This recipe should have been put up on the blog months ago. I actually thought I had put it up only to come across it in my Drafts folder. What better time to try it out than a new recipe with the launch of the new Dooney’s Kitchen with a fantastic flavour packed Northern Nigerian dish. Gyada is pronounced geh-da meaning groundnut, but this isn’t your regular groundnut soup, like Omisagwe from the people of Edo State, this has so much extra added to it, at first I wondered if it would work, but when i saw the bottom of my bowl within a few minutes, yaaaaaaaaaas!!!!! This ROCKS!!!!! Thank you Pauline B. Manilla for the recipe.
MIYAN GYADA
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
- 4 pieces of Garden Eggs – substitute with 1 large aubergine
- 2 cooking spoons of Atarugu (fresh pepper – ata rodo) – or your heat tolerance level
- 1 Kilo of Nama – meat (an assortment)
- 1 cooking spoon of Dadawa – iru or ogiri isi
- ¾ – 1cup of Gyada – groundnut (raw or roasted)
- 1 – 2 cooking spoons of Crayfish
- Stockfish – used just to flavour the meats
- 1 big piece of Smoked fish
- 1 handful of Eja Sawa – dry fish
- 1 handful of Smoked Red prawns
- 1 Alubasa – onions
- 3 tbs of Tsamiya – tamarind, awin, icheku
- 1 handful of Yakuwa leaves – ishapa, english sorrel, white zobo. Substitute with Ugu or spinach
- 2 cooking spoons of Palm oil
- Salt – used only to season the meats
- Seasoning cubes – used only to season the meats
INSTRUCTIONS
- Boil and season your meats and variety of smoked fish with onions, salt and seasoning cubes. To stay as much local to the flavour, I did not use any salt or seasoning cubes in the latter stages of cooking. I relied solely on the beef stock, so endeavour to get it right from here.
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- While the meats are boiling, prep the rest of the ingredients starting from the raw groundnuts.
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- Toast for a few minutes in a dry pan, till the skin crisps up.
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- Proceed to blending the groundnuts (with their skin on) in a dry mill till you get a smooth powder. Mix the powder with a little water to form a thick paste
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- Now to the Garden Eggs. Chop off the stalk and whizz in a blender till smooth. If you are using purple aubergines instead, peel off the skin. If you are using white aubergines, leave the skin on.
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- Whizz in a blender till you get a smooth puree.
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- Rinse and chop the Yakuwa leaves (English sorrel).
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- Tsamiya – Tamarind. I bought this on Ebay. They can also be found in Asian food stores.
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- Tear off a chunk of the tsamiya. Place in a pot with a few tablespoons of water. Alternatively, you can place in a bowl and pour hot water on it. What you want is for it to soften, which would also you mash into a paste, after which you pick or sieve out the wiry stems.
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- Prepping done, time to cook. By this time, your meats should have cooked through. Heat up Palm oil in a pot, add chopped onions and let it fry for a bit.
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- Add the variety of smoked fish which your cooked with the meats. Don’t forget the smoked red prawns. Leave it to fry in the oil gently, just to release some of their flavour into the palm oil.
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- Add the groundnut paste and fresh pepper. Stir and allow to fry for about a minute
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- Add the meats and stock to lighten the soup. You will notice the colour change to a pale lovely shade of orange. Turn down the heat to medium. Remember that the stock constitutes your major seasoning component, so use enough of it. Don’t worry, unless you dump a bucket load in it, it wouldn’t be watery forever. Groundnut thickens as it cooks, so you will be just fine. You need the heat at medium to allow the groundnut cook slowly, and the meats too to absorb the groundnut. If you cook on high heat the soup will cook too fast for and it’ll burn.
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- Once you start to notice bubbles forming, add the dadawa (iru, ogiri isi) and stir. Give it roughly 2 minutes, ensure that you can taste the flavour of the dadawa in the soup. Very important. Add more dadawa, if you wish.
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- With the dadawa flavour coming off, pour in the garden egg paste. Pour in half first (if you have a garden egg aversion like me), give it a minute or so and taste the soup to see if that is fine for you. You want a stronger flavour, add the entire puree. Stir and also leave the so merge with the other flavours. Still keep the heat on medium.
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- Add the crayfish, stir and further lower the heat. Crayfish has a thickening effect with creamy soups. So once this goes in, reduce the heat a little more to counter balance that thickening effect, so as not to allow the soup burn before the flavours combine and develop.
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- Once the soup has thickened noticeably, add the chopped Yakuwa and stir. Yakuwa adds a certain tangyness to this dish which is vital. You will notice its flavour almost immediately. Although Ugu or Spinach will serve as a vegetable substitute, Yakuwa truly is the deal. I cooked with it when making Miyan Taushe and I swear by it in any Northern dish that calls for Yakuwa.
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- One last sour tanginess to this dish is Tsamiya. Never cooked with it before but has now surprisingly become one of my favourite ingredients. Tamarind takes this dish from pretty great to freaking awesome. Trust me. I started with 2 tablespoons and increased to 3. I suggest you do the same. You just may find that 2 tablespoons is okay for you. One tablespoon? Definitely not. You will barely notice its amazing flavour.
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- Once the Tamarind goes in, stir, and cover the pot. Still on low heat, let all those flavours combine. If you need to dilute it, dilute with meat stock or hot water. Give it about 3 minutes or so. Open the pot and be enveloped by the aroma that will set your senses buzzing excitedly. You will notice the lighter liquify part of the soup floating on top and simmering nicely away.
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- When you stir, it becomes thicker, taking on the consistency of Egusi soup. Serve.
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