Editan Soup Recipe: How To Make Delicious Editan Soup With Water leaves

Editan soup is another tasty vegetable basedsoup popularly known among the Efiks and Ibibios, this indeed is a rich tasty soup made from a slighly bitter and slimy leafy vegetable called Editan,waterleaf and other healthy ingredients.

Here you go again Calabar food lovers here isanother delicious vegetable soup recipe foryou which is similar to Afang soup in the preparation process but slightly different in taste; one thing about this editan soup, is that it is deliciously sweet such that one could confuse it taste with that ofAfangandEdika-ikong soup, I’m sure you will love this soup and would appreciate me for this. Oh my home sweet home! Am really missing my Mum and my Aunt over there, because they always love to prepare Editan for us then, especially when we have Ekpan-Iwa (long cassava envelope- I gave it the name) at home to eat editan with. I cant really forget the old time memories of this soup. Nevertheless, I can still cook this soup and teach someone else without mummy’s helping hand. Hope I’m not funny? But I mean it .lol!!!.

Editan leaves are deep green leaves with an obvious bitter taste. If you are familiar with bitter leaves(bitter leaf soup), you would easily understand exactly how bitter editan leaves taste like when it is not washed. Editan soup is a very special and delicious soup which can either be prepared with okro or water leaves depending on which one you want to use, they are both good to go. If you are using okro to prepare editan soup, there would be no need for water leaves. You either use one of them but not both.
In the preparation of this soup, one needs a lot of time to get things done appropriately. There are other soups likeafia efere (Calabar white soup)andogbono soup, which are faster and simple to prepare compared to Editan soup. The reason why Editan soup takes a lot of time is because of the procedures involvein the:

• Slicing and washing of the slimy bitter liquid out of the leaves,
• Plucking and slicing of bitter leaves and
• Chopping and washing of the periwinkles which are the major tasks involved plus, the soup requires a lot of ingredients for it to taste better and delicious.

The following are the things you need to do before starting the real cooking of the editan soup Just before you start the preparation of Editan soup

How to wash bitter taste from Editan leaves

Shredded editan leaf is being spread under the sun

1. Pluck, pick, rinse if necessary and slice Editan leaves into tiny pieces. You can buy editan leaves and give them to one of the women selling vegetables in the market to help you do this quickly without much time wastage.
2. After leaves have been thinly slice, pound the leaves in a mortar but dont make it into a smooth paste like the way you pound Afang leaves, just to reduce the sharp slices.
3. Pour the pounded leaves into a medium bowl, add a cup of water. Using your both hands, mash and squeeze the leaves against your palms, until the greenish slimy water comes out,
4. 1^stmethod: Pour the leaves into a colander (Sieve) to drain out the greenish water; keep squeezing and pouring water to it. When the slimy liquid is all out, taste it with your tongue to check if the bitter taste has reduced or if you can tolerate it, if it is still bitter, continue squeezing and be pouring water to it. When the bitter taste reduce, squeeze out the water from the leaves or leave it inside the colander for the water to drain out and keep it aside

Note:the first method is for those that are allergic to edible potash (kaunwu) and it allows you to achieve a greenish and fresh editan soup without being over cooked, if you don’t have the patience to go through this process, you can move to the next step which goes thus:

1. 2^ndmethods: Following the first method, soak the Editan leaves in salt or potash water for 5 minutes, wash and twist the leaves against your palms severally, changing the water as you do, until the slimy water and the bitter taste are cleared and you are left with Editan leaves free of bitter taste.
2. 3^rdmethod: Pour the pounded leaves into a medium pot, add a little potash into the pot containing the leaves and place the pot on a stove and boil it for just 10 minutes before sieving the slimy liquid out, this will stop the bitterness instantly. The issue with potash is that, it will leave the vegetables with a flat taste and it could cause stomach upset to some people but not always. If you use a little quantity, it will be fine.

