Me? I'm enjoying my saturday as always because saturdays or should I say weekends afford me the luxury of spending quality time in my home zone (apologies to etisalat) which would be my kitchen...
So today I want to introduce to you the beauty and awesomeness of the "Miracle tree". Moringa oleifera is the scientific name. It is called different names by different people and cultures... Benzolive tree, West indian ben, Drumstick tree, Horseradish tree or Ben oil tree are all it's names as our "oyinbo" brothers call it. Locally, the Tivs call it "Jegelegeje" being a borrowed name from our Hausa brethren who call it "Zogalle" or "Rimin turawa".
Moringa as it's commonly called has always been in existence but nobody really understood that it was an embodiment of rich nutritional, medicinal, therapeutic and prophylatic properties; thanks to our Indian and Chinese folks whose love for natural medicine has helped us discover this miracle tree. It's leaves, seeds, stems and roots uses are endless. it may be used as forage for livestock, as a micronutrient liquid when extracted, as an anthelminthic and also a possible adjuvant... where are the pharmacists and pharmacologists, you should get busy in the laboratory already as for me I sure got busy in my "laboratory" as you will soon see because Moringa is also food for humans.... hehehe... I'm getting excited already.
Moringa is a slender tree with drooping branches that grows to approximately 10m in height but to ensure it keeps regrowing its leaves and pods, it is good to trim the tree annually. It grows mainly in semiarid, tropical and subtropical areas, it grows best in dry sandy soil and it is a good tolerant of poor soil too (that's why Nigeria especially northern Nigeria is richly blessed with this tree). It is fast growing as well as drought-resistant originally a native tree to the southern foothills of the Himalayas (Northwestern India) and yes India is the largest producer of Moringa (1.1 to 1.3 million tonnes).....
Moringa seeds can be eaten as nuts raw or roasted, the leaves and tender pods as well as it's flowers are absolutely wonderful in soups and other culinary endeavours.
The leaves can also be eaten raw when dried at room temperature (in a shady area to avoid the direct sunrays destroying all the nutrients) and ground into powdered form... it's always better to pound and sieve. A little dry pepper, dry ginger and a pinch of salt to taste, makes it a delight any day.... I snack on it and it's always a cheer because Moringa leaves alone are known to give 6.8mg of Vitamin A, 440mg of Calcium, 259mg of Potassium, 6.7mg of protein and 220mg of Vitamin C. Isn't this amazing I mean I know how much we crave for these minerals and vitamins, taking supplements, eating special diets and so on when all you need do is a teaspoon of Moringa three times a day!
Moringe does wonders for diabetic patients as it reduces their sugar levels drammatically... My Grandma is diabetic and boy is Moringa her pal, it's also very good for hypertensive patients too, it's good for intestinal ulcers, fevers and a whole lot more; the "Immunosupressive" ones too are not left out... Moringa is also an very good fat burner.
#whispering#... that's why I no longer work out like before, Me? I do both the leaves and seeds.... I weighed 75kg and just last week when I checked afer a month of Moringa? I'm down to 70kg.... shhhhhhhh.... Don't tell anyone....
That's our Moringa tree... all trimmed and ready to regrow... you wanna know what I did with the trimmings? Follow me to my "Laboratory", that will be Kitchen to you right?
So I made sure I got seeds to show you as well as leaves.
But here's the real fun part, I did make a quick run to the market yesterday evening after a harrowing three hour long lecture to get beef because I had something on my mind the whole time I was giving that lecture! I didn't get boring steak no no, I got a lovey "cowtail" to make my Moringa and Egwusi (Melon seeds) soup....
MORINGA AND EGWUSI SOUP
You'll need:
1 average-sized cow tail dressed and chopped
5 cups of Moringa leaves fresh or dried, it's all the same... I'm using dried here though
2 cups of ground melon (egwusi) seeds made into paste using a little amount of water
1/2kg of stock fish washed and chopped if need be
8 Fresh ground hot peppers (Habeneros)
15 Fresh gound long red peppers (here in Benue and up north it's called "dogodogo".. the Hausas helped us out here)
1 medium sized onion ground
Locust beans (eru as the yorubas call it or Nune in Tiv) ground
1 clove of garlic ground
Black pepper ground (just to flavour)
Ginger (as you would want but not too much, just to flavor the meat) ground
Salt and Seasoning (for me? it Knor cubes baby)
Lots of clean water
What do you do? Piece of cake....
First put your chopped beef (cow tail) into a medium sized pot, add a bit of the ground pepper, ground ginger, garlic, onions and black pepper,. Add salt and seasoning to taste and set to cook on very low heat. This will allow the meat marinate as well as cook at the same time, ensuring all the flavours get right into the meat and it also cooks soft... I hate hard undercooked meat... Not appealing to eat and also unhealthy!
After 20mins of low heat cooking, add your stock fish (you are adding your stock fish now so it doesn't over cook and disappear in your pot of goodness) and 1 cup of water and increase the heat to medium... with this, you draw out all the goodness the meat and stock fish has to offer and you have a rich stock... In Naija, we call it perboiling the meat!
So after the meat has been perboiled, turn into a clean bowl and put the pot back on fire. Using a medium cooking spoon, add 2 spoonfuls of palm oil into the pot and allow to heat for a bit (make sure you do not over heat the oil so you donot burn off and evaporate all the nutrients of the palm oil) then add the remaining ground hot pepper, ground long red pepper and locust beans and allow to fry. When the mixture is all fried, add 1/2 a cup of water and allow to simmer for a bit.
As the mixture begins to boil, wash your hands clean and begin to make small morsels of the egwusi paste and add unto the boiling mixture in the pot. When you are finished, cover and allow to cook for 15 minutes. this ensures your melon (egwusi) balls are properly cooked cos undercooked melon balls will surely run your stomach any day! Oops sorry , no talk of that right now.... Truly sorry...
After the melon balls cook properly, add the beef and stock fish stock and allow to simmer for 5 minutes so the salt and seasoning in the stock gets into the melon balls as well. Add your meat and allow to cook for 10 minutes so that all ingredients are in perfect harmony... lols.... Add your Moringa leaves, revert back to low heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes (this is to ensure you donot overcook and destroy the nutrients in the leaves) and you are so good to go!
Serve with any staple of your choice and enjoy! For me? You know it will be a "mountain" of well pounded yam... yum!
Ok guys let's see you get busy... replicate this, modify this, it's all good but most importantly? Try this out at all cost! Ain't you all just tired of regular pumpkim leaves (ugu) and bitterleaf? I am and what better replacement can there be than a leave as rich as Moringa...
Okay troops, off I go now cos that plate of goodness you see? I'm about to dig into...
Next weekend will surely be another exciting one..
Remember Moringa Oleifera is indeed a miracle, embrace it... a teaspoonful of ground Moringa leaves trice a day or a raw seed twice a day ? keeps the doctor away.... and all those unwanted adipose tissues in the wrong places too.... shhhh! ... hehe
Naija gal... Benue Born
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