If you get tired of the same menu, you may want to try a new recipe. Today, we are going South-South, Cross River state precisely to give our traditional meal- Ukom Isip.
Ukom Isip is a delicacy of Cross River state. It is a combination of seafood, coconut milk, and plantain. As easy as this dish is, do you know that it is becoming old and almost extinct? To prepare, check below:
Ingredients
- 3 ripe yellow plantains
- 2 overripe plantains
- 1 can of coconut milk
- ½ a can of Banga (palm nut) extract
- Chunks of fresh cod
- Fresh Nigerian pepper mix (tomatoes, pepper and red bell pepper)
- Salt
- Stock cube
- Smoked fish
- 1 cooking spoon of ground crayfish
- Chopped Uziza (optional)
Directions
1. Add the Banga extract to the pot and add a little water to dissolve it. Just a little water, remember, that coconut milk is on its way.
2. Add the smoked fish to the extract and let it cook till it softens. The taste of this banga extract to the finished product, in fact, is better tasted, than imagined.
3. Hold the peeled plantain directly over the pot, cut circles and chunks into the pot. Do the same for the over-ripened plantains. When you are done, add about a cooking spoon or two of the pepper mix.
4. Empty the entire can of coconut milk into the pot.
5. Give it a good stir, then season and let it cook.
6. As the coconut stock starts to reduce, add the ground crayfish, so it can infuse its flavour early enough.
7. Once the pottage starts to really thicken, stir, taste, and be sure you like it, before adding the seafood and fish last.
8. Stir again and allow to cool.