Cooking Blog|| Nigerian Cuisines

Hello my steemit friends and welcome to this foodie segment with chef alysaa😁♥️

Today I'll be cooking a Nigerian Cuisine called atama soup, also called palm kernel soup. It can be cooked with either waterleaf or Atama leaf but today I'll be using Atama leaf. Atama leaf is a popular soup leaf among Nigerians and especially those of south-south origin. It is mostly enjoyed due to its unique taste and nutritional and health benefits it possesses. Atama leaf is sometimes called English bush apple leaf (leaves) and it has a botanical name known as "Heinsia crinita"

First Let's talk a little about the health benefits of atama. Atama Leaves helps heal wounds fast, it treats constipation and helps in regular bowel movement.

It is a kind of palm-fruit vegetable soup made from palm kernels and originates from the Efik people of Cross River state, Urhobo and Isoko people in Nigeria.

Ingredients

1/2 Kilo beef.

Smoked icefish

Shelled periwinkles (cut and washed properly)

Fresh peppers(grind well)

Prawns (Make sure you remove the head and the sharp ending part)

1/2 cup Crayfish (grounded)

Fresh Atama leaves sliced finely

3 cooking spoon full of palm oil
4 seasoning cubes

Cooking Instructions
Wash your meat, season well with any of your meat spices and cook till tender. Add the Stockfish head and later add periwinkles. Cook until tender.
Make sure, you dont allow the meat stock to dry out. You can add a little water so the taste is intact and afterwards increase the water adding more seasoning.

Boil the palm kernels for 25 minutes.

Then pound it well until it is shredded

Boil water and use it to rinse and drain the water. ( Do not rinse with excess water depending on the quantity of the palm fruit). Keep it aside

Slice the Atama leaves into very small and fine pieces. You can pound them if you wish. Then place the palm fruit extract on the heat and let it boil for about 5 minutes to remove all moisture.

Add cooked meat and washed stockfish, prawns, meat stock, periwinkle, crayfish, pepper and seasoning cube

Then stir, then allow to boil for about 10 minutes. Add the atama leaves and boil without stirring for another 10 minutes. If too thick,you can just add some water over the content and stir properly. ( I like mine thick anyway). Also because of its richness in oil extracted. Don't pour in too much palm oil, to avoid the soup becoming too oily. Stir and add salt to taste.

Allow to simmer for another 15 –10 minutes or until slightly thick. Remove from heat and serve with pounded yam, garri, fufu or rice.

I chose Fufu which went so well.
Would you like to try this?😁