Bitter tomato soup cooked with dried fish

Bitter eggplant is a wild plant that has larger fruit than eggplant. The Ede people often use this eggplant to make daily food, forming delicious dishes such as stir-fried bitter eggplant, braised bitter egg with frog, braised bitter egg, bitter tomato soup… Among which, the famous dish is bitter tomato soup. cook dried fish.
The rustic cooking method of the Ede people is surprisingly delicious. The dried herring head is put in a mortar and pounded, chopped onion or garlic with a little oil, put in a little stir-fry to bring up the aroma thanks to the herring oil that is abundant on the head. Pour water into the soup, bring to a boil, add chopped or sliced ​​tomatoes like oranges. When the eggplant is soft, strain the rice water into the soup pot to make the water a thick consistency, making a bowl of soup with a strange aroma along with the sweetness and bitterness of the tomato..

Bitter tomato soup often has a lot of hot and “bitter” chili peppers to enjoy, not … complain. More sophisticated, pork skin cut about two knuckles cooked in a pot of bitter tomato soup, increasing the fat, chewy and delicious taste significantly. Dried fish is a popular reserve food of the mountainous people and it is unknown when the Ede people can choose the head of a dried herring cooked with bitter eggplant – it is deliciously compatible. Perhaps the aromatic herring oil, which is often canned, is “different”, using canned fish to cook bitter tomato soup instead of crushed herring heads – still not inferior to each other. Ede people often use this dish with rice. Because they have a habit of eating quickly, they often cook this dish a bit thick to eat with rice. They often squeeze into handfuls with eggplant and eat, the bitter and spicy taste makes the dish more delicious, bitter eggplant is also a valuable medicine to help increase resistance. According to the Ede, bitter eggplant is not eaten raw like eggplant, but only cooked. Can buy a lot to cut pieces to dry, hang the kitchen truss gradually; Before cooking, soak in water for about 5-10 minutes, the eggplant is soft and the bitter taste is not lost. Bitter eggplant grows wild on upland fields and is planted in many gardens, almost every house of the Ede has bitter eggplant. The tree has thorns, has fruit all year round, has few and many thorns; The more thorns, the more bitter, bitter like bitter melon.