Egusi Curry Sauce
Egusi Curry Sauce makes a debut in the Nigerian culinary repertoire. This Soup is one of Nigeria’s more popular dishes. From restaurant menus to home kitchens Egusi (melon seed) features prominently and is often eaten with a ‘swallow’. Imagine Egusi merged with Curry and you have an interesting sauce that goes quite well with rice.
Frying my Egusi helps to get rid of that ‘raw’ smell. Using ground onion and kneading Egusi into the ground also helps to reduce this ‘raw’ smell. The blend of curry with Egusi completely masks that egusi smell and you are left with a nice simple partner to your rice dish. When I presented Egusi Curry Sauce at dinner and watched as my favourite tasters burst into smiles, with that surprised look on their faces, I knew we had a delightful new dish in Nigeria.
What is more interesting about this dish is the simplicity in the preparation steps. You may wish to make the sauce thick or loose. I used chicken for this dish but you may want to use beef or goat meat .
Enjoy your Egusi with a different twist.
Recipe for Egusi Curry Sauce
Ingredients
4-6 pieces Chicken
2 table spoons roasted ground Egusi
1 teaspoon Ginger powder
1 medium size Onion sliced
2 pieces fresh Tomatoes
2-3 pieces Scotch Bonnet pepper
Dry Pepper to taste
Chicken Seasoning to taste
2-3 cooking spoons Vegetable oil
11/2 teaspoons Curry powder
2-3 cups Chicken stock or water
Method
1.Season chicken with salt, ginger, dry pepper and chicken seasoning and set aside for about 30 mins.
2. Heat the oil and fry the chicken till brown, remove and set aside.
3. Use the same oil used for frying the chicken to fry the onion, tomato and fresh pepper till tender.
4. Return the chicken into the pot of vegetables, add the curry powder and stir and allow to fry for about 1 min.
5. Add chicken stock or water to the pot, reduce the heat and cook chicken till tender. Correct the seasoning.
6. When chicken is soft, sprinkle the Egusi in and cook the sauce to thicken to your desired consistency.
7. Serve with boiled white rice.
How to prepare roasted Egusi powder?
1. Wash the Egusi and sun dry for a few minutes
2. Pour into a dry pot, place of fire and continue to stir dry fry until the seeds start to pop. You need to keep an eye on this and stir quickly so the the seeds do not burn. When some of the seeds start to pop and brown its time to take the seeds off the fire.
3. Allow the Egusi to cool completely before blending, so the seeds can move freely in the blender. You may wish to get your blended Egusi ready ahead of cooking this dish.
