550 grams of Atyever leaves
1 Tablespoon Potash or baking soda
2 Tablespoons of ground Nune
1 Tablespoon of ground Gbaaye
1 Tablespoon of ground pepper (depending on how spicy you like it)
2 Maggi Cubes
2 Tablespoons of Nune seeds
1 Teaspoon of salt
4 cups of water.
Method
Pluck the Atyever leaves off and wash of all insects, sand etc
Boil Atyever leaves with 3 cups of water for 3 minutes
Beat or blend the leaves while it boils. (You can use a fork, whisk or hand blender) If you prefer it slimy you blend but if you prefer it not to slimy then just use a fork to beat it.
Add in the ground Nune, ground gbaaye, pepper, magi and salt and boil for 5 more minutes.
Add the nune seeds and the rest of the water if you like it watery.
Kyegh Sha Shwa Ingedients ½ Cup Ishwa Pepper to taste 1medium Onion 2 tablespoons of Nune 1 tsp of Gbaaye 1 whole chicken Salt to taste 2 Cubes of Seasoning like Maggi or Norr 2 Tablespoons of Palm Oil
Step one: Get your Ishwa cleaned - Rinse in cold water and spread out thin to dry. Then roast in a pan, careful not to let it burn though.
Step two: When ishwa has cooled down, blend the ishwa in the dry mill of your blender and get it as fine as you can till it starts to bring out oil.
Step three: Blend or grind the Pepper, half onion and Nune .
Step four: Cut your chicken into desired size pieces. Boil your chicken for 10 minutes with half the onions, salt and seasoning cubes. If you are using soft American chicken then skip this step all together. (You can roast your chicken over an open fire for 5 minutes before cutting it, if you like the smoky smell)
Step five: Put your pepper mix and meat stock (without the ishwa) and bring to a boil. Put in the palm oil then lastly add your ishwa. Let it cook for about 20 minutes then add your chicken and simmer until everything is well cooked.
PS If using soft chicken allow the ishwa to cook well before adding your chicken so that the meat does not fall apart in the soup. Ishwa thickens and swells so check to be sure your paste isn't too thick , add water if it is too thick. It should not be chuncky when you scoop it.
Genger is made from the flower buds of a Genger tree. The buds are picked and the petals are detached and the shell is dried completely (a process that takes days to weeks). Once it is fully dried, it changes to brown. The dried buds are then pounded into a powder and the powder is what is used to make the Genger soup. The tree is mostly found in Tiv land and not so much in other parts of Nigeria. It tree can be found in Konshisha, Gwer east, Gboko, Vandeikya, Tarkaa and some areas in Tiv land. It is a seasonal soup which is enjoyed from late November to early April of the next year. There is a general belief that once the rain sets in, the Genger looses its rich taste. Preparation time for Genger is usually about one hour, depending on if you start with powder or the buds.
The ingredients needed for this unique soup:
1.Yiye (black pepper)
2. Nune (Locust beans)
3. Gbaaye
4. Mtsem (potassuim/baking soda)
5. Nyam Shu. (fish)
6. Kyoho
7. Kwagh human doom.
8. Affishi (makeral fish)
9. Baar. (salt)
10. Mkem.(fresh pepper)
11. Magi
12. Tsua u Atsenger. Local pot. ( Sand made pot)
13. Mkulen ma Nyian. (palm oil)
14. Genger
When you gathered all the above, you get a pot, use 3 to 4 table spoon of the grounded Genger powder and pour it in the pot, add water and little mtsem ( potassium) turn it by stirring it till it is completely desolve. Leave it for 25 minutes to rise on the fire on low heat.
After that process, blend your Nune, Gbaaye, mkem, kyoho, and yiye. When it is well blended you combine your blended paste with baar, maggi and fish. Boil for 15-20 minutes then combine with the Genger, allow it to boil for 5 minutes before you take it from the fire. After this process, your Soup is ready to serve. Genger soup is best serve with pounded yam.
VALUES OF GENGER SOUP.
It is said to be medicinal. Some say it heals wounds and sharpens ones thought process.
It is a soup that can last for 10 days when prepared properly. It taste sweet every day so far it is not finished.
It is a unity soup that units people together in Tiv land. A person who prepares a nice Genger soup will invite a fellow woman in the kitchen to shares the meal.
It is used to settle quarrels. If you give a fellow woman the soup, she forgive all her negative plans against you.
Most of the food hotels in Tiv land around the dry season are stocked with Genger soup, so it makes good business.
It is a soup that Tiv girls prepared for their new husband as a first feeding meal after traditional marriage ceremony in the month of late November to early April of another year.
The hallmark of the Genger soup is its quality and aromatic taste.
Pounded yam is a Tiv delicacy made from the Nigerian Yam. A typical Tiv person can eat this meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To the point where a Tiv person will say they have not eaten all day(even if they have eaten rice, beans, fruits etc). If they have not eaten pounded yams in an entire day they will say "Mnder je, m ngu a ya kwaghyaan ga!"
Ingredients:
1 Tuber of Yam
Water
Directions:
Peel off the brown outer layer of the yam, slice and wash the white part with lots of clean water. Transfer into a cooking pot and start cooking with just water. Be sure that the sliced yams are almost completely submerged in water. (Be careful not to get the yams on your skin, it can be itchy)
Cook for ten to fifteen minute then check to see if the yams are soft enough for pounding, you can check with a kitchen fork by piercing. Once the yams are soft enough for pounding you are ready for the pounding part. Be sure that the water is not completely dried because you will need it while pounding the yam.
Sometimes the yam get very strong during pounding then you will need to add a little water while pounding, you can use ordinary water but the water left after cooking the yam is most suitable as it is still hot.
Pick with a fork and transfer into a mortar then go ahead and pound with a pestle, pound until the yam are seedless and can easily be molded, you can add water and pound until you have a smooth soft pounded yam.
