Nigerian Meal; Ukwa

Hello all, @pasaift here.
Today I would be writing about a Nigerian meal called Ukwa.
Ukwa is a meal common to eastern Nigerians(The igbos), it is known as Afon to the yorubas and Ediang to the Efiks. This food is prepared from the seed of the fruit Treculia Africana, commonly known as African Breadfruit.

Fig: Ukwa tree

It is quite rare to see this meal sold commercially because of its expensive nature. So your best option at eating this is either at occasions or home cooked.

This ukwa can be fried,and eaten with coconut. This is usually sold commercially.

Ingredients

African Breadfruit seed
Dry fish/stock fish
Seasoning cube
Potash/akaun/sodium bicarbonate
Palm oil
Bitter leaf
Salt and pepper
Onion
Corn can be used for garnishing, it's not compulsory to use when cooking.

Method of preparation

Preparing ukwa is not a one days job, that is if you have the breadfruit tree. But luckily for us, the extracted seeds are sold in markets but quite expensive because of work put into it. Now if you have the extracted seed, cooking this meal can be quite easy.

• wash your ukwa and put it into pot of choice
• fill the pot of ukwa with water, let it be submerged
• grind akaun to powdered form,mix in water and add to cooking ukwa
• after a while of cooking, add palm oil to the ukwa
• Cook till palm oil changes from red to yellow
• Add your stock fish
• Add seasoning cube with the salt and pepper to taste.
• stir,after string add the bitter leaf.
• cook till green leaf wilts, but let it not change color.
• after this, your Ukwa is ready.

Benefits of Ukwa Meal

Ukwa is a good source of potassium. It's potassium, chromium and sulphur content help minimize the risk of having high blood pressure. It also regulates heart beat rate by reducing effect of sodium.

Ukwa has a high content of omega 3&6 fatty acid, which is required for proper growth and development of body and mind.

It is rich in protein and also a good source of carbohydrate.

The content of vit.c in ukwa is high, this helps in the production of collagen which aids skin elasticity.

This food helps promote growth of hair, it inhibits scalp inflammation

Try this meal,and you'll definitely not regret.
Remain blessed.
@pasaift