YAM RECIPES (YAM PEPPER SOUP OR JI MMIRI OKU)

YAM RECIPES (YAM PEPPER SOUP  OR  JI MMIRI OKU)

 

Pepper soup yam, traditionally, is  cooked with fresh fish, stock fish, dry fish or any type of seafood. This dish is bound to get people asking for more. Igbos normally cook it during their new yam festival. It's easy to make and also very tasty and delicious, especially when eaten with palm oil, sprinkled with a little bit of salt.

Ingredients.

. 1 Tuber of yam

• 2 Fresh or 1 tbsp. dry pepper   

• 1 medium sized Red onion (chopped/ blended)     

• Smoked panla fish

• 1 Dried local Catfish                                                       

• 2 tsp. Cray fish

• 1/2 cup Palm Oil

• 2 Seasoning Cubes

• Salt to taste

• A handful Scent leaves 

• 3 Uziza leaves - Optional

• 5 sticks Uda Uentia (xylopia aethiopica) “Negro pepper"

•Aridan “tetrapleura tetraptera “prekese (optional)

  

Directions

-          Chop off a small chunk of the Aridan, pound or grind with a dry mill and set aside

-          Wash the cat fish and Smoked panla fish thoroughly. Remove the bones, rinse and set aside.

-   To prepare the Uda a.k.a Negro pepper which are long dark pods with very bitter  seeds, hit the uda with something heavy and open up the pods; remove and discard the sticky black seeds in it. In an open flame, roast the pods and then set aside. 
                                                                                           

The Pods would be added whole while  cooking the pepper soup as it'd later be discarded once the cooking is done. Most times, it's commonly used in the preparation of pepper soups for nursing mothers, as it helps in cleansing the tummy.                              

   Slice the yam and peel off the brown skin. Rinse with clean water, chop into smaller chunks and place in a sizeable pot.

-           

     Add some onion, pepper, salt to taste and just enough water to cover the chunks of yam in the pot. Cook for about 10 mins till it starts to boil. Once you notice the water in the pot starts to bubble, add a tablespoon of palm oil, washed fish, crushed seasoning, uda, aridan, & crayfish. Stir and cover the pot, for 15 minutes more. The yam should be soft.

-         Turn off the burner and transfer the cooked yam into a different pot so it doesn't get soggy. When serving, dish out the yam and palm oil sprinkled with salt on a flat plate and the yam pepper soup in a different bowl. Serve Hot