SATURDAY NAIJA DELICACY: EFO RIRO WITH WOROWO

PREPARING THE CONFIRM EFO RIRO

Unless you are arriving Nigeria for the first time, you should be used to the aroma and the unbeatable taste of the Nigerian Efo riro. Though a Yoruba delicacy, efo riro has not only gained the respect of most Nigerian kitchen, but it is one soup you can't say no to.

Preparing efo riro is not the problem, the issue is in getting your efo riro right. To prepare the proper Yoruba efo riro (not the water flowing type) all you need is the proper ingredients and the right cooking direction. in this efo riro, a vegetable called worowo( Solancio biafrae) was used, to give originality to the soup. You can use spinach too.Okay, let's get down to business.

INGREDIENTS

• Fresh scotch Bonnet pepper (normal ata rodo) - 8 pieces (depending on how hot you want to be).
• Tomatoes - three pieces
• onions - 1/2 bulb.
• African Locust beans (iru) - 2-3 tablespoons
• Smoked Mackerel fish (titus) - 1 large size
• Cow skin (pomo) - as much as you want inside but don't overcrowd the pot.
• Seasoning cubes - 2-3 cubes (beef or cray fish flavour is better).
• Worowo Leaves - 3 bunches/ 500 grams (spinach can act as substitute).
• Red palm oil - 1 and half cups
• Salt to taste.

PREPARATION BEFORE COOKING

- chop the tomatoes pepper and onions. Do not blend to smoothness, just that coarseness you get when you use manual grater.

- Shred the vegetable, wash and pour inside a sieve to remove the water.

- Make sure your cow skin (pomo) is clean and soft. Remove the skin of the smoked fish and cut to desired sizes. Just make sure everything is ready before you start cooking.

COOKING

1. Pour the oil inside the pot let it heat up to almost smoking point. Add the chopped tomatoes, pepper and onions and stir.
2. Add the locust beans (iru) and stir. Let it cook for five minute but do not forget to stir continuously. What we are trying to achieve here is to not only reduce the water content in the sauce but to also remove the sourness of the tomatoes. 
3. After five minutes, add the seasoning cubes, pomo and salt and stir. Let it heat up for another 3 minutes or until there little or no water at all inside the sauce, though not to dryness.
4. After this is done stir the vegetable in, bit by bit. After adding the vegetable, add the smoked fish and carefully stir the efo riro ( Unless you want a crumbled fish). Allow to cook for at least 5 minutes and your efo riro is done.

Efo riro goes well with pounded yam. But Semovita, amala or eba is not bad either.

THINGS TO NOTE WHEN COOKING EFO RIRO

- Make sure your heat source is not too hot, as this will not only get your sauce burnt and spoil the flavour, but it will also not give you total control of your cooking. So you might want to cook in a moderate heat.

- When using vegetables that calls for blanching, do not leave the vegetable in the hot water for so long. Five minutes is enough to blanch your vegetables, unless you want to loose all the nutrients and also have a vegetable that is too soft.

- While many people use only pepper and onions for their sauce, adding tomatoes will reduce the hotness and also give a good base for the vegetable. The only place you need to decide if the you want a oily or watery efo riro is in the timing.

- Constant stirring is a major cooking process when it comes to preparing efo riro. Ingredients like the seasoning cubes (majorly because the sugar or caramel in it) will cause the sauce to get burnt if conscious attention is not paid to it.

- Lastly, the last thing you don't want to end up with is a burnt efo riro, it totally spoils the taste, flavour and aroma of the soup.