Take a ‘kitchen trip’ to Rivers and savour their Udo-Fulo soup delicacy

Rivers State, with the slogan ‘the treasure base of the nation’, is not only the leading state in terms of mineral resources, but also the number one state, when it comes to seafood cuisine.  The oil-rich state is a coastal region that houses varieties of seafood and different species of fishes. As such, there are tens and hundreds of local delicacies that have fishes and sea animals as their key ingredients.

This week, Xquisite food is taking a dive into Rivers State seafood delicacies and the one that caught our hook is the popular Udo-Fulo soup; a local soup that has six different seafood and variety of fleshy fishes as part of its ingredient.

Since Rivers State has many rivers and seas, one can understand why this soup is made with so much fish and seafood.

If you are the type that doesn’t eat meat, Udo-Fulo soup should excite you.

Ingredients used in preparing this soup are; fresh fishes like tilapia, croaker and seafood such as mussels, clams (ngolo), isam (periwinkle), fresh prawn, crabs, large shrimps, oyster, snails, crabs, cocoyam, basil or scent leaf, palm oil, salt, onion, fresh pepper, seasoning cubes and of course, a clean pot.

Want to try it? Here are the directions:

1. Boil the cocoyam until they become very soft. Peel the backs, pound to a smooth paste with red oil and set aside. Cut the fish into large chunks, clean the seafood and set aside. Chop the red onion, roughly blend the fresh pepper and crayfish and set aside.
2. Pour palm oil in a pot, after heating up a bit, add the chopped onions and stir.
3. When the onions turn slightly brows, lower the heat of the gas or stove and add the thoroughly washed and de-scaled fresh fish and let it fry slightly.
4. Then add the fresh pepper and sprinkle seasoning cubes on the fishes. After five minutes, add a little water, cover the pot and let it cook. Remember to keep the heat low to preserve the delicate flavour of the fish.
5. After some minutes, gently remove the fishes from the pot so as to still keep them intact and add the medley of seafood. Leave to cook until the prawn and shrimps turn pink and the mussels and oyster\clamps opened. This is a sign that they are well cooked.
6. Again, like the fish, take the seafood out to prevent overcooking.
7. Add the pounded cocoyam into the soup which will thicken it, then add dried grounded crayfish, salt and seasoning cubes.
8. Then re-add the cooked seafood and fish into the soup, shake the pot in a circular motion to distribute it.
9. Lastly, add the freshly chopped scent leaves, shake the pot and leave to cook for another five minutes.
10. Voila! Udo-Fulo is ready!

Serve with eba or pounded yam.