Learn with steem|| How to process and prepare Ukwa(breadfruits).

Hello steemians

Trust our day went well. Mine did went
well because I had enough rest like never before. I literally slept from the morning hours till evening, I only woke up times when I needed to use the bathroom or maybe eat food. My friend was home and helped in making the food I ate throughout this period.

It is indeed another interesting moment in our #learnwithsteem post. I have tried my best in serving us with the best I can in teaching some very special recipe on steemit.

Today we are learning how to prepare a very rare type of food. Don’t worry I will teach everything I know about this food before we delve right into the preparation proper.

The recipe we are going to be preparing today is UKWA. The English name of UKWA as it is popularly known in the igbo land is breadfruit.

It is called Africana breadfruit in Zambia and USA, Wild jackfruit in Tanzania and Uganda and African boxwood in Malawi. I just hope I got this all right. Please, fell free to correct me if I didn’t get any of this correct, based on what it is called in your country, I am open for correction because we all are here to learn.

The tree is known as Treculia Africana. The fruits are hard and fibrous and cannot be plucked. It is allowed to fall down from the tree when matured for consumption.

It’s size is like a volleyball and can weigh up to 8.5kg or more dependent on the size.

The seeds of the breadfruit are of great interest. The fresh seed contains 38.8% carbon hydrate, 17.7% crude protein and 15.9% fat.

Its classification of the classes of food has been of great confusion such that it has been decided to be classified as same as beans.

The seed can be grounded as flour. Pressed for oil or even used as flavoring in alcoholic drinks. It also be roasted and eaten as snack or peeled and cooked as a meal which is what we are going to be learning today.

But first let’s see how it is been processed out into the seed we will be cooking today.

PROCESSION OF THE SEED OF BREADFRUIT

When the fruit falls from the tree, it is kept to get rotten the it can washed in a basket in a pool of water, such that all the rotten fleshy part of the fruit is sieved out from the holes of the basket leaving the seeds in the basket.

After you have washed it, set it aside to dry because there is still work to be done.

The peels need to be taken off the seeds and this can be pretty much hard to do.

Put the seeds in a pot and allow boiling for at least 10 mins, sieving the water out and allowing the seeds to dry again. After it is dried, you can use a bottle to smash over the seeds when spread over the floor, on a clean cloth because you do not want it to get sandy or you can use a blender to achieve.

The peel with be eventually out of the seeds and all you need to do is pick the seeds and trash the peels.

Now our breadfruit seed is ready to be prepared.

INGREDIENTS

• Ukwa
• Potash
• Dry fish
• Uziza leaves
• Fresh pepper
• Crayfish
• Palm oil
• Onion
• Maggi
• Salt

Now lets cooking

STEP ONE

Wash the already peeled ukwa and introduce into a clean pot, allow it to boil for 5mins, and then add the potash.

Ukwa takes long to cook that’s why you need to add the potash so that it will help it cook faster. Potash is like a food softener, it helps in soften food while cooking.

STEP TWO

After the ukwa is cooked and soft, sieve the water out in a clean bowl and set it aside. Some elderly persons takes the water alongside the meal.

STEP THREE

Wash and add the dry fish at this point, the blended crayfish, oil, onion and fresh pepper and allow cooking for another 5mins. Our food is also ready.

STEP FOUR

Add the uziza leaves, magi and salt and gladly stir your pot of goodness because your food is ready. Taste the food and adjust the seasoning cubes and salt if need be.

source

CONCLUSION

This food is one of the local foods in igbo land and I enjoy eating it a lot but it is scarce to get. It has it goodness in weight reduction.

Let me know if this post was helpful, if you have tried it before and if you will try it in the comment section.

I hope this post was helpful and you have learnt something new.

Thanks for visiting my post

Beetees