Well ya, it is just typical for an eastern Nigeria female to not do much cooking without Ugu leaves, My mum thought me that well and even in excess. Basically, we cant cook or eat anything without vegetables especially Ugu except a few things like Beans...wait hold up even Beans, I remember I would have to sometimes steam some cut out Ugu leaves for beans too.
My mum can't cook and eat anything without veges, it is out of place for you to cook a soup without vegetables and not just a little, naaa...a whole lot.
She kept resounding that in my ears till it became a part of me and the whole family. Even though I have started following the western Nigeria style a bit of almost no veges in some specific soup lolzzz, because that's were I live presently.
So I had a thought, lets see how Ugu would do as a dip combined with very special plant we have at our backyard which is called HOSPITAL TOO FAR OR CATHOLIC VEGETABLE OR IYANA-IPAJA (YORUBA) OR UGU-OYIBO (IGBO), I know right funny names lolzzz, but its SCIENTIFIC NAME IS- JATROPHA TAJORENSIS.
This plant is called hospital too far because, its a natural source of blood instantly and very helpful in times of emergency at home. When a person looses blood, it can be squeezed or blended and administered to the person before rushing the person to the hospital. Its a quick home remedy for your home and also an excellent leaf for cooking anything and this could just be sitting at your backyard.
So i decided to mix this with my Ugu, to make a Nigerian style dip, but don't worry if you don't have this, you could substitute it for scent leaves, it could also work and give it a lovely aroma.
Combined also with Chicken all blended together and then spiced up on heat for 2 minutes, gave us a wonderful dip.
I have introduced Chapatti bread in this blog with my Chicken-Wheat Chapatti rolls, if you haven't seen that recipe then you need to because its amazing, and I also took my time to explain how to prepare Chapatti rolls. I would still put that recipe on this post because I need to explain it as flat bread here.
So...lets get cooking...
Ingredients
1) Some chicken flesh cut out in smaller pieces
2) Ugu leaves and JATROPHA TAJORENSIS(HOSPITAL TOO FAR OR CATHOLIC VEGETABLE OR IYANA-IPAJA (YORUBA) OR UGU-OYIBO (IGBO)) - If this is not available just use a little quantity of scent leaves.
3) Thyme( I made use of the long stranded ones because i love their aroma)
4) Cut out Ginger and Garlic (also do a blended paste separately for your Chicken)
5) Salt
6) Ghana Pepper
7)Whole wheat
8) No Cholesterol oil
9) Egg white
Prep
1) Spice up your Chicken just a little salt, pepper, ginger and garlic paste and then steam or boil with a little water,till its a bit soft and then leave to cool.
2) Pluck out your leaves from the stem, wash thoroughly and cut into small pieces with your hands or a knife.
3) Transfer to your blender, add your Chicken and a little of the stock, add onions, your cut out Ginger and garlic, a little oil and then blend all together.
4) Place your Pan on heat and transfer everything in your blender into it, add pepper, salt, a little, curry and thyme stir and make sure you are very OK with the taste then remove from heat.
Chapati Bread
I prepared this Chapatti differently because I didn't want any sweetness, I just wanted a nice salt only dough. So I didn't use honey or eggs.
1) In a bowl add your wheat, 1 table spoon of oil, half teaspoon of salt and rub in with your hands till its properly mixed.
2) Add water gradually and mix in with both hands. Keep kneading and pressing with your palm, rolling into a ball and pressing with fist till it’s well mixed.
3) Add water till its well rounded and mixed in properly, then form a well-rounded big ball with it.
4) Make sure your dough is easy to cut, not too sticky and easy to roll. Be careful and avoid a strong dough. This means you would keep adding more wheat or water when needed.
5) Cut out into little balls from your dough, take one ball and roll flat with a rolling pin on a clean surface sprinkled with wheat flour.
6) Repeat rolling front and back repeatedly till you have a light and flat fluffy easy to handle dough. If you could get a rounded flat dough the better(just ignore my roughly cut out round edges in the final picture lolzz).
7) Prepare your non-sticky pan or if you don't have one, get a plain frying pan with oil rubbed round it to avoid it from sticking.
8) On the part that would be facing the pan rub a little water on it with a kitchen brush your finger, then put on pan.
9) Put your pan on a low heat and turn at 2 mins interval or when you notice each side are getting brown in color but not burnt or so dry, don't leave for long.
Serve with your dip and enjoy a healthy, delicious and spicy combination to munch or snack on.
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