Food challenge contest week #118|| For kids and parents| Teach The Kids/Kids Food Challenge| share Your Food Diary With Us

INTRODUCTION

My name is idorenyin Frank and I am from Akwaibom state, Nigeria.
In this particular food challenge I prepared a very delicious vegetable soup popularly known as "Edikan-ikong" soup. Below is the list of things you will need to prepare this soup.

1. Vegetable leaf
2. Waterleaf
3. Crayfish
4. Palm oil
5. Pepper
6. Kpomo
7. Cow meat
8. Stockfish
9. Dryfish
10. Maggi
11. Salt
12. Deshell periwinkle.

Now after purchasing the above listed ingredients from the market, I will like to explain the procedure step by step.

1️⃣ You will wash the meat and kpomo very well, put it inside a clean pot, add pepper, salt and seasoning to taste and boil it .

2️⃣ You then proceed to wash the stockfish head, the deshell periwinkle and the dry fish and keep it separate.
3️⃣ You will proceed to washing the leaves separately (both the vegetables and waterleaf) and put them in different trays. Please ensure u wash the leaves very well with plenty water so to get rid of sand completely

4️⃣ After washing the leaves you begin to slice them into very tiny sizes or as desired and u keep them aside when you are done slicing.
5️⃣ At this point u check if d meat is half way done, if yes u add the stock fish head and allow it to boil.

6️⃣ At this point you will select your crayfish and be sure there is no dirt inside it then u pound it, if u are using fresh pepper u pound it too at this time.

7️⃣ By now the meat and the stock fish head is soft so u add ur washed dry fish, deshell periwinkle and palm oil and let it boil a little .

8️⃣ Please be sure that at this point there is very little or almost no water left in the pot because this soup is cooked mostly with palm oil and the water from both vegetables. So if you the desired water in the pot you now add your waterleaf to it , stir the pot to mix everything and cover the pot to let it boil
9️⃣ Immediately it boils, add your crayfish, your pepper, your seasoning cubes and another quantity of oil, cover the pot and allow to boil Futher.
🔟 After a while stir the pot and taste if you have achieved your desired taste, if any of the ingredients is not enough you can add more but if it is enough to your taste you will proceed to adding your sliced vegetable leaf and stir the pot, add a little more oil and bring the pot down and our soup is ready.

Note please that after adding salt to the meat while cooking it I didn't add salt to the main pot of soup and that is basically personal because I don't eat much salt but u can add as much as you need if that is how you like it but I will advice that you reduce you salt intake as much as you can.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF VEGETABLE SOUP
1️⃣ Since the leaves used in this soup are rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidant and most especially they have low calories and all of this will help in preventing your body from pilling up bad cholesterol which is not healthy for the heart.
2️⃣ This soup also helps us in emptying our bowels very well,

3️⃣ It makes us to have a fresh and clean skin.

4️⃣ Green vegetables are rich in vitamin A which is really needed for the maintenance of our eyes.
WHEN IS THE SOUP OFTEN EATEN?
This vegetable soup can be eaten as breakfast, launch, or dinner just the way you choose or like it. May I also add here that apart from eating the soup with Eba or swallow, you can use it as a sauce to eat your well cooked white rice .
Thank you