Ebiripo

This is a light brown dish made with cocoyam. For a beginner, merely hearing the name of this dish may make you think it is complex.

On the contrary, after you finish reading on how to prepare ebiripo in this blog post you will realise it is quite simple to make.

An amazing fact about this dish is that the beauty lies in its delicious taste despite its simplicity.

Ebiripo is a a well loved food amongst the remo indigenes of Ogun state in Nigeria. It is usually eaten with egusi soup.

If you do not have egusi soup, you can still enjoy this delicious meal with well fried pepper sauce or any soup of your choice.

An interesting fact about ebiripo dish is that it keeps you full for a long time because of its main ingredient which cocoyam.

Cocoyam

Cocoyam is a tropical name for a root crop which is called imperial taro in English.

In Nigeria, there are two types of cocoyam namely; the red cocoyam and the white cocoyam.

As the name implies, there is a redness to the red cocoyam when cut and cooked while the white cocoyam maintains a off-white colour even after it has been cooked.

You may also like this recipe on How To Cook Cocoyam Porridge with Red Cocoyam .

Cocoyam is a versatile ingredient in Nigerian cuisine. It is used to used to make crunchy chips, porridge and also used as a thickener while cooking soup.

For ebiripo recipe, the white cocoyam is the best.

What is Ebiripo in English

Sincerely, it is quite hard to give certain traditional foods English names. This is simply because this traditional dishes are not of English origin.

When analysed by origin, ebiripo is not an English food but when analysed in terms of its ingredients and cooking procedure, Ebiripo in English could be called Steamed Cocoyam pudding.

Ingredients for Ebiripo

• 6 white cocoyams
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• Moi Moi leaves

Yield : 5 wraps

Preparation time : 30 minutes

Cooking time : 20 minutes

Moi Moi Leaves

You must be wondering why moi moi is listed above after seeing the list of ingredients needed ebiripo.

Moi moi leaves were the traditional cooking utensils used to steam foods such as Moi Moi , Ekuru, Ebiripo and many more.

Before the popularity of other food steaming utensils such as ramekin, pudding bowl, food pouches, moi moi pouch and many more

These other food steaming utensils became widely accepted because there are convenient i.e. easy to use and also because they help save money because they are re-useable.

Despite the above stated, moi moi leaves have continued to be in high demand because they are cheap, more environment- friendly as well as the unique taste and flavour they adds to food.

Now let’s go into to how to prepare ebiripo ijebu.

How to prepare ebiripo

• Wash you hands properly
• Put moi moi leaves in big bowl of water
• Carefully clean eat leaf to remove the impurities till all the leaves have been cleaned
• As many times as possible, clean the leaves again in another fresh bowl of water till the water is clear
• Dispose the water used for cleaning the leaves
• Remove the hard stick at the lower middle part of the leaves – when cooking with moi moi leaves, this important step that should never be missed because it will determine the ease of cooking you will experience with the leaves.
• Set the leaves aside
• Peel the cocoyam
• Put the peeled cocoyam in water immediately it is peeled to avoid discolouration.
• Wash your hands again after peeling the cocoyam to remove the dirts that may be attached to your hands while you were peeling the cocoyams.
• Grate the peeled cocoyam using the smallest side of the grater
• After grating, add salt and water
• Mix very well with your fingers while feeling for lumps of cocoyam that may be in the cocoyam batter
• Remove any cocoyam lump found as it will spoil the texture and outcome of the ebiripo
• Wrap the fold the moi moi leaves and pour some cocoyam batter into it
• Neatly wrap the leaves and place in a separate bowl
• Do this till all the cocoyam batter have been properly wrapped
• Place your steaming pot and steaming wrap on your cooker
• Add water into the pot
• Arrange the ebiripo on the steaming rack
• Cook for 20 minutes

Ebiripo is ready to be enjoyed with egusi although in this case I ate my ebiripo with beef and ponmo pepper sauce.

Ebiripo Dish Cooking Tips

Please note that, instead of using a grater which is the traditional way to grinding the cocoyam for ebiripo, you can use a blender, grinder or food processor for the ease of cooking.

Although this is an uncommon option if you do not have moi moi leaves, you can also use banana leaves which is still a more earth-friendly cooking approach.

Do not worry if you do not have moi moi leaves or banana leaves available, simply use pudding pans or food cooking pouches.

Remember not to waste food when you have leftover ebiripo. Simply put the leftover ebiripo in a food pouch or bowl and store in the refrigerator.

You can watch ebiripo food recipe on my YouTube channel by clicking on the YouTube video icon below.

While you watch my video recipe, it would be great if you can like my video, leave your comment and also subscribe to my channel. Thank you.

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