If you have ever attended an Igbo traditional event such as Traditional Wedding Ceremony, Burial Ceremony, Chieftaincy Title Ceremony, you will notice that there’s a special meal that is guarded like it’s gold. Usually, a small quantity of this Nigerian (Igbo) food is prepared because the main ingredient, ukwa, is usually very expensive. It does not matter if it’s in season or off season. Because of this, Breadfruit Porridge is reserved for special guests.
If you are in Nigeria, it is best to use freshly peeled ukwa to cook your Breadfruit Porridge (Ukwa) because fresh ukwa has a natural delicious flavour and aroma you don’t want to miss. But if you are outside Nigeria, I am sure you only have access to dry ukwa, if at all. I used dry ukwa to prepare the Breadfruit Porridge in the video below.
Watch the video: Breadfruit Porridge [Video]
Preparing Breadfruit Porridge with dry ukwa is very challenging because it’s not as straight forward as preparing freshly peeled ukwa. So in the video below, I share with you how to prepare Ukwa Porridge to perfection using dry ukwa.
Breadfruit Porridge Ingredients
- 1kg (2.2lbs) dry ukwa
- 1-2 cooking spoons palm oil
- Food tenderizer (edible potash)
- 1 cut Dry fish
- Habanero pepper (to your taste)
- Leafy Vegetable
- Salt (to taste)
- Ogiri Igbo (optional)
- Corn (optional)
Notes on the Breadfruit Porridge Ingredients
- If you can’t eat food tenderizer probably because it upsets your stomach, you can use ngu (burnt ash from palm fruit stalk). With a pressure pot, you may be able to cook the ukwa without the need for a tenderizer. But for the perfect melt-in-the-mouth breadfruit porridge, I like to add a food tenderizer.
- If you are in Nigeria, the two leafy vegetables commonly used when cooking ukwa are fresh bitter leaves, not washed and squeezed, just pluck a few leaves from the plant, rinse and add. You don’t want to add too much else the meal will be bitter. The second leafy vegetable is scent leaves. For those outside Nigeria, use spinach just like I did in the video below.
- For peppers any of the following peppers can be used: fresh habanero peppers, scotch bonnet peppers, fresh cayenne peppers.
- While some people enjoy Breadfruit Porridge prepared with ogiri Igbo, others don’t so skip it if you don’t like it.
- Another optional ingredient is corn. I do not enjoy Breadfruit Porridge that contains corn but there are people who swear by it. You can use either fresh corn (cook before adding) or sweet corn. Watch me add corn to some of the Breadfruit Porridge in the video below.
Watch the video below for the recipe: