Special contest for steemAfrica| Promoting delicious Editan soup| @chiomy, Nigeria.

Hello steemians,
I am very glad to participate in this amazing contest.
It's with great pleasure that i share this recipe of one of my traditional soup.

A picture of me with my Editan soup

Brief history of Editan soup

Editan soup is a vegetable soup that originates from the Efik and Ibibio people that live mostly in the coastal states of Cross Rivers and Akwa Ibom (2 neighboring states out of the six Southern states that constitute the natively nicknamed ‘South South’ regions of Nigeria) is a soup made with Editan leaves and another common green leafy vegetable locally called waterleaf aka Malabar spinach.

Editan soup is quite the staple in the coastal cities of South Nigeria and is heavily featured in ceremonies and festivals of the Ibibio, Efik and other residents of the ‘South South’, including weddings, christening of newborn babies or even at funerals. Because Cross River and Akwa-Ibom states are riverine, most stews and soups originating from these states are made with some type of seafood and might include a variety of assorted meats, as featured in this recipe.
Source:

Health Benefits

Waterleaf and Editan are extremely nutritious and the health benefits are as follows:

• Eating a diet rich in Editan may reduce risk for stroke, cancer, heart disease and type-2-diabetes.

• Editan also increases fertility in women.

• Waterleaf is an excellent source of calcium and phosphorus, both of which are essential for healthy bones.

• They help in maintaining sufficient levels of vitamin A that is essential for healthy eyes.

• They are an excellent dietary source of iron and helps reduce anaemia.

•They are rich in Vitamin C and reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and slows age-related cognitive decline.

•Lastly, the Editan soup is a highly balanced diet as it contains the six classes of food.
Source

Ingredients

1. 6 pieces of Smoked fish
2. 500g of Beef
3. 25cl of Palm oil
4. 50g of Crayfish
5. Freshly cut Waterleaf
6. 3 bunches of Editan leaf
7. 250g of fresh pepper
8. 5 Seasoning cubes
9. 1 tablespoon of salt to taste
10. Periwinkle (unshelled)

Procedures
Cooking this soup is actually easy but the preparation takes a lot of time. The procedures are as follows:

I washed my freshly cut waterleaf several times to remove dirts and particles. Ensure to wash it up to four times.

After washing the waterleaf, i sliced them into tiny bits as seen in the picture above.

Wash the fresh pepper and then blend it

after blending the pepper

Next, wash the unshelled periwinkle to remove dirts. It is usually very muddy and must be washed with a lot of water.

Here I soaked the periwinkle. I usually wash with potash or salt to make sure it's clean.

This is what a properly washed periwinkle should look like.

Clean up the smoked fish, remove the unwanted parts and then wash.

after cleaning and washing the fish

Now, it's time to wash the already sliced editan leaf. It is a very bitter leaf and hence is advisable to wash with hot water and throughly.

Pour hot into the bowl containing the leaves and wash several times.

this is what it looks like after washing

Now it's time to cook properly
Step 1: Put the already boiled beef on fire and and the fish, add some pepper and salt and allow to steam for 5mins

Step 2: After steaming, add the palm oil generously into the pot. Then add the pepper, seasoning cubes, salt, crayfish and 0.5L of water and allow to cook for 10mins

Step 3: Add the periwinkles into the boiling soup and leave for another 10mins, this is to ensure that all the ingredients mix well.

Step 4: Add the waterleaf into the pot, note that we did not pour a lot of water because the water itself contains water. All it to cook for about 7mins and then stir properly.

this is what it should look like when the waterleaf is cooked

Step5: Now, it is time to add the Editan leaf. Put the leaf in the soup and do not stir until after 4mins.

the soup is cooked and ready to be eaten now

This is what my soup looks like after being dished.
This soup is best eaten with
Fufu and Eba.

Thanks for reading

Special regards to @alikoc07 @steemcurator01 @steemcurator02