Category Archives: Nigerian Soups

Why Eating Okro is good for you?

General Afrolems Posts, Nigerian Soups May 2, 2013 Leave a comment

Okro soup is a soup I feel only a few people get right. If you miss the taste mark with okro, you are stuck with this slimy soup that no one wants to eat. It is very important to cook okro well and make it really tasty. Apart from the taste benefit, Okro also known as Okra or lady fingers has many health benefits. Some of them are listed below;

Okro is a dietary fiber that contains several minerals and vitamins. It does not contain saturated fats and is recommended for people on a weight loss journey and cholesterol control journey.

Okro has healthy amounts of Vitamin A. Vitamin A also has many functions in our body. Okro also has anti-oxidants that help protect against lung cancer.

Okro cleanses the liver: The slimy substance in okra contains substances that bind bile acid and cholesterol to detoxify the liver.

Okro helps maintain the elasticity of the skin making it smooth and young looking. It also helps in preventing acne.

You can indulge in some Okro Soup this weekend. Afrolems has a recipe for you of Ila Alasepo 

Enjoy xoxo

okro soup and pounded yam

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Green Shades of Afang Soup 4th day of Valentine Cooking

Nigerian Soups February 4, 2013 Leave a comment

Have you ever thought about precolonial love? If we had never been exposed to pasta Alfredo or even Jollof rice what would we consider “romantic food”. Well in my opinion, nothing says ‘I love you’ more than Vegetable soup in this case Afang soup with an assortment of meat, snails, tripe and fish. For that traditional lover, give your significant other a meal that would make their heart sing. Enjoy XoXo

afang soup

 

Ogbono Soup

Nigerian Soups, Standard Nigerian Meals January 30, 2013 Leave a comment
I was blog trolling one saturday afternoon and came across Kitchen butterfly’s ogbono soup pictures and holy moly I could not stop thinking about Ogbono soup that day. The next day I ran to the african store and started stocking up on things I needed for this amazing dish. I was literally singing all the way through the cooking time. At this point it had occurred to me that I had not made Ogbono in a few years “what was wrong with me?” This drawy tasty goodness hadn’t stepped into my kitchen in a long time. I had to do it big. However, my idea of doing it big was to serve this with pounded yam and not until I got home that freezing sunday afternoon did I realize I had run out of both yam and yam flour so no pounded yam for me. Ah well, nothing was going to stop me. Eba it was. I sat down with a bottle of schweppes bitter lemon and enjoyed this delicious meal. Hope you enjoy making it as well. mmmm I can still taste it.
P.S: a little birdie told me that Ogbono has a secret weightloss substance. For those watching their height (lol), you may want to ask your dietitian or nutritionist.
  • 1 cup ground ogbono
  • 3 cooking spoons Palm oil
  • 5 fingers of Okro
  • Handful of bitter leaves
  • 1 table spoon of dry pepper (chilli powder)
  • 2 tablespoons of salt
  • Beef
  • shaki (tripe)
  • Pomo (cow-skin)
  • Dry fish
  • Crayfish
  • 3 maggi cubes
  • half a bulb of onion
  • 2 scotch bonnet peppers
  • 2-3 cups of water

Method

Wash the beef, tripe, cow skin and place in a pot. Season with 1 tablespoon of salt, scotch bonnet pepper, onion and 2 maggi cubes. Bring to boil till meat is tender. You may need to take out beef if it cooks before the cow skin and the tripe.

Chop Okro fingers and set aside.

In a separate pot, heat up 2 cooking spoons of palm oil on low heat and and pour in the grounded ogbono and melt in the pot on low heat. Continually stir until completely melted.

In the pot of meat still cooking, ensure there is enough water, pour in your fish, crayfish and the rest of your seasoning.

Pour in the rest of your palm oil, your bitter leaves and the chopped okro.

Do not cover the pot at this point as that would break the resilience of the okro and make it less drawy.

Add the melted ogbono slowly into the pot of meat so it doesn’t splash on you and stir in.

Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes on low heat without covering the pot.

Serve with Eba(Garri), Pounded yam or semovita or any carbohydrate of your choice.

ogbono

Nigerian Beef Pepper soup and Macaroni.

