Iwuk Efere Iko

I remember that  growing up my grandma hardly cooked vegetable soups that had to reheated several times. As  I  write this, I remember those visits to the village and the speed with which she will organize soups and fufu for the delight of my siblings and I. The soups tasted so different back then, with freshly plucked vegetables and freshly caught fish and prawns, home squeezed palm oil etc. you didn’t  have to be an expert to deliver on tasty dishes. The good quality ingredients simply did the trick
Today’s offering Iwuk Efere Iko is one of such soups that grandma would cook usually in a clay and had to be eaten all in one meal. Nothing beats freshly cooked soups. The unique thing about this soup is the Iko. This is quite similar to curry leaves or basil . So if you cannot find Iko the your curry leaves or basil will do the trick.
Enjoy this sea side delight .

Recipe
Fresh fish
Crabs
Periwinkle (pre-cooked)
Prawns
Snails
1/2 Onion( finely chopped)
1 cooking spoon Palm Oil
2 table spoons Crayfish( ground)
Iko leaves
1/2 slice Yam ( 4-5 cooking spoons paste)
Scotch bonnet Pepper to taste
Crayfish seasoning to taste
Salt to taste
4 cups of water

Method
1, Season, fish, crab, snails and prawns with onion, fresh pepper, seasoning and salt
2, Allow to marinade for 30 minutes , add a little water and steam on low heat for 15 minutes. Sea food is best cooked under low heat.
3, Grate the yam and set aside
4, In a separate pot, heat palm oil, fry the onion.
5, When onion starts to brown slightly, lower the heat and slowly add 2 cups of water to the onion. Increase heat and bring water to boil and add the ground crayfish and boil for 5 minutes. Taste to correct the seasoning, salt and pepper.
6, Reduce the heat and allow the palm oil stock to simmer gently. Stir in the grated yam stirring quickly so it does not form lumps. Continue to stir to allow the yam to cook. And form a thick paste. Add the periwinkles at this point.
6, Add 2 cups of water to the sea  food pot and bring to boil. Gradually scoop the yam paste into the seafood pot and stir gentle so as not to break up the fish. Cook for about 5 minutes.
7, Lastly chop up the Iko with you fingers and add . Cook for 2 minutes and your Iwuk Efere is ready
8, The consistency of the soup should be like Ofe Nsala. Serve with any swallow of choice.