Hello guys, I trust everyone is having a great week. I’m excited to explore a new space. Since I joined Hive, I’ve been going around only some specific communities so I opted for something different.
I’ve engaged in the needlework community, hive naija as well as ladies of hive.
Needle work because we share a common goal as crochet is a lifestyle for me and I’m passionate about that community. Hive naija because I’m Nigerian and it’s interesting being there and lastly, Ladies of hive because I’m a lady on hive and I’m interested in the growth and development of other ladies in the community.
Recently, I had a conversation with my friend @samostically who brought me to Hive and I expressed how much I loved cooking. He advised that I explore other communities & I found the Foodies Bee Hive community.
I’ll like to share a post on the Nigerian meal I made. I’ll try to be narrative and expository as possible about the whole process so non-Nigerians can understand and of course, learn a new Nigerian dish.
I was craving one of my favorite meals and I decided to make it. It is called Vegetable soup. It wasn’t as stressful to make because I didn’t do the market runs for the ingredients myself. It took me about an hour to prepare and I love it every bit of it.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Vegetable soup is a popular Nigerian dish that range from culture to culture. It’s most popular in the South-Western part of Nigeria known as the Yorubàs and it is rumored that it’s origin is traced there. It is locally called ’Èfò- Riro’ and it derives from two Yoruba words(Efo and riro).’Èfó’ means Spinach in English and ‘Riro’ is the act of stirring. In a nutshell, Èfó riro means stirred spinach.
INGREDIENTS
•Spinach(Èfó)
•Red oil
•Locust beans(Irü)
•Beef
•Cow skin(Ponmò)
•Crayfish
•Smoked fish
•Stock fish
•Seasonings
•Fresh tomatoes & pepper
•Onions
All ingredients can be found and purchased in a local market at a cheap price. It’s a budget friendly soup. I had the seller chop the spinach into bits to save me the stress, as well as help blend the crayfish into powder form to save time.
PROCESS
I wash each of my protein thoroughly with clean water and little salt. Next, I chop the cow skin into smaller bits as I enjoy it better that way. I blended the tomatoes and pepper In a clean blender and I chopped some onions.
I per-boil and season the beef, cow skin, stock fish and smoked fish together in a clean pot for about 20mins. This is to ensure that the proteins are well cooked as the beef and cow skin can be tough to eat sometimes and takes time to cook.
At this point everything else was ready for cooking. I got a clean pot and using low heat, I poured some red oil in it to fry a bit. I turned the chopped onions and already washed irù(locust beans) into the pot and allow it fry for about a minute.
After frying for a minute, I pour in the blended tomatoes and pepper mix and fry for about 5minutes. After 5 minutes, I pour in my already seasoned protein stock and protein into the pot. I pour in the powdered crayfish and stir, stir, stir. I go in with some seasoning cubes and spices and then taste in between to make sure I don’t over season the stock. I allow it cook for about 10minutes
After 10minutes, the fried sauce is properly cooked. I wash the spinach with a running clean water and a little bit of salt for about 2-3 times. This is to get rid of sand and stones that come with leaves during harvesting. After washing, I go ahead to pour the spinach into the sauce and stir.
I allow it cook for about 2minutes as I like the spinach really crunchy and still green. The vegetable soup is ready!
Vegetable soup is versatile as you can eat it with any side of your choice. You can have it with any Nigerian swallow or rice. Some people use pasta as a side dish.
I served my dad first with some wraps of pounded yam he bought from a restaurant earlier as his side, alongside the vegetable soup. He accompanied it with some white wine and bottle water.
He loved every bit of it of course and he praised my cooking!
HEALTH BENEFITS
Vegetable soup is rich in vitamin K and it helps with indigestion. It also helps in clearing the system in situations like constipation. I hope you love my cooking and you learn something new.