Food is life

I am a foody type, I like making good for food, cooking is one of my hubbies, I learnt how to make good food from my lovely mother, I eat a lot especially (eba) swallow, either fufu, semolina or garri any of these swallow can go with a good soup.
In my village, cooking one of our native soup 🍲 (ofe ugu) vegetables with okro i.e water leave and popkin, it's contains a lot of blood, Infact it is a blood builder, sometimes doctors recommend this soup to the patients in the hospital.

How to prepare it, you remove the popkin leave either you wash it before cutting it or you cut it before washing it after cutting, you wash the okro very well and slice it into piece for easy pounding after then you put the okro in to a multa and pound it very well make sure the okro will be well soft, and the water leave you wash it very well before cutting it, prepare your ingredients as well it is very simple, the soup doesn't take time to cook once you prepare the ingredients, get everything ready, you on your gas cooker or if you're using native firewood to cook, put water inside but first you put water for garri, if the water boil you the garri and allow it to colling before the soup will be ready, then you put water for the soup either one cup of water or one and half, the quantity of water you put depend on quantity of leaves you have.

as the last child in the family it didn't make me to be lazy especially when it comes to house chores mostly the aspect of cooking, I don't wait for anyone to remind me or to do it for me, I will to the market and buy what ever I want myself then I get the things I need for my delicious meal even the palm oil that will be use to eat it I prepare it myself.

then you allow the water to boil for some minutes you put the fish, meat, kpomo, stockfish and any other thing even snails, let it steam for five minutes, you put okro, make sure you desovle the okro, let it steam for twenty seconds thwn you leaves together, cover the pot allow it to steam for two to three minutes, you bring it down food is ready it's ready to be serve to any guest. I am preparing the ingredients myself because I want to cook it to my taste I don't want story.

in my village this soup is one of the ceremonial soup, there are three types of soup but one is one of the best, very sweet, easy to prepare it doesn't require much ingredients, before you serve it to any guest as it is hot you pour fresh palm oil on it very taste and delicious, as you can see it from a village and local kitchen, remember before I visit my village I will call my grandma to inform her of my coming, she will prepare delicious (ofe ugu) for me immediately I arrived she will serve with cool water from mud pot then I will eat and enjoy myself.

Ingredients

1. stock
2. salt
3. fresh pepper 🌶️
4. seasoning cubes
5. kpomo
6. smoke fish 🐟
   7)palm oil
7. meat

It always be serve when the soup is hot then you will enjoy it.

Not everybody knows how to prepare the soup, unless you some will make out and relax and teach how cook it , know when to apply any ingredient at a particular time to get the correct taste of it,
The red oil i.e palm oil must be fresh with good taste otherwise you not enjoy it, some times people use bad oil that has strange taste and it makes you not to enjoy it the way you suppose to enjoy.

You eat it with well prepared fufu, semolina or garri eba (swallow) it goes down with it, each nkwo market of my village, if go the and come back you did not buy or cook this soup you will recognize you as someone who went to ahia nkwo for that particular week, but things have changed, some times this soup can be prepared with mellon ( akporo akpu egusi) but that is once in a while during one of the festive period of the community new yam festival, every guest must be served this meal with fresh palm wine to download it.

I always like to enjoy this our native soup when ever i visited village, especially during dry season like this because popkin is very hard to get during the dry season but if you can get it good, you know that you going to enjoy another delicious food apart from normal Christmas food every body.
Early morning if my people are planning on how to prepare tea for breakfast for the hole family i will tell them dont count me in because I have my (ofe ugu) to enjoy, i dont joke with it at all, it gives me joy any time i am eating this soup

Firewood is the best source of cooking it give brings out good taste of food, the food will be dune very well with the firewood
in my community every food or soup prepare has it's own season, the soup dont just be prepared on none occasional period ir season, but this one this is season for it, that time you will know thise that are true farmers in the community, buying from the market doesn't show you a true, you go to your garden and harvet it yourself not buy from,

if you're making boosting you know you deserve the boosting, gone are the days, those old good days in a festive period like each family will prepare this soup and bring to the village square it will be tested one by one and after that result will be announce any house hold that wins it, the family name will in the village obi for the next yrea season, and another competition will be conducted, another winner will be emerge, if a particular family wins it for three consecutive year without interrupting the family name name will writing in gold 🪙 and in any occasion the family will be honored all the time they will have special sit in any gathering, if there is young girls or ladies in that family suitors will be coming from other communities around, people believe that by this attitude they can take good care of their husbands, before you know what is going on, the children will be all married to good husband, it is proud of any mother to teach their children on how to prepare good food, is a pride of every mother to see their female children no how to take care of their husbands and families.
It always be serve when the soup is hot then you will enjoy it.