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BITTER LEAF SOUP

Bitter leafe soup is one of the favourite meal of the people from the Eastern people of Nigeria. Like Imo, Anambra, Enugu.

Before we start on the preparation process, I would like to talk about the Nutritious content of this meal, most especially the bitter leaf, because that is our major ingredien. The leaf is what defines the meal.
Bitter leaf (vernonia amygdalina) is high in protain, fat, crude fibre, ash, tannin, phytate and o ther.

In traditional medicine Bitter leaf (vernonia amygdalina) can be used to treat varous illness when consumed raw. It regulates blood cholestorol level, it's used for the treatment of fever, stomach and intestian issues.

In this part of the word every 8 out of every 10 homes in the urban part of this world has this leaf planted.

For this meal we would be needing certain ingredients to make this african delicacy.

ingredients

• Palm oil
• fresh fish
• dried fish
• crayfish
• bitter leaf (vernonia amygdalina)
• dried and blended ofor ( detarium microcarpum seed)
• ogiri ( fermented oil from seasame seed)
• maggi cubes
• salt

Their are lots of method to the preparation of this meal, and there is no limitation to the amount of protains that can be used. You can cook according to your financial budget,
Am cooking this meal on low budget but not withstanding, expect an interesting result😂.

Stage one, put a pot on fire add palm oil and allow to boil for five mins.
So that the oil can ferment well into the water.

stage two
Add your protains, the reason why am adding my protain now is because an using fish, fish does not Necessary have to cook for a very long time, to avoid it scartering, because i still want my fish in whole after cooking.

Stage three, Add your blended crayfish and pepper.

Stage four, add your dried blended ofor
(detarium microcarpum seed) and allow to boil until the lumps totally dissolves into the meal. This would also act as a thickner to the meal.

Stage five, When you notice that the whole lump has dissoveld, and you like the consistency of the thickness, you can not add you bitter leaf (vernonia amygdalina). This Dissolving can take about 30mins.

When you add your vegetable, allow to boil for two mins.

One of the things to note is, the leaf can be bitter depends on how well it was scrubed. If you notice that the bitter leaf is still very bitter pls scrub untill you are comfortable with what you have.

The name bitter leaf is not for decoration, the leaf can actually be very bitter so when buying check for the one that is less bitter so you would not have to scrub for long.

Others in other to reduce the bitterness, cook the leaf with water, and drain before adding it to the meal.

meal ready and served

thank you for following me through this incredible cooking experience.