Beef Recipe, Nigerian Soups January 12, 2013 1 Comment

I realize that this combo might be slightly intriguing but stay with me :) I promise this is a good one. As a whole bunch of my friends have caught the sniffles recently I thought I’d do something to clear those airways and cheer them up. However as I choose route of the avant garde (ain’t I fancy) I added a little macaroni to make it a more filling meal. I realize this was an unusual choice but my friends and i were pleasantly surprised at the outcome. What I liked most was how simple this was. What are your go-to recipes for flu season?

NIgerian beef peppersoup

Edikang Ikong Soup Recipe – 11th Day of Christmas

Holiday Recipes, Nigerian Soups, spinach December 24, 2012 1 Comment

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a lovely plate of Edikang Ikong Soup. This is a dish that is originally from the Efik Tribe in Nigeria. People from Akwa Ibom and Cross River state enjoy serving this at home, weddings or any event they have. Your Edikang Ikong is usually very interesting when you add a lot of variety proteins to it. Some people just settle for the regular beef, stock fish, shaki (tripe) while some others go all out and have snails, periwinkles etc. This soup has been embraced by the other cultures in Nigeria and I am hoping to people all over the world, You would love it as well. The  recipe I used was from my Mum’s blog and it tasted amazing. For those that may not be able to get pumpkin leaves outside of Nigeria, Spinach would be a good substitute. The recipe is available here. Seasons Feedings…Enjoy!!!

edikai ikong

Afia Efere -Ofe Nsala – White PepperSoup 4th Day of Christmas

Holiday Recipes, Nigerian Soups, Standard Nigerian Meals December 15, 2012 Leave a comment

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a soup that is local to both Efik people and Igbo people called Afia Efere or Ofe Nsala. Some other cultures just know it as white pepper soup. There is nothing white about this soup in my opinion but it is very tasty that’s for sure. This recipe would have your nose dripping because of the pepper but it is surely delicious. It is usually a regular on my mum’s christmas menu. Little wonder that her recipe inspired the creation of this dish today. Head on over to her blog for the recipe. I decided to serve mine with some peanuts and white rice. Some may prefer Pounded yam or Eba. Either way, Seasons Feedings,…Enjoy!

white peppersoup

Nigerian Okro Soup and Stew – Feyisope for Afrolems

meat, Nigerian Soups, smoked turkey, Soups, spinach, Standard Nigerian Meals, Wheat December 1, 2012 1 Comment

Okro, also known as ”Okra or lady finger” is an extremely nutritious green edible pod vegetable. Okro is a low calorie vegetable and can be used for various dishes. It also has a high level of fiber and is a great vegetable for people watching their weight. Okro has a high resilience which means it draws when you cook it or pound or blend it. However, if you would like to maintain the resilience, you should not cover your pot when cooking the Okro. Hope you enjoy this amazing Recipe of Okro and Stew.

Ingredients

Okra

Spinach

Vegetable oil

Palm (Red) oil (optional)

Maggi

Crayfish

Salt

8 pieces of chicken

Smoked turkey

Meat

Curry

4 Scotch Bonnets

2 Red bell Pepper

3 tomatoes

2 Bulbs of onions

Recipe

  • Cut meat into tiny pieces and put in a saucepan with chicken 
  • Season with curry, and 3 cubes of Maggi and half a teaspoon of salt, slice half a bulb of onion and allow to boil for 25-30 on medium heat.
  • Blend scotch bonnets with tomatoes, red bell pepper and a bulb of onion with a quarter cup of water.
  • In a large saucepan put enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan and then add 2 table spoons of palm oil
  • Cut the remaining onion and add to the pan, allow to fry on medium heat for 3-5 minutes
  • Add the blended pepper into the oil, add 4 cubes of Maggi  a spoon of curry and salt to taste and allow to cook for 30-45 minutes.
  • Cut the smoked turkey into slices and put the turkey along with the meat and chicken into the stew and allow to boil for an additional 10 minutes on low heat.
  • Chop half the okro into huge chunks and grate the other half
  • Chop spinach.
  • Put the spinach in a saucepan and add a quarter cup of the meat-chicken stock and allow to steam for 7-10 minutes
  • Add the chopped and grated okra and crayfish allow to cook on low heat for another 10 minutes
  • Serve with wheat, pounded yam or amala.

nigerian okro soup and stew and amalaokro stew and naija soupsnaija soup with meat and okro

What are Scotch Bonnet Peppers?

