HISTORY OF OKRA SOUP

OKORO

Okra comes from a large vegetable plant from African origin because it is grown in tropical warm temperate climates and can be wild. The word, derived from the West African Nkrumah, it was used in by the late 1700s. Okra is usually available fresh year-round in the South and from May to October in many other areas in Africa.

OTHER ORIGIN

Okra is a member of the Mallow family and is closely related to the Hibiscus and cotton plants. It bears large yellow flowers and is sometimes planted in flower gardens for the display of yellow flowers in produce. Okra is valued for its edible green seed pods. It is also known in many English speaking countries as lady’s fingers because of its shape. Okra as known in some countries, originated in what the geobotanists call the Abyssinian centre of origin of cultivated plants, an area that includes present day Ethiopia. Okra was then taken to other parts of the world such as Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, Arabia, India and many more in an on certain way. However, Okra is known as Gumbo in America, gumbo is any dish containing okra veg. The plant is cultivated in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions around the world.

PRESERVATION OF OKRA

Okra may be stored in the refrigerator in a paper bag or wrapped in a paper towel in a perforated plastic bag for 2 to 3 days, or it may be frozen for up to 12 months after blanching whole for 2 minutes. Cooked Okra soup can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. All this can be helpful mostly for those who doesn’t leave in places like Africa where the plant is common and easy to find. Okra is a very know vegetable around the world. It can be easily dried for later use. A little dried okra can still produce as much or the same results as does the fresh ones.Okra is indigenous to tropical Africa.

OKORO SOUP

In Africa, the pods are usually sliced thinly and cooked for a long time in other to dissolves the mucilage and this creates the magic in the soup as it produces a huge amount of sliminess. Draw soups are very popular in Nigeria and Ghana and this is where okra comes in, it is often eaten with garri, cassava, pounded yam, Banku or Kenkey. In this day and age, Okra could be frozen, pickled, dried and canned. When buying fresh okra for soup, look for young pods free of bruises, tender but not soft, and no more than 4 inches long. Okra soup the African style usually goes with fish, beef, goat or lamb meat, Cooked with red oil and some other vegetable of the cookers choices and ingredients. It is known to be very sticky with thickening properties when prepared and needs techniques to eat. A first eater will end up having half of the soup on them self if care is not taken. Gumbos, Brunswick stew, and pilaus are some well known okra used dish in America. Okra can be served raw, marinated in salads or cooked on its own. it is a magical vegetable whose texture varies dramatically depending on how it is cooked.

Egusi Soup

Egusi soup is a traditional soup from Nigeria and one of the most popular soup for the Igbo people. Egusi seeds are fat and protein seeds of certain cucurbitaceous plants, the soup is thickened with grounded egusi seeds and have local variations of making the soup. The seed is accompanied with special ingredients such as water, palm oil which is popular with the Igbo’s, vegetable leaves such as (Ughu) and water leaves which are all common in Nigeria. meats such as cow meat, goat meat, lamb meat, chicken and turkey meat and fish such as crayfish, shrimps dry fish (okwporoko) etc. it turns out as spicy yellow and thick soup

Egusi soup goes well with fufu, garri and pounded yam, but the main traditional of them all is fufu. Egusi soup is highly rich in protein and is more like a nice evening dinner. It can also be served in ceremonies in this day and age because many people enjoy having it in occasions.

The soup contains some simple ingredients which is a mandatory egusi seed for a lovely original taste, vegetables and spice. one can add more than one meat if the want and all kinds of dry fish which enhance the foods taste. Melon or Pumpkin seeds can be used as equivalent mostly for people leaving outside Nigeria, but it said doesn’t give that original taste of the right seed.

Egusi soup originated from the Igbo people of South East Nigeria. Egusi comes from a specific type of melon grown in West Africa, the eastern part of Nigeria especially. Egusi soup just like other West African soups are mostly used as sauce for eating fufu, the most popular stable food among the Igbo’s. Fufu can be made using cassava, African yams, potatoes, corn meal, plantains, rice, Millet, wheat flour and semolina. Fufu gets its name from the fermented cassava variety. Another cassava based fufu meal is Garri which can also be used to eat our so beloved egusi soup.

Today, Igbo people have circulated in different parts of the world, they keep their tradition by trying to make their beloved egusi soup. It can be done with other seeds apart from the original, other leaves such as spinach and other cassava products such as ground rice to help bring body and soul together. They make it in most occasions and also encourage friends of other origin to try the dish.

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AKARA

Origin

Akara originated from Nigeria in general and mainly by the Yoruba's. Akara are Nubian in origin and the Yoruba people of Nigeria are said to be of Nubian origin and introduced this bean fritters to the rest of Africa and Arabia. both the Yoruba's, Igbos and Hausas people have been making and eating Akara for more than sixty years today. The Igbo's call it Akara and mainly have it with Akamu (pap) the Yoruba's call is Akara and usually have it with bread and the Hausas call it Kosai or also Akara and mainly have it with Koko which is pap. Akara can be taken as breakfast or snack and is consumed by all categories of people in Nigeria, both the rich and the poor. It is know as a very cheap way of having protein without spending a lot for meat and other source of protein. It is also a meal very suitable for vegetarians. It is also highly recommended during festivals and can be part of the variety snacks to choose from. It is also served in special occasions mostly where the consumption of meat is not required like during the Muslim fasting and many other cultural occasions. The Yoruba eat and give away Akara during their Odun Akara festival which is ever 16^th of June.

