The Power Of Dried Bony: Have You Tried It?

Dried bonnies add to the taste of your meal and make
 it simply sumptuous

Here comes a new day for me to get set and begin the preparation of a sumptuous meal. People are always tempted to clean their plates or bowls with their tongues after eating my food.

Someone once told me this: “You know, I could continue eating for another three to four rounds. The first round was actually meant to satisfy my hunger. But now, I’m left in a dilemma. I want to go for another round and that will be for taste and a third, also for taste, and a fourth, for taste.”

Hmmm….do you want to know my secret? I am certain that you are now yearning to know the power or secret behind this.

My Simple Secret

Good! My secret is simple. It is something that most women overlook because of its look and price. It is something that most women miss out on when buying ingredients for either lunch or dinner. It is something that they always forget about because they prefer just meat or ‘make-it-thick’ for the taste of the soup – especially our cooks at various restaurants, cook shops or ‘food-is-readys’; they prefer the quickest means in terms of ensuring that the soup gets that taste. So, they all rush to Manpo or ‘make-it-thick’ guidance.

I’m not saying you don’t need ‘make-it-tick’ in your soup, but it does have its devastating side effects. Remember now, not everyone takes in that ‘make-it-tick.’ Most people are allergic to it. In some cases, it results in diarrhea. All you need is a natural remedy for the taste, seasoning and aroma of your soup: bony [be it dried or half dried]. You might feel it is the cheapest fish on the market; but note that it is one of the sweetest. Remember, I said dried or half dried, ruling out fresh bony because of its complexity of tiny bones that could go down the wrong way when you are enjoying your meal.

How to Get the Best Out of It

Now, for only taste, what you could do is this: peel the scales and bones off the fish; break it up in pieces and drop them in your soup. This will make your soup as tasty as you want.

However, the advanced method is this: take your time to unwrap the bony, removing the scales and tiny bones. Break them up and put them into a mortar. Take your time and pound them into a powder. You can now pour this into your soup for best results. This will not only make your soup tasty, but will add to the seasoning of the soup and the aroma …

It’s Got to be Good!

You’ve got to know how to effectively cater for your man’s belly first in order to become a sought-after caterer. No need to keep moving from restaurant to restaurant on a daily basis; simple dishes such as dry rice (long grain pusawa) are all you need to take care of business.

This is not about plain ‘butter rice’ cooked with butter or margarine and served with partially fried tilapia fish as many of our ‘Food-is-Readys,’ cook-shops and even so-called restaurants may have it around here.

I am saying this is not about plain ‘two-man’ rice cooked with okra and bitter ball, served with ‘benne seed’ (favorite style of the many ‘Food-is-Readys’ around the city of Monrovia) and ‘chicken soup’ pepper (mixed with ‘make-it thick’). I mean this is not just about some plain old ‘some-done’ rice cooked with pepper and served with dried kangbey fish. I can imagine how impatient you are already, yearning to know what it does take to put this wonderful dry rice with dried boney together.

Dry Rice and Dried Boney

All you need is long-grain ‘pusawa’ rice, cooked with tasty dried boney and served with smoked fish stew, deep fried slices of luncheon meat, fried pike fish, mashed okra, bitter balls and ‘chicken soup’ pepper.

Well, in this case all you need to do is simply break up your carefully picked boney into shreds and drop them into the rice just before it starts to absorb the water in which it is being cooked. This will make your dried rice extremely tasty by enhancing the natural flavor of the rice. Remember to add just a pinch of salt in there. With this, you don’t even need smoked fish in there for aroma; the boney plays that role perfectly. Boil the pepper, bitter balls and okras separately and mash them separately. Make sure the pepper is mashed with steamed or heated cubes to give you your ‘chicken soup pepper.’ Then fry the sliced luncheon meat with your fresh pike fish.

Stew

Right after that comes your smoked fish stew. Prepare this with slices of onions and some fresh tomatoes. Your dry rice with tasty dried boney is ready!

Serving

Carefully stir your rice to get the shredded dried boney completely absorbed. You can then serve a few spoons onto a nice flat plate. Carefully decorate the rice with your mashed items (bitter balls, pepper, okra) and slices of luncheon meat; make sure the pike fish is also carefully placed by the rice. Also remember to serve this with your smoked fish stew. Or guess what? For best result, you can add three teaspoons of palm oil; or palm kernel oil; or coconut oil; or…!