
Hmm..... I almost forgot to tell you which swallow best suits eating Melon soup and it's no other than FUFU, in Nigeria we call it LOI-LOI, LoL.
Fufu is processed from cassava, it's allowed to go through the fermentation process, thereby giving out an offensive odor and it's then cooked as though you're making or cooking Oats, but in the case of Fufu, it's white, sticky & smooth, that's why it best suits Melon soup because swallowing it goes very smoothly without stress and need I remind you that it's healthier than Garri which is rough and sticky too.
Now Abel served the meal on the dining table and he and a friend with the lady who bought the Melon now dug into their plates and started devouring the meal.
You can feel the taste of the meal from the expression on their faces, savoring the reminiscing the days this kind of meal was prepared by their mums or grandma.
