Pumpkin is one of Nigeria’s staple diets as it is fast becoming a regular guest in our meals. In Igbo land, pumpkin leaves are called
Ugu, in Yoruba land the name
Elegede rings a bell, in Hausa it’s called
Kebewa.
HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN SOUP (MIYAN TAUSHE).
Pumpkin soup is called Miyan Taushe in Northern Nigerian and is cooked with the pumpkin fruit as it serves as meat especially when it is ripe.
Ingredients:
1 small sized pumpkin
Sorrel leaves or “yakuwa”
Groundnut
Biscuit bone/ Dried Fish
Spring onions
Palm oil
Pepper
Locust beans
Ginger
Garlic
Spring onions
stock cubes
Salt
Water
Method:
Wash the pumpkin. You can get the meat from the pumpkin by peeling out the outer skin, removing the hairy pulp and seeds while washing. Boil the pumpkin till it becomes tender by adding Maggi, salt, and onions to the mixture. Then you have your pumpkin meat.
Get another pot, add your palm oil into it, blended pepper, blended groundnut, and your pumpkin meat. You can add your cooked Biscuit bone or washed dried fish.
Mix thoroughly, if you note it’s much thickened, add a little water as you do not want a watery soup.
Now add your spices; ginger, garlic, salt, Maggi and locust beans.
Stir well and leave to boil for 15 minutes.
Now add your yakuwa or sorrel leaves and cook for 3-5 minutes.
Serve with a bowl of tuwo or wheat as preferred.
How To Make Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
2¾ cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ Tsp salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
¾ cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg white
Method:
Preheat oven to 375ºF.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups. Combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl, stir with a whisk.
Combine pumpkin, sour cream, milk, vanilla extract, egg & egg white. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
Spoon batter into muffin cups. If desired, combine 1 tsp granulated sugar and 1 ½ Tsp brown sugar and sprinkle over muffins.
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and let cool.
Healthy Benefits of Pumpkin:
Now, that we are aware of the nationality of pumpkin as it claims Nigerian heritage. Let us take a look at the benefits it provides.
Pumpkin helps our heart, assisting in improving our mood as it contains serotonin. It aids our vision as it improves our eyesight making us see sharper than an owl. Pumpkin helps with weight loss. In addition to all these, pumpkin helps advance our skin and our immune system.
Feature Image from
Nigerian Recipes Blog.
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This article was first published on 28th August 2017
adepeju
Adepeju Adenuga is a writer (considering where you are reading this, makes perfect sense). She holds a Masters Degree in Literature in English from the University of Lagos.
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