By: Akakan Umoh
This is a soup cooked with fresh fish.
It is a delicious delicacy which originated from the South-South part of Nigeria. It is rich in protein, fats and oil and mineral salts.
It is made of such seafoods as prawns, crayfish, periwinkle (mfi), squid, oyster, Ngolo(Ocean snail), shrimps, clam, among others. Other ingredients include Okro, leaf, onions, fresh and dry pepper, seasoning and salt.
Cooking
To cook this soup is quite simple.
First of all, wash your fresh fish and other sea foods thoroughly with salt and lime, to remove the slimness on some of the sea foods.
When they have been thoroughly washed, place them in a pot, add chopped onions, fresh and dry pepper, salt and seasoning cubes to taste. Mix them gently to allow flavor to incorporate. Add water to cover the seafoods slightly, then place on fire to allow it to steam.
While it is on fire, wash your okro and chop in big sizes, or preferred slices.
Remove a small portion of the okro and pound. Wash your leaf, you can use adusa leaf, which is a very nice scented leaf, or any other leaf of your choice (Curry leaf or scent leaf)
Chop and set aside to use later.
By this time the sea foods on fire are boiling already. Remove a small portion of the fresh fish, mash and use it as a thickener in the soup. Add palm oil in the pot, in addition to pounded okro. Add a little more water. Add the fish thickener, correct seasoning, if you want to add more pepper you can go ahead.
Add the chopped okro, as it keeps boiling. Then add the adusa leaf as the last thing. Allow it to boil for two more minutes, before you bring it down from fire.
Your soup is ready to be eaten with swallows, i.e Garri, Foofoo, pounded yam, amala, semovita, and any other.
Bon appetite!
