Weekly Cooking Contest #02 : My Sweet Editan Soup Cooking Experience

Hello Healthy Steemians,

That salutation comes because once you eat well, you are going to do well and be healthy. So since we are discussing about food, I want to hope that we are all eating well and we are enjoying ourselves.

I am asking myself right now, what traditional dishes you we have over here? Because aside from maybe rice or beans, every other food we eat back here in the south of Nigeria is traditional.

So before I go on to describe how I made my editan soup, lemme give you a little briefing. Editan is a leaf and also a common vegetable found down here in Southern Nigeria. It is scientifically called Lasianthera africana. Tasting it would give your mouth a completely bitter flavour. It is very bitter and thus some people detest it.

So, especially in Cross River and Akwa Ibom State, most people use it to make soups. Over here we eat our soups not with spoons but with balls of fufu or garri. Though some people try to squeeze out the chlorophyll to make it less bitter, others cook it like that, adding compounds of potassium to reduce the bitterness.

This two methods depends on individual choice and desire and also on the end product required. Since there are different methods of cooking it, either of the two methods can do the trick depending on what other ingredients you will be using.

Those who wish to cook it with water leaf may choose to squeeze it out as it helps to give it better texture when combined. Those who do not wish to add water leaf and require it to have a very slimy texture will most likely use potassium.

I belief this is quite clear. So, let us proceed to making our soup proper.

Already diced editan leaves

As can be seen the first ingredient we need is our editan leaves which needs to be diced properly and prepared as required (squeezed or soaked with potassium while boiling).

Soup ingredients from the market

Other ingredients for the soup include: meat (chevon in my case), salt, seasoning, palm oil, periwinkle, fish, cray fish, pepper, onions (optional) and water. In this case you did not find water leaves because I made the slimy, potassium aided kind of editan soup.

So, everything is prepared and made ready. The fish is washed and bones removed, the crayfish is grated or pound ( pound with mortar and pestle in my case), the periwinkle is washed and steamed and all the other things.

Washed and prepared periwinkle

After this preparation, the food is as good as ready as it takes just a few minutes to be done.

My prepared fish

After boiling the editan leaves and adding a potassium compound, you steam the meat to required texture and softness.

The meat stock

Then you begin to introduce them together into the pot systematically. You can start by adding the fish to the leaves, the meat stock, then crayfish, fish, seasoning, salt and then oil.

The making of the soup

When everything has been added, you then wait for some minutes for it to heat up and boil properly then your sweet (though might still have some bitterness), editan soup is ready.

Two delicious bowls of editan soup and the cook

In this case, I ate it with garri and I can tell you it was a wonderful treat. Editan soup is one soup you should wish to have a taste of. A point to note is that you should be able to have very good fish, plenty meat and crayfish if you want to get the best out of it.

Ready to eat

Many people love editan soup because of the added advantage of its medicinal value. Editan is implicated in the management of a good number of health challenges.

You know what is causing the smile na

Do well to try editan soup today if you find yourself here in Southern Nigeria. Particular in Cross River Start or right down here in Akwa Ibom State. Stay healthy and do not forget to eat right. Remember that health is wealth.

@sabbirr
@ngoenyi

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