What is Akara?

Akara is a small ball cakes made out of black-eyed peas. These peas first of all are socked into water for several hours, this makes the skin or coat soft and easy to pull off, they naked seeds are blended to smoothness that looks like porridge after grinding or blending, it can then be seasoned with ground dried shrimp, onion, paper and salt, shaped into balls and deep fried in palm oil, ground nut oil or even both mixed together. For a vegetarian or for a much easier and cheaper way, can be flavoured in pepper, onion and salt only before frying. With dried shrimp are more traditional and gives it an extremely strong flavour.

Other places you can find Akara.

Akara is also very famous in Ghana, it is called Koose and is also recognised by Ghanaians as breakfast.

Akara recipe was taken to Brazil by the slaves from the West African coast during the slave trade era, it became popular in the Bahia region. It is know as Acaraje. In Nigeria, Akara is sold on the road sides by women who shout out Akara je in Yoruba language, meaning 'come and eat Akara'. When the recipe travels to Brazil, the Brazilians took the name as Acaraje because that was whet the slave women who started selling Akara by the road side during the evenings called it. So that gave it the name Acaraje in Brazil. Brazilian have adopted it as a heritage culture Bahia. Today, Acaraji is sold in most parts of Brazil by mainly women in white Uniforms.

Akara all the way from West Africa and from Nigeria in particular, have circulated in other parts of the world, one of the most popular places apart from Brazil is America where is has been accepted by teenagers as fast food alternative.

　

　

References

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a904372273

http://www.kitchenbutterfly.com/2010/02/09/akara-acaraje-the-brazilian-nigerian-connection/

http://allafrica.com/stories/200902250372.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acaraj%C3%A9

http://ezinearticles.com/?Brazilian-Food-With-History---Acaraje-of-Bahia-De-Sao-Salvador&id=2288717

http://www.odeigahouse.com/site/content_vegetarian_recipes.php

Jellof Rice

Jellof rice is a very popular dish in most African Countries, mainly West Africa and Ghana. It was originated from the Wolof People of Senegal and Gambia, they were known for their rice and fish dish which they called Ceebu jen, this is one of Sengegal's classic dishes that spead over most of the African conitinents in the trading days.

To make this dish, you fry some onion and fish in flavoured mixture, then cook some toamatoes and other vegetables in the oil used in frying the fish and finish it up with cookng the rice in broth from the vegetables.This is a basic way of making this dish and this is a smmilar way of making jollof rice. There are many varieations of making jellof rice in West Africa hower, it contains the same simple ingredients. it was also called Bnachin meaning one pot in the jollof language. As a very easy to make delicious food, was adopted by mainly Nigerians during the trading era among Africans. i It is known this day and aga as mainly a Nigerian dish. Nigeria have the largest population of every African countries and this makes it the most popular pepole who eat and cook jollof rice.

Jellof or Jollof rice as a delicious meal is easy to prepare, it has ingredients that are common in Africa such as fresh red tomatioes, tomato puree, red onion, red paper, salt, species such as curry, thym, etc and can be prepared with either fish, meat or chicken. jollof rice have become a traditional food for Nigerians, it is made in almost every occasion or ceremonies such as Weddings, birthdays, festivals, funerals, and other kinds of occations for both Igbos, Yoruba's, Hausas and other ethnics. There can be other forms of cooking rice such as rice and stew, fried rice and coconut rice, but jellof rice became the most famous, familiar and easiest one to cook. Both children and adults easily fall for it because it looks very delicious after cooking and not too complicated with different kind of vegitables because a lot of children will not be impressed.

The most familiar is jellof rice and chicken. The cooker have a choice of other meat such as goat, lamb, cow meat or fish, however for occasions, the most popular is the jellof rice and chicken version which looks veryn appestising.

Today, how to make jellof rice have cirulated to many foreign contries through Nigerians. Nigerians all over the world try to make the dish in which ever way they can, they also encourage friends of other origin and ethnic groups to try the dish. Nigerian jellof rice have become a very huge dish, as people of other origin enjoy and are now more aware of the dish.

(I will write more about jellof rice in the future)

A worm Wellcome

Hello! Welcome to my blog, feel free to browse read and learn as much as you can. As an up coming writer, i would like to teach, entertain, and educate people who read my blog, mainly about Africa and the people. Africa is the main purpose of this blog, but other information about other countries or things might follow.Generally, i will be talking and discussing about many other things. For entertainment purpose and as a script writer, i will start developing a stage play and write a plot every week. Please feel free to follow up and comment on the storyline about what you think.



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