HOW TO PREPARE NIGERIAN BITTER LEAVE SOUP(with health benefits)

HOW TO PREPARE BITTER LEAVE SOUP

    Bitter leaf soup is a delicious traditional Nigerian soup.
It is prepared with a bitter leaf (vernonia amygdalina) and although the name suggests that it is a bitter soup, but that's not the case. The bitter leaves used for this soup, are properly washed and squeezed, until there is only a slight taste of bitterness left.

INGREDIENTS

- 1 cup bitter leaf (that has been washed and squeezed)
   - 6 corms cocoyam ''ede ofe'', made into paste
   - 200g assorted meat (cow foot, cow tripe(shaki) etc.
   - 3 cooking spoonful red palm oil
   - dried fish
   - stock fish
   - 2 tablespoonful ground crayfish
   - 1 teaspoon ogiri/iru oe dawadawa ( fermented oil seeds) 
   - 2 Maggi or knorr cubes(bouillon cubes)
   - pepper (to taste)
   - salt (to taste)

PREPARATION METHOD OF BITTER LEAVE SOUP

 
**if you are using raw cocoyam corms, wash and place the corms into a pot, pour enough water to cover the cocoyam and cook till soft. peel of  the cocoyam skins  while its still hot(be careful not to burn you fingers) and grind to a smooth paste in a blender as shown here, or pound in a mortar and pestle.
 If you are using cocoyam powder, boil some hot water and make into a thick paste as you do with semolina or fufu.

**if you haven't done this already, wash the bitter leaves by squeezing and scrubbing the leaves in between your palms (and changing the green colored water occasionally) until there is a faint taste of bitterness in the leaves; you’ll have to taste the leaves to be sure.

Tip: if using dried bitter leaf, place in boiling water add a little baking soda or akanwu(potash), boil for 15 minutes , strain the  leaves, rinse with water.
 The baking soda or akanwu (potash) helps to soften the bitter leaves.

** wash and clean the dried fish and set aside.

   ** spice and cook the meat, starting with the tougher ones first (the cow tripe (shaki)& cow foot always takes longer to cook. Add the cleaned stock fish and cook until done.
(You can also cook the dried fish with the meat, but these depends on how tough the dried fish is, so that it doesn't break to pieces in the soup :)

** add the palm oil , cleaned dried fish, ground crayfish, pepper, ground iru/ogiri & stock cube and cook for about 10 minutes.

** Now scoop in the cocoyam paste, cover and leave to cook until the cocoyam lumps are well dissolved. Add bitter leaves& salt to taste, mix thoroughly and leave to simmer for 2 minutes and the soup is ready.

 HEALTH BENEFITS OF BITTER LEAVE SOUP 

1.   It speeds up metabolism and therefore is great for weight loss. 

2.     Vitamins in Bitter leaf includes; Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vit.B1 and Vit.B2.

3.   It provides the body with protein and helps repair damaged tissues.

4.   It contains iron which helps in forming hemoglobin that transports oxygen to different parts of the body.

5.   It helps the circulation of blood in the mucous membrane.