Contest!! "Steemit Big Chef03" [Cooking Of Melon Soup]15-04-2024

^{Edited on pixellab}

Warm greetings to my beautiful steemians across the globe, I believe today is a wonderful day as it is the first day of the week. It is a pleasure to join in this contest organized by @chant on the title: Steemit Big Chef03, thank you for bringing up such an amazing contest in @steemcameroon.

Let's go down to the contest questions proper.

What was your favourite meal of the week?

Let me start by letting you know that I like cooking a lot, and there's no day that passes by that I won't put a pot on the fire. The dish I prepared this week (today to be precise) is Melon Soup, though melon soup is not my favourite but since it's the soup I've been craving for and I also planned on cooking it this week.

Did you prepare it or order from a restaurant?

Like I said earlier that I love cooking, so it is never in my agenda to order any meal from a restaurant, because I wasn't brought up that way, meanwhile, I can't remember the year I last ate from a restaurant talk more of ordering a meal from there.

I love experimenting my cooking talent when ever an opportunity spring up. And I also love learning different patterns in cooking a particular dish.

Why do you like this particular meal?

I like melon soup because it can be prepared with different types of vegetables (leaf), such as:

• Waterleaf
• Bitter leaf
• Curry leaf (ikò)
• Vegetable leaf (pumpkin
• Uziza leaf (hot leaf)

In my family house, my mom normally make use of bitter leaf in cooking melon because that's what my father wants and it's always sweet as it will leave you with the sweet bitter taste in your tongue when you drink water after eating the meal.

Personal I love using vegetable leaf in preparing my melon soup that's because I love vegetable leaf so much, and I always make sure I put vegetable leaf in nearly all my cooking, this time around I didn't use vegetable leaf rather, it's bitter leaf and curry leaf I used.

Mention the ingredients used and step by step process of preparing this meal.

Below are the ingredients I used in preparing my melon soup:

^{The necessary goods I bought from the market}
• Melon
• Meat
• Cow skin
• Dried fish
• Periwinkle (shell)
• Crayfish
• Fresh pepper
• Bitter leaf
• Curry leaf (ikò)
• Onions
• Maggie
• Salt
• Palm oil (red oil)

Melon Soup is actually prepared in two ways, Frying method and non-frying method. I prefer the frying method and that was the one I cooked.

I grinded my two cups of melon in the market already, I poured the melon into a big plate and put water stir it and set aside.

I washed the goat meat and the cow skin, put into the cooking pot, added salt and onions, cooked it for about 5 minutes so that it will get soft, when it was done, I added my fish and periwinkle and added seasoning cubes, pepper, salt and onions to it amd turned together.

^{My steam meat, cow skin, dried fish and periwinkle}

While it was on fire, I cut my curry leaf into tiny pieces and also washed my bitter leaf and set aside.

I allowed the meat to steamed for 2-3 minutes before I put it down and put the frying pan on fire. I put red oil into the frying pan, when it was a little hot I put the remaining slice onions, then I pour in the melon and begins to fry it gradually till the water dry off it.

I fried the melon for about 3- 5 minutes until it was well dried then I pour it into the pot of my steamed meat, stir it together and allowed it boil for 3 minutes.

^{Pouring my fried melon into the pot of meat}

Then I put crayfish and bitter leaf stir it and allowed it to boil for another 2 minutes then I added the curry leaf last and stir it again, in a minute time I put it down and my soup is ready.

^{My sumptuous melon soup}

Is there any history behind this particular meal?

Melon Soup is a popular African soup and it's well known by different African countries like Ghana, Mali and Nigeria at large. Here in Nigeria the Igbo tribe called it egusi while the Yorubas call it egwusi, the Yorubas are the real lovers of melon soup.

What is the nutritional value of this meal?

^{My delicious meal about to go down}

Melon soup has so many nutrients in it, it's helps to boost ones appetite due to the presence of vitamin B1 constituents. And it also helps in digestion process that is because of the presence of dietary fibre.

Melon Soup is rich in protein, which is essential for tissue repairs and growth, it is also crucial in forming and maintaining healthy bones.

Melon Soup is made with grounded melon seeds, it improves your skin and slow aging and also reduces risk of heart disease.

Thank you for reading my post as I invite my friends @tripple-e, @pandora and @eveetim to participate in it.