Oh yes, you read that correctly. Oha soup, in another direction. One of you left a snippet of this recipe as a comment ages ago. I had totally forgotten about it, until I saw Rita Peters’s Oha soup on Facebook. At first glance you would think it was Egusi soup, and she said this is a dish eaten by the Abriba people. I looked at it and then remembered that I had seen that somewhere on the blog. I went a searching, and found it in my drafts folder. Unfortunately, I only copied the comment, not the name of the person that dropped it. I have done a search and boy the search results are sooooo long, it will take me ages to get through them, so if you are the one who dropped that comment, I will appreciate it if you could holla, so I can say thank you again.
I was going to make the Egusi base flat, so that it closely resembled the cocoyam base you would expect with Oha soup, but I thought that would be a cop out, also, I did remember my Efik frien Joy, married to an Igbo man and she taught me that Igbo people tend to like their Egusi in pebbled form. In her words Igbo men don’t like flat Egusi or the big lumpy one like Yoruba people do, but in small small “dot, dot” form. A little sexist comment, but hey, I was in the mood for some shock factor too, I would call it Oha soup, and you guys will goo whaaaaaaat! Ah ha. Gotcha. I also discovered something totally by accident which produced the best Egusi I have ever cooked. I sat down and thought what the hell, how come that never occurred to me all these years, knowing my experience with Nigerian ingredients, but nah, not giving that one out. It will be my secret weapon for the meal drop off and pick up service. It is a tip caterers will give their right arms for and use, without me getting a penny, so let me keep quiet, biko. Lol. When you request for my Egusi, be prepared to be blown away, I assure you. Let’s Cook
- Powdered Egusi
- Oha leaves
- Uziza leaves
- Assorted Meat
- Beef Stock
- Crayfish
- Smoked fish
- Iru
- Palm Oil
- Onions - optional
- Ata Lilo - tatashe and ata rodo (read more HERE)
- Heat up Palm oil and fry chopped onions for a bit till they burn slightly
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- Mix Egusi with water till it forms a semi thick paste, add to the pot
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- Keep stirring constantly until the egusi takes on the look of pebbles. Best to do this on medium heat, otherwise the egusi will burn
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. - Add your ata lilo to the pot and stir until well combined. Keep stirring, add your beef stock, Iru, crayfish, smoked fish and meats
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. The volume of beef stock you add to the egusi will depend on your preference. You can choose to have this thick or slightly watery. Readjust for salt and seasoning, and make sure you are happy with the taste before you add the vegetables - Add the Oha leaves
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- Followed by the Uziza leaves
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. - Give the vegetables a few more minutes, and take down while they are still green. The Uziza flavour permeates through the soup, and the Oha provides another flavour profile and most of all crunch. I served this with Yam pounded with Eba
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. The volume of beef stock you add to the egusi will depend on your preference. You can choose to have this thick or slightly watery. Readjust for salt and seasoning, and make sure you are happy with the taste before you add the vegetables
.The post Ofe Oha na Egusi appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.