"SLC-S25/W1 | Community World Tour : Traditional Cuisine"

Come with me to my hometown, Uyo Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. Let me introduce you to a delicious soup that you may at first got scared of the name but case what? Is not about the name, it about what the soup have in stock for us and lovers of traditional cuisine.

Here you are going to see how I was able to turn a leave that was once bitter as the name implies to a delicious soup that is loved by everyone including the kids.

Are you ready? Let go.

Before that let me tell you a little story about bitter leaf soup.

Story behind bitter leaf soup.

There was a woman who lived in my hometown, her name was Iquo (Ibibio name) she was known for her cooking styles and techniques. People usually travel from far distances to eat her food and there came a day where a cooking contest was organised.

Everyone were asked to cook something different from the usual food they are familiar with.

As at that time bitter leaf was not eaten by anyone in the village because no one new how to wash out the bitter taste from the leaf and make it edible.
Everyone tried their new recipes and Madam Iquo did something very strange, she cut the bitter leaf and came out with a very delicious soup that kept everyone talking about it for years and madam Iquo was asked to teach every other women how to cook this soup.
From that time onward the soup became a must cook soup in important events in the community including traditional marriages.

This soup is used in welcoming visitors because not everyone can cook it because of the bitter taste till date.

Anyone who knows how to cook bitter leaf soup very well without the bitter taste is rated as a top cook.

I cooked my bitter leaf without the bitter taste will you say I am a good cook?

Ingredient needed for the soup

Bitter leaves
Dried fish
Onions
Fresh pepper
Seasoning cubes
Salt
Palm oil
Stock fish
Meat
Waterleaves
Melon
Perewinkle
Greyfish

Directions for preparation.

Step 1	This is me cutting the bitter leaf from my backyard. I pound and wash the bitter leaves thoroughly so as to extract all the bitter juice from it. It took about 30 minutes before I could successfully have leaves free from the bitter taste.
Step 2	I wash the water leaves I bought from the market thoroughly to avoid sand. After washing the water leaves I go ahead to chop it to the desire size.
Step 3
	I wash the meat and season it and leave it for sometimes before going ahead to cook it. While the meat was cooking I wash the stock fish and add to the meat and letter followed by the fish.
Step 4
	I later added perewinkle and oil to the stock water and cover it to steam for 3 minutes
	I added my chopped waterleaves to it and cover the pot for 5 minutes and later check on it, turned it to mixed well.

I added greyfish, and later followed by melon and some seasoning soup.

I added salt to taste as well as fresh pepper.

The last thing I went in with was the washed bitter leave which at this point was no longer bitter.

After adding the leaf, I allowed it to cook for 2 minutes and put off the fire.

Here is my video demonstration, through my YouTube channel.