Hey again welcome…sassy because of the fish business going on, was just thinking and sassy came to mind lolzzzz. I have been wondering, what’s the best way to ground your egwusi, is it finely grounded or grounded still with seeds or rough. Some people say its best to finely ground your egwusi to prevent lumps, while some say they love the seeds and lumps.
I don’t know but for me or the home I come from, we don’t really care whether there are seeds or not we just want to make a good quality egwusi soup, tasty and healthy. But regardless of seed or seedless enjoy your egwusi and prepare it as good and low calorie as possible. You don’t have to add all the oil in the world to get a delicious egwusi, remember egwusi is quite high in calorie, a little red oil would do.
With little or no cost this soup can be on your table with a giffy, its easy, quick and money friendly. I combined this with a little ogbono and a fresh fish called sardine. Sardine fish is the fish I am presently in love with, it tastes good, very cheap and is amazing... but its quite a bony one so if you want to make use of it and you are also cooking for little kids you have to remove the bones or don’t use sardine fish at all, that’s my advise.
You would also find out the technique I learnt from a 17 yr old teen, I loved the outcome of it and stuck to it. Believe me there’s no body you can’t learn a new technique from, regardless of age, class etc.…to me learning is growing in fact I am always learning, even if I know I still want to know more of that thing, I derive pleasure in it.
You can get any ice fish prepared without it scattering, from croaker to scoobia, sardine, tilapia e.t.c, by just applying some systems.
TECHNIQUES TO MAKE YOUR FISH STILL INTACT WITHOUT SCATTERING AFTER COOKING
Let me share some techniques of how I make my fish stay intact and not scatter in the soup or in any food at all.
-Firstly, after washing your fish thoroughly, removing all the insides after cutting it. Wash it and drain the water out totally if you want.
-Season and spice it up. Let your seasoning depend on what you want to cook. If you are seasoning for just stew or rice or a sauce, you can decide to add curry, thyme, paprika, cinnamon, coriander etc. but for a soup or something like pepper soup you just concentrate on salt, pepper and maybe ginger and garlic... season and marinate if you wish or season and boil at once.
-Let the water be little not much, then cook for very few minutes till water and stock from the fish starts to boil together. Fish doesn’t take time to get soft, when the flesh starts getting whitish then bring down from heat and set aside.
-For whatever you are cooking, use the fish stock to prepare it and keep your fish aside. During the end of your cooking when you have added everything necessary and stirred properly and gotten the taste you want from your cooking then, you could add your fish gradually then stir in a little not much…then bring your pot down. With this you get the fish taste you need and everything blends together and lastly your fish would be whole and full.
-And another last tip is that when warming to eat again, be careful to not stir so much but carefully.
So lets get cooking…
INGREDIENTS
1) Your blended melon/ egwusi ( no specific measurement it all depends on the quantity you of soup you a cooking, 1-2 cups COULD go for a medium sized pot)
2) Your blended ogbono ( it should be less than your egwusi, you just need a little)
3) Ugwu leaves (washed and sliced)
4) A few Chili peppers ( shombo )
5)Dry Ghana peppers
6) Salt
7) One cooking spoon Red oil
8) Onion
9) Dry fish (wash thoroughly with hot water and salt, then de-bone if you want)
10) Cray fish
PREP
1) Boil your ice fish just as described above and keep aside.
2) In a pot before putting it on heat add your oil, because we don’t want to fry or bleach the oil, we just want cook with this method. And healthy cooking practitioners like us we avoid frying most times but still strive to attain a better result than when you fry.
3) In the oil cut some onions, a little of your blended crayfish, salt a little dry pepper and your egwusi and transfer to a very low heat.
4) Stir and stir, add just a little water and then cover and leave the egwusi to thicken and get completely dried up. ( I learnt that specific technique from a young teenager of 17 met) .
5) When you get a thick, dried egwuisi then add your dry fish and fish stuck, melt your ogbono in water or put directly if it that’s what you prefer. (note that I do not want my dry fish whole, I want it a bit scattered that why I am adding it at this stage. If I want my dry fish still whole like I do some times, I boil it or simmer it with my fresh fish and keep aside.).
6) Stir properly and add your chili peppers, a little salt if needed, your remaining crayfish, stir and leave to cook for about 2-3mins with the pot uncovered.
7) Lastly add your Ugwu, then stir and taste and make sure you are comfortable with the taste and then put finishing touches.
8) Immediately after adding your vegetable and stirring add your boiled fishes. Stir from the round for your fish to be covered and immersed in the soup carefully.
9) then remove from heat almost immediately.
Serve and enjoy with eba, wheat, amala e.t.c
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