NIGERIAN HERITAGE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NIGERIAN DISH POUNDED YAM AND EGUSI SOUP

Ever heard of pounded yam and egusi, one of the major dishes in the southern part of Nigeria made from beating boiled yams to form a soft starchy white dish called pounded yam and preparing a nice delicious soup with bitter leaves and palm oil called egusi. 


Although the dish is loved by all Nigerian's, two tribes in the country namely the Binis and Yorubas claim ownership to the dish it still not really certain who owns or invented the meal. In order to prepare pounded yam, you would need to slice yam and boil into a pot filled with water, leave for 45-50 mins then sieve out the water, 

transfer the yam to a mortar where you would beat it with a pestle until it becomes smooth and starchy. The egusi soup is the hard part and proper care needs to be taken for the soup to come out as planned. To make egusi soup you would need these items

• Egusi seed otherwise called melon seed
• Bitter leaf, pumpkin leaf or any other leaf you would like that is edible
• Beef, fish etc
• Palm oil
• Onions, Pepper etc.
• Blended tomatoes.

The very first thing you need to accomplish is to beat the bitter leaf with mortar and take out a large part of the juice in order to reduce its bitterness. Although if you are using pumpkin or any other leaf, 

you just have to slice to small portions. After that has been done, wash the leaves properly with water. Next thing to do would be to grind your melon seeds. You can easily do this with a blender. After that has been done, get your pot out, pour in the palm oil into the 

pot, heat the oil until its hot then add your meat with a little content of its water that you must have boiled separately. Then add the melon and the bitter leaves/pumpkin leaves to the pot of oil, your spices and leave to boil. After about 35 mins, your soup would be ready for consumption. This delicacy is a major dish served in traditional marriages in the southern part of Nigeria.

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