Washing of editan leaf- the leaf is drain with a colander to get rid of excess liquid

Other things you need to do before cooking editan soup

1. Pick, pluck the water leaves from the stalks and remove out the think flower.
2. Wash and shred the water leaves into tiny piece. If you are going to be using okro to prepare the editan soup, wash and chop the okro (okra) fingers into tiny shapes and keep aside.
3. Wash stockfish, kpomo (cow hide) and dried or smoked fish in salt water and keep all aside. Cut the kpomo into desired shapes
4. Cut your periwinkles, wash severally and soak in salt until you need it. You can steam it for 5 minutes just to be sure that there are extra dirt or debris in them.
5. if you are going to use snails, wash the snails with lime water to get rid of the slippery substance, partially divide the snailsat the centreand keep it aside
6. Wash, season the meat with two seasoning cubes, one onions and pepper and cook themeat until soft when it is almostalmost soft, add yourstockfish (cod), snails andkpomo to the meat and cook till soft.
   Note:The reason why I listed all these steps out for you is because, this is where the main work lies; when all these are done, it will be easy for you to cook the soup faster without you perambulating trying to figure out what to do at a time.

Ingredients for Editan Soup preparation

• 1 Big bunch of Editan leaves
• Generous amountwater leaves
• A handful oduza (oziza) leaves
• 1kg of beef meat,goat or assorted meat
• 1 medium stock fish head
• 2 Medium size smoked fish or dried fish
• snails (8 medium size (optional)
• 1 Tincup grounded crayfish
• 2 Cups of periwinkles
• 4 Scotch bonnet pepper
• 25 Cl palm oil
• 4 Seasoning cubes
• 1 Ball onion
• Salt to taste

Shredded editan with chopped water leaf

Directions on how to prepare editan soup with water leaves

1. Since the meat is already cooked, add 1 cup of water to the meat and allow it to boil. When the water starts to boil,
2. Add the wash smoked fish to the pot. Make sure you dont add it with the meat to cook because the heat will break them down till you cant find them anymore.
3. Add palm oil, crayfish, seasoning cubes, pepper traditional ingredients (okpei), stir and let it cook for 5minutes.
4. Add the shredded water leaves or chopped okro to the pot on heat.
5. Add the alreadywashed editan leaves and uziza leaves (odusa leaves) without stirring, cover the pot and allow to boil for 5 minutes.Uziza leaves givea unique flavour to editan soup, you can as well substitute with the uziza seeds.
6. Open the pot and stir the soup properly and allow it on a low heat for 5more minutes.
7. Taste for salt and seasonings, put of the heat and bring down the soup.

Your editan soup is ready, serve with Ekpang-iwa ,eba, fufu or semolina.

Simple directions to make editan soup

1. Add 1 cup of water to the meat to increase the liquid, but if the meat has enough stock, dont add more water. Bring the meat to a boil.

2. Add the wash smoked fish to the pot. Make sure you dont add it with the meat to cook because the heat will scatter them, till you cant find the pieces anymore.

Boiling of meat for editan soup

3. Add palm oil, crayfish, seasoning cubes, pepper traditional ingredients (okpei), stir and let it cook for 5minutes.

4. Add the shredded water leaf or chopped okro to the pot on heat, depending on the one you.

Cooking process of editan soup

5. Add the alreadywashed editan leaves and uziza leaves (odusa leaves) without stirring, cover the pot and allow to boil for 5 minutes.

Editan and uziza leaf have been added to the content.

After adding the leaves, stir let the soup cook on a low heat while the ingredients combine

6. After 5 minutes, stir the soup properly and allow it on a low heat for fivemore minutes.

Delicious editan soup is ready

7. Taste for salt and seasonings, put of the heat and bring down the soup.

Enjoy Editan soup with semolina or fufu

7. Your editan soup is ready, you can serve tis with Ekpang-iwa, eba, fufu or semolina.

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