TwoCents | KITCHEN CHRONICLES: MY VEGETABLE SOUP RECIPE

I woke up this morning feeling quite generous. I think it's tied to the fact that I slept from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. I'm not even going to lie; I felt great and super pumped this morning. I exercised for about 45 minutes. My legs felt sore. After the workout, I thought to myself what meal I should prepare, and my special vegetable soup came to mind. I quickly checked my Opay account to confirm if I could afford my cravings. I quickly went to withdraw an undisclosed amount of money from my street and headed straight to purchase the building materials for the soup I planned on constructing!I bought Ikpa (pomo), Iyak (fish), Unam (meat), Ekporoko (stock fish), fresh pepper, onion, Star Maggie as the Star Chef that I am, and Abou (crayfish). I equally got 5 abofou (foo foo). Yes, I eat five foo foo normally. Feel free to report me to Aproko Doctor. Una too de pressure person! My bag was full, and I decided to board a bike home. On reaching home, I thought to myself, What shall it profit a man if he prepares a great delicacy and doesn't share his secrets with the world? The answer is absolutely nothing. I moved to tease my WhatsApp fans with trailers of my pending meal, promising a big reveal by 8 p.m. I had to get myself into the mood for cooking, so I had Burna Boy's tracks playing in the background. Yes, you have to play good music when cooking. Make the food no come resemble what you're going through! Oh, I was equally eating corn (agbado). It comes highly recommended from Asó Rock.I got into the kitchen to start making magic. I cut the meat and other creatures and put them in one small pot. I washed them, seasoned them, and massaged them softly. The Pomo was POMOing, the fish was fishing and I STOCK them together. I hope you got the joke. If you didn't, kindly read on! I placed the pot on fire to steam for about fifteen minutes. I occasionally checked to be sure they were getting soft. Life is already too hard to eat hard meats! Na soft life I de find.  While the principalities were steaming, I grinded the pepper and crayfish, cut the onion, and opened the Maggie slightly. I brought out small Garri to soak. Wait, you want to judge me? God bless whoever discovered Garri. At this point, I was stamping my feet on Burna's City Boys. I felt a slight pain because today was also leg day. I washed the vegetables twice and placed them in two different bowls. <img src="/media/inline_insight_image/1720294787963.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;" alt="">I took the meat from the fire and covered it. I placed another pot on fire with very little water. As the water steamed, I added the vegetables and poured red oil into it. I turned it slowly to ensure proper circulation. I like my vegetable soup thick and without water. Put differently, I don't want the vegetables to be overcooked. I poured the creatures and road blocks into the pot and mixed them up slowly. The crayfish was the next thing I put in with the onion, and lastly, I put in pepper... Omooo, the pepper was peppering! At this point, the meal was getting close to the finish line, and I was doing mad leg work in the kitchen. I added salt oo,  before you say it, I did not add salt. Ladies and gentlemen, I closed the pot for a bit and came back to taste the food. Chaiiii it slapped me. In a good way! The food get joy. Guess what my secret ingredient is? Drum rolls....... It's pure joy... Na joy be my secret ingredient. <img src="/media/inline_insight_image/IMG_20240706_134034_946.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;">I dished out of the meal and ate with my 5 foo foo. It felt heavenly. Maybe I should do this cooking as a side hustle. It'll probably be Sam's Kitchen, Made with love'...I'm done eating, and I decided to quickly put together this write-up because my bed awaits me. I hope you learned from this epistle from brother Samuel to the church in Lagos!Till I tarry with you again, my dearest beloved people. Shalom! May be continued....

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