Just the other evening, I had the strongest craving. I needed something comforting, something that would warm me up and make a smile radiate from the inside outward. These are not common cravings for me. Typically I crave…ummm….well for the most part I crave sushi lol. But I’m talking about the days where you want to feel at home again and being a Naija babe you can likely guess my Momma wasn’t at home making sushi rolls.
My mother’s most frequently made meals were beans and dodo (fried sweet plantains), fish or meat tomato stew to be eaten with rice, or a variety of soups- mostly egusi, ogbono or okra served with pounded yam, garri or eba. Once in a while she also made the FORMIDABLE peppa soup lol. Now as I child, I cannot say that drinking pepper soup was my favorite activity. To be honest it felt like punishment! Lol, I remember my Dad used to make my siblings and I go to the pot and ladle the broth-like pepper-laced soup in our bowls and if we dared to put any less than he intended he would threaten to serve us himself! Then we would all sit around the dinner table trying our best not to watch him watch us drink our soups lol. Sooo…is it crazy that as an adult, I develop a craving for this spicy, savory, complex soup?
I suppose not. After all it brings me back to the memory of my family together at the table. A running joke in our family when someone didn’t want to eat something that they didn’t like, one of us would assuage them but telling them “It’s good for your back”, while we calmingly rub their backs LOL, I suppose this makes it go down smoother or perhaps just feels good to know someone is thinking of your well-being lol. My Dad was the one who started it and he became a little more hilarious when we got a little wiser and started telling him the same when he showed aversion to eating something!
The thing with making this soup though is that it takes some special ingredients to get that authentic flavor. Of course there is more than one way to make it but to get the truly authentic flavor there are some spices and herbs that bring the true essence out…
Stay Tuned for the Authentic Peppa Soup Recipe!!
