We are even tired of rice sef!

Nigerians can be so predictable. This holiday season, please don not kill yasef because you must cook rice and rice is expensive. Please try something different. Cook a local dish from another part of the country if you cannot go continental. We are tired of rice sef!.It is not only expensive and boring, it also causes beriberi when eaten too often…..and palliative troubles!.

By the way,who made that rule that we have to eat rice every Christmas and New Year day?….and to think that we have all adopted the herd mentality of doing like everybody else. Mtchew!.Jaga jaga rice!.

In this great country of ours, with all the variety of food we have, you have sworn to eat rice every Christmas and New Year…..but why?. Do you know light soup? have you tried ofensala for Christmas? Please don’t kill us with rice…mtchew! Expensive nonsense!. Have you tried afang soup and pounded yam before? Or is isshokoyokoto with amala? Is it beans soup with tuwon masara or have you tried akpu with egusi soup? Have you eaten pukluluk with dadawa with tuwon  dawa at Christmas? Or have you tried amora? Have you tried acha couscous? Have you tried ofeowerri or miyan kuka and taushe with pounded yam?. Just because you are Igbo, Yoruba,Fulani or Hausa does not mean you cannot try something from the other geographic divide. Please stop cheating yasef!

Let us look at the snacks. No one makes snacks like the Hausas. Have you tried kulikulin gyada or kulikulin hajiya? have you tried kunun samiya or kunun gyoro for drinks? Or is it zobo. Abeg no kill yasef. The land is very green. E depend on which eye you take look am. I think you understand?. Hura da nono will replace that milkshake hands down!. In fact if you try it, you will not take milkshake again!. What are you buying soft drinks for when you can make healthy zobo,soya beans and kunu? Haba!. Soft drink dey cause diabetes sef. Have you eaten that snack from the east they call abacha or is it zogale salad and local salad from Jos that you cannot make?. Have you heard of lamsur salad? No do yasef nah!.

You want to make expensive salad with egg and baked beans? For what? Save ya money. Make we see how next year go be.Chop healthy Nigerian food abeg!.This yeye rice, wetin rice don take our eyes see this year,from border closure to palliative wahalla,e reach to keep malice with rice this Christmas and New Year because on top of everything, it is still expensive!.No,  we no need am!.

It is in the Nigerian spirit, in the rich culture of the happiest people on earth, that I share with you, the recipe for Edika  ikong soup for your eating pleasure this holiday season.Enjoy

Edika ikong

What you will need:

3cups of Ugwu (pumpkin leaves)

5 cups of waterleaf

Rodo (preferably yellow pepper)

500g meats

150g periwinkle

100g Pomo – cow skin

100g Stockfish – I use Eja Osan

1 medium size smoked fish

1 cup of whole crayfish

So, here we go:

1. Season and boil your meats with stockfish. I use beef, goat meat, saki (cow stomach), and cow leg. Add just enough water to cover the meat, and bring to a boil. Depending on how tough the meats are, this volume of water should be enough. Watch it closely though.
2. Just before the meats are tender, add shredded smoked fish and pomo. This is to soften the fish and infuse some of that smokey flavour into the stock. Adding the pomo too will allow it to soften, making it easier to chew.

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: When your meats are tender, you should be left with a little stock. About half a cup worth. If you have more than that, decant into a bowl and keep aside. Remember, stock is the worst offender for making Edika ikong.

3. Add a cooking spoon or two of palm oil into your pot of meat, let it boil till the palm oil dissolves into the stock then add the blended rodo and let it dissolve too. The Yoruba part of me loves this soup hot, so I tend to add 2 cooking spoons of pepper.
4. Add the periwinkle and waterleaf, and stir. Cover the pot, lower the heat and let this steam for 5 minutes. Don’t worry if it looks like the waterleaf has taken over the pot. The steam will sweat it down.
5. Add blended crayfish. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: I rinse my crayfish in water to remove the dirt and I blend with about 1- 2 tablespoons of water. Let this cook for another 2 – 3 minutes, then taste the difference in the liquid left in the pot. Crayfish adds up the flavour immensely, you may not need seasoning cubes
6. Add the Ugwu, give it a stir, and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Stir and taste for salt. If you need more, add a little. If you are itching to add a seasoning cube, you can, but why don’t you try adding more crayfish instead. Trust me, seasoning cubes have nothing on crayfish. Add a little more crayfish, stir, cover the pot and just wait an extra 2 minutes or so.

…And that’s it really. It is a very simple soup, yet very very very delicious.

So, there you have it – My version of Edika ikong. To the Calabar people that gave the world this dish, I hail oooooooo.

http://dooneyskitchen.com/edikaikong-a-traditional-calabar-recipe/

You can try this edika iIkongwith Eba or tuwon masara. I eat my own with tuwon masara….I am already salivating at the thought of it!. Soup no dey complain. You can marry any Nigerian soup from the North with swallow from the East. For example.E go waka,e go flow…..Make we dey learn something from our food abeg.

Its bonding time!.You are lucky to be living in Jos, the cosmopolitan city. Oya, this holiday season, tell that Yoruba or Ngas, Fulani and Igbo neighbour, that itshekiri and Urhobo and Anaguta neighour, that Esan and Ibibio neighbour, that neighbour from Koma village, to teach you his or her local dish. It does not matter where they come from. Learn it, cook it and eat it! You will not die! It cannot kill you!.It has not killed your neighbour. Stop turning up your nose at our Nigerian food!. Stop that oyibo nonsense…fried rice, white baked rice, saute rice, puree rice, rice wine, rice cake, rice rice rice…. E don do!. If your neighbour can eat dadawa or periwinkle, you can eat it too. Same goes for other tribes. This is a good opportunity to bond  and eat what ya neighbour is eating. It will bring more love and peace, because the way to a man or woman’s heart is through his or her stomach. Do not give rice any space this season. Rice has caused us too much problem in this country this year.!. Let us celebrate  without it for a change abeg. Jaga jaga rice!

#Say No to rice this holiday season! We move! Have a Merry Christmas and a very Covid-free Happy New Year