Nigerian vegetable soup is a combination of two or more vegetables cooked with meat while stockfish, dry fish, kpomo, and periwinkle fight for who is more special inside the pot of soup.
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of fluted pumpkin leaf (Ugu Leaf)
- 2 bunches of water leaves
- 1 kg beef or chicken
- 1 medium-size stockfish head
- 2 cups periwinkles (optional)
- 1 cup Kpomo Kanda (finely diced)
- dry fish
- 3 tablespoons crayfish
- 1 cup of palm oil
- Snail(optional)
- Bonnet scotch pepper grinded
- 2 Knorr seasoning cubes
- Salt to taste
Preparations
- Wash meat and stockfish, put in a pot with some water to just cover the meat, season with salt and seasoning cube, boil till a fork can pass through.
- Soak dry fish in boiling hot water for 2 minutes, drain and rinse well with cold water. Add to the boiling meat and cook till meat is tender. The stock should be about 2 to 3 cups if it is more take out some and preserve.
- Clean snail, season with little salt and boil till a fork can barely pass through. Set aside (Snail should not be cooked till it is soft and floppy, it should still have a discernible crunch).
- To the cooked meat with 2 or 3 cups of stock, add palm oil, onions and pepper, cook for 5 minutes.
- Add, periwinkle, 1/2 cup of crayfish and seasoning cubes. Stir and taste, add salt.
- Cook for 10 minutes until palm oil loses its raw taste.
- Add waterleaf, ugu, and cooked snails, stir and cover, cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of crayfish and cook till vegetables have softened but is not mushy. Take off the heat and serve.
Just like most vegetable soups in Nigerian cuisine, e.g Efo riro, Edikang ikong, Afang etc, they can be eaten with a variety of other dishes.
