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Tomorrow menu.
If you're in Toronto/GTA/ area and need some authentic Jamaican food.
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Chicken Egusi soup.

Ingredients:
(8 servings)
200g Egusi seed
1/2 kg chicken
Smoked fish
Okporoko
Meat (assorted)
4 fresh pepper
3 Tbsp ground dried crayfish,
1 small bunch of Ugwu leaves (or bitter leaf or your preferred choice)
2 cksp palm oil
2 Knorr Cubes,
1 small onions,
3 large fresh tomatoes,
to taste salt

Cooking directions:
-Cut chicken into small cubes, wash thoroughly and pour into cooking pot. Season with 1/2 onion and one Knorr Cube. Add a little water and boil for about 10 minutes or until tender.
-When your chicken cooks a little, add your assorted meat meat and cook for at least 3-4 minutes.
-Mix the ground egusi in half a cup of water and; blend tomatoes (optional), pepper, and the remaining onion and set aside.
-Heat the palm oil in another pot; Pour tomatoes paste into the hot oil, stir for about 5 mins and add the Egusi mixture.
-Stir well and allow it to fry for a moment. Add the crayfish, and the remaining stock cube, stir well
-Add little water and allow to cook for five minutes. Add the boiled chicken, washed okporoko, smoked fish, assorted meats and stir.
-Turn the heat down and simmer for a further 2 minutes.
-Wash and finely slice the Ugwu leaves (or your preferred leaf choice). -Add to the soup and stir. Continue to simmer for a further 5 minutes to allow the vegetables to soften.

Note: The tomatoes gives Egusi soup a unique taste. It's not necessary thou.

Serve with fufu, semo, wheat, amala, eba or your preferred swallow...😊

Bitterleaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu)

Ingredients
Washed and squeezed bitterleaf – A handful
10 small corms Cocoyam
Red Palm Oil
Assorted Beef: Includes best cut, shaki (cow tripe)
Assorted Fish: Dry Fish and Stock Fish
Pepper, salt and ground crayfish
3 stock cubes
1 teaspoon Ogiri Igbo

Pls note:
-If you are outside Nigeria, you can use dried, washed and squeezed bitter leaves but you need to first of all make the bitter leaves soft and fresh again before adding them to the soup.
-You can use cocoyam flour.
-Ogiri Igbo is optional, it gives Bitterleaf soup a unique taste.

Before you cook:
-Wash and cook the cocoyam till soft.
-Remove the peels and use a mortar and pestle to pound the corms to a smooth paste.

Cooking Directions:
-Boil the shaki (cow tripe), stock fish and dry fish in 1 litre of water till they are well done. First sign of a done shaki is that the cuts will start curling on itself.
-Wash the beef and add to the pot of shaki etc. and continue cooking. When the meat is done, add 3 cubes of Maggi/Knorr and cook for 5 minutes.
-Add pepper, ground crayfish, bitter leaves and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the cocoyam paste (in small lumps) and the palm oil.
-Cover the pot and leave to cook on high heat till all the cocoyam lumps have dissolved. You can add more water if you feel that the soup is too thick.
-Add salt to taste and the soup is ready.

Serve with your favourite African swallow...😊

Egusi soup

Ingredients:
4 cups Egusi
3 cooking spoons red palm oil
Beef: best cut and Shaki (cow tripe)
Fish: dry fish and stockfish
2 tablespoons ground crayfish
Pepper and Salt (to taste)
Vegetable: pumpkin leaves, spinach or bitter leaf
3 small stock cubes
1 small ogiri okpei (optional)

Note: You may need more palm oil; You want the quantity of palm oil that will turn every grain of the ground egusi yellow. If you use chicken, please do not use dry fish and stockfish because those two can't co-exist with chicken. If you're using bitterleaf, add it a bit earlier because it is a tough vegetable; perboil your meat, fish or chicken using your favourite egusi soup spices.

Cooking time!

-Pour the red palm oil into a dry pot and set on the stove to heat. As soon as the oil melts, add the ground egusi and start frying.
-Mix the ground egusi with oil till every grain of egusi turns yellow. Stir for about 10 mins.
-Add the meat/fish stock (water from cooking the fish and meat) little by little while still stirring the egusi.
-Add your already washed or cooked stock fish; stir gently and add water if soup is too thick.
-If your choice of vegetable is bitter leaf, add it at this time.
-Cover the pot and cook for 20 mins, stir. Also, top up the water when necessary.
-The egusi is done when you notice that the oil has separated from the mix.
-Once you are happy that it is done, add the ground crayfish and pepper. Stir and add the pumpkin leaves or spinach.
-Stir very well and add the cooked stockfish, shaki and meat.
-Add salt if necessary. If it is too thick, add some water to bring it to a consistency you like.
-Cover and leave to simmer and it is ready

-Serve with your favourite swallow...😊.

Catfish pepper soup.

Ingredients.
1.2 kg fresh fish
Fresh pepper.
110g onions, chopped (1 medium)
2 seasoning cubes
1 tablespoons ground crayfish
2 scotch bonnet
Salt
2 big ehuru (3 small), ground 1/2 teaspoon ground uziza
2 sticks uda utazi leaves (bitters)

Cooking directions:
-Toast and grind ehuru, hit uda to just break it open.
-Wash catfish slices well.
-Pour hot water over the fish slices and leave to stand for 1-2 minutes, drain and rinse in cold water.
-Place in a pot and add just enough water to just cover the fish. Place over medium heat.
-Add onions, seasoning cube, crayfish, peppers and sprinkle some salt.
-Cover and bring to a boil, add ground ehuru, uziza and uda, gently shake and swirl your pot, cook for 5-8 minutes.
-Add about 5 leaves of shredded utazi and some water. Taste and correct seasoning.
-Cook for another 5-8 minutes until fish is well cooked. Take off the heat.
-Serve your Catfish pepper soup with boiled yam, plantain, rice, agidi (eko, corn paste pudding) etc.

Please note:
-To prevent your catfish from disintegrating in your pot of soup, use the hot water method. The hot water hardens the flesh so you can cook it long enough to get the seasonings and spices into the fish.-
-Do not overload your fresh fish pepper soup with too many seasoning and spices. If using a spice blend, use just enough to have a mellow (not harsh) taste.
-If you can stand the heat of hot peppers, this is one pepper soup that benefits from being very hot.
-Fish is one ingredient you do not want to cook from frozen. It needs to defrost properly right through to the centre and because it cooks very fast, there is no way the centre will defrost and cook at the same time as the outside. Leave your fish to totally defrost before cooking.
-Toast ehuru or better buy already toasted one.