Egusi soup is unarguably the most popular Nigerian soup,
learn to make two of the most popular recipes for (ofe egusi) in Nigeria, you
will also learn about all the ingredients used in making them.
Like I stated on the introductory page; Egusi (melon) soup
is the most popular of all Nigerian soup. On this page I also included a video
on making this delicious recipe and then a list of some other Nigerian soups
that are in the same category.
There are two different Egusi Soup recipes that I know
about, I will write about the most popular recipe and then the second would
follow somewhere down the page.
The picture you find above is a delicious plate of egusi soup,
served with fufu.
Ingredients Includes
Some are required while very few are optional.
Meat of choice 2kg (beef, chicken turkey, goat meat, or
assorted meat)
Assorted meat is a combination of different parts of a cow
4 cups of egusi (melon)
Dry fish (about two medium sizes)
1 cup of ground crayfish
1 cup of Ground Osu (optional)
a good quantity of washed bitterlaef (see the video below)
3 cubes of knorr, maggi or other natural sweetener
250ml of palm oil
About 2 liters of water
Salt and pepper to taste.
One medium size Stock fish head (okporoko) (optional)
Ogiri or dawadawa or opkei (local ingredients) optional
Grind the four cups of egusi with a dry blender or hand
grinding machine and set aside in a bowl. Add about a cup of water to it and stir to make a very
thick paste (this is properly illustrated in the video below)
Be sure that the bitterleaf (onugbu) is properly washed, it
is advisable to remove over 95 percent of the bitter taste, this process in
known to most Nigerians, it involves washing and squeezing the bitter leaves
for several minutes in a very big bowl.
If you bought the already-washed bitterlaef from the market
it already, beautiful! it is advisable to boil alone for about ten minutes,
this would further remove the bitter
taste and serve other purposes.
Parboil the meat of your choice with all the necessary
ingredients, it is advisable to parboil meat with some ingredient before adding
to the main food, this improves the taste of the meat. Parboil for about ten
minutes, then add water and cook till the meat is tender and the stock (water)
is about to dry. Use two cubes of knorr, one spoon of kitchen glory beef spice
(optional), a teaspoon of salt and half cup of sliced onions.
Soak the dry fish and stock fish in a bowl with hot water
and wash thoroughly to remove sand and center bone, then set aside. Tear open
the head of stock fish and wash.
Here is the actual making of Nigerian egusi soup with
bitterleaf.
Set your cooking pot on fire and add 250ml of palm oil (red oil), allow to heat for a
minutes but don’t allow to bleach. Add the egusi paste and keep stirring for
the next eight to ten minutes to form seed-like crumbs.
Then transfer the already cooked meat into the pot, stir,
add the washed dry fish, stock fish, ground crayfish, 2 cubes of maggi or
knorr, 3 cups of water. then cover half way and allow to boil for the next ten
to fifteen minutes.
The second egusi soup recipe is very simple to make. You can
still follow the same process outlined above. Parboil the meat; add the dry
fish, stock fish once it is soft for consumption. Also add the palm oil, 2 cubes
of maggi, salt and pepper, dawadawa or okpei. Then add the ground egusi (here
there is absolutely no reason to add water or make into paste)
The only different between the two recipes is that the egusi
is fried at the beginning in the recipe above while it is added at the end
here.
Food is sweet, eating good food is awesome.
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