HEALING MEALS - This Watery Meal can do All These for Me???👀👀

Dear Mangeurs,

It is with gladness in my heart that I write to you from the comfort of my bed. Honestly, I just downed something amazing and drank lots of water. No better way to commensurate the powerful church service I attended today.

Let me take you back to how it all started yesterday. I woke up on Saturday morning feeling somewhat cold after being beaten by Lagos rain on Friday. I needed to do my laundry and clean up the house but I was well under the weather. I began thinking and suddenly, 'boom!' a light bulb appeared right on top of my head (literally, NEPA restored power and I was sitting just under the light bulb in my room) and then a ten-letter word rang in my brain... "peppersoup". I was like "Hell yeah!".

Those who know me know my room is 5 steps away from the market - that is how much of a foodie I am. It was already past 8 AM, so I took N1,000 and off I was to the market. I picked up a small size of catfish from a local farmer in the market at N600 and it gave me 6 reasonable pieces including the head. I bought N100 worth of fresh pepper & tomatoes - there was chopped pepper and tomatoes in my freezer but I wanted hand cut fresh pepper. Strolled to my ibo customer and bought N50 worth of Scent leaves and N50 peppersoup spice mix. That was enough for me so I returned home with N200 change 😄😃

I was so hungry but also needed to feel better in order to do my Saturday chores. Quickly, I cleaned and rinsed the cut up fish with lots of salty water to take off the slime. Then I cut the pepper and tomatoes (Tomatoes are so expensive now, I got just 3 small ones for N50). Took a medium size onion from my shelf and cut it into small pieces as well. My ibo customer already helped me slice my scent leaves so I thoroughly rinsed it with good amounts of water. I was ready!

So I put my pot on fire, added in my cat fish and into the pot went the rest; salt, seasoning, Cameroun pepper, ginger and garlic paste, cut up pepper and tomatoes, cut up onions, peppersoup spice and a bowl of water. I let this boil for about 15 minutes, then added the scent leaves.

My dear mangeurs, when I opened my pot to stir, my compound suddenly relocated to Bayelsa State. I was just hearing the sweet Ijaw songs my momma used to sing for us in 2012 when she first started cooking Niger-Delta meals. Then my annoying phone's ringtone brought me back to reality and guess who it was??? My sugarplum bestie from NYSC - Tito. who is the CEO of The1k Store in OAU Campus and DHB Lifestyle Lagos. She goes "I know we hung out last weekend but I am coming o. Had a programme at Lekki which was cancelled and I can't go back home after slaying." I was like "Sure, you can come but hope you eat catfish peppersoup?" All I heard next was the sound of the bike taking off to my house lol.

When I dropped my phone, it dawned on me that I had no plan for the accompaniment 😠😓. What a shame! Tito will soon be here and there is no rice, yam or unripe plantain on fire. The lazy girl inside me whispered "Must you do yam or rice? Look up jor!", I looked up and spotted my half gone carton of Super pack Onion flavoured noodles 😎. Chisos! Why did I not think of that? Carbohydrate is carbohydrate jor! I brought down two packs and went to take my bath so I will make the noodles when Tito comes. I was dressing up when she knocked, we hugged and gisted like we had not seen in years lol. In less than 10 minutes, noodles was ready and I had reheated the peppersoup. I served them in different bowls and mehn, it was da bomb. Tito had to take more out of my noodles 😒. The next thing I heard was "IBK, this soup is sweet ooo! Don't start feeling fly though". The irony is that when I was serving the soup, I asked her if she wanted much soup and a spoon, she said she doesn't drink soup so I gave her a little quantity of the soup. My girl cleared it😋.

I am here now on Sunday afternoon drinking cold water after downing the last portion with boiled yam.

Now lets briefly discuss the benefits of this healthy meal. I must tell you I felt much better in less than 2 hours after the meal and I was able to do all my chores.

Peppersoup is good to eat during periods of recuperation such as after child birth or illness and it's even great for blood circulation, the heart and more importantly, your soul.

All the ingredients in this soup promote a healthy appetite. It's perfect for clearing your cold as well as fever and helps in cleansing your digestive tract. If you take it on a regular basis, it can even help in improving any underweight problems as well.

You should take this soup especially if you're anemic or get tired both mentally and physically very quickly. It even helps with most female associated problems. As a natural medicine practice, this soup is recommended as a body building protein that generates loads of antibodies that help the immune system fight against viruses and bacteria's.

In summary, cat fish;
1. Is Great for your heart

2. Is Beneficial for eyes
3. Contains essentially nutrients
4. Protects your Lungs
5. Is a Weight Loss aid
6. Fights Depression
7. Is Good for your skin Health
8. Is Good for your Nervous System
9. Enhances Digestive health
10. Boosts your brainpower
11. Is Good For The formation of bone and teeth

I hope you enjoyed this one. Feel free to share your thoughts on this in the "comment section" below and share this article with your friends.
Bon appetit Mangeurs!

DID YOU KNOW???
When eating peppersoup (especially in public), here are some tips to note;
- Hold the soupspoon by resting the end of the handle on your middle finger, with your thumb on top. - Dip the spoon sideways into the soup at the near edge of the bowl, then skim from the front of the bowl to the back.
- Sip from the side of the spoon, avoid improper table manners and do not to slurp.
- To retrieve the last spoonful of peppersoup, slightly tip the bowl away from you and spoon-in the way that works best.
Note: These apply to all forms of liquid soups.