General Afrolems Posts, Nigerian Soups, Standard Nigerian Meals November 28, 2012 Comments: 5

This post is birthed from comments I have been getting recently about names of some ingredients Nigerians use and how to find them. I may not have the full list of names but what I have I will share with time. Today’s ingredient is Scotch Bonnet Peppers.

Scotch Bonnet, which is also known as  Bonney peppers, Caribbean red peppers, Ata Rodo or Fresh Pepper is a variety of chili pepper. This is commonly used in many Nigerian dishes to make the food really spicy. If you hate spicy food, I will advise you stay away from this particular ingredient in my recipes or use this sparingly. This type of chilli pepper has a sweeter flavour and stouter shape,than Habanero pepper. The taste also varies depending on how ripe it is. The yellow version is extra spicy and has a much different flavor from the red and green and just as a personal preference, I use the yellow ones for soups. I use the red ones for stews and the green ones for sauces. This is just a personal preference and has no bearing on what you should use each one for but I find these work for me in this way.

ata rodo for nigerian food

Source: Spicebaby.com

Efo-Riro Nigerian Soup Recipe with Pounded Yam

Nigerian Soups October 29, 2012 Comments: 4

Efo riro is a traditional yoruba dish that is served in many homes that are not necessarily from the Yoruba culture. Efo riro is sometimes served at parties, weddings and other gatherings in Nigeria. What makes efo-riro interesting for me is the ability to eat it as a stand alone meal if you are on a diet or eat it with other carbohydrate accompaniments. People eat efo-riro with white rice, boiled plantain, fried plantain(dodo), yam etc. Depending on the leaves you use for efo-riro, the meal is very high in essential nutrients. I have chosen to use spinach for my efo-riro as spinach is high in vitamin A, C, E and K. It is also a great source of Iron which is especially important for women to help re-build our red blood cells. Hope you enjoy the Afrolems version of Efo-riro as I have chosen to add different types of protein in mine. Remember this is entirely optional and dependent on how you want to recreate this dish. I have chosen to serve mine with Pounded Yam.

Ingredients

3 Bunches of Spinach (2 packs of Frozen spinach) – Shokoyokoto (Short for Shoko)

2 Pounds Beef

1 pound Beef Tripe

1 pound Goat Meat

1 pound Cow leg

5 Medium Tomatoes

3 Scotch bonnet Peppers

1 medium onion

1 tablespoon locust beans (iru)

1.5 cooking spoons of palm oil

4 cubes of Maggi

2 tablespoon of Salt

1 tablespoon of dry pepper

1 tablespoon of crayfish powder

3 cooking spoons of groundnut oil for frying

Method

* Wash, season and bring all meats to boil. Season with 1 tablespoon of salt, 2 cubes of maggi, 1 tablespoon of dry pepper and boil till meat is tender.

*Blend tomatoes and scotch bonnet peppers and boil till water dries.

*If using raw spinach, wash and blanch your spinach to get rid of excess water and shred.

*Separate meats and stock into different bowls. Heat up groundnut oil and fry meats till brown.

*Heat up palm oil and pour in chopped onions and fry.

*Pour in blended tomatoes and pepper and fry

*Add stock, salt, maggi, crayfish powder, locust beans and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.

*Add fried meats and stir in.

*Add chopped spinach and stir in. Leave to simmer for 2 minutes.

Serve with Pounded yam or with any accompaniment of your choice.

efo-riro

Catfish Pepper Soup

Fish Recipes, Nigerian Soups July 12, 2012 Comments: 2

Catfish pepper soup is a very popular dish prepared in Nigeria. It is very simple and easy to make. I hope you have fun gathering the ingredients and making this, i know i did!

Minutes to Prepare: 5-10

Minutes to Cook: 20

Number of Servings: 4-6

What you need

1 Medium sized catfish

1/2 a Teaspoon of garlic

1 Bulb of onion

2 Large scotch bonnet peppers

2 Cubes of knorr/maggi

1 Teaspoon of powdered ginger

1/2 Teaspoon of thyme

1 Cup of broccoli

1 Cup of carrots

3-4 Cups of water

1 Pinch of salt – to taste

Method

  • Clean fish, cut into 4-6 portions and place in a bowl
  • Slice onions, peppers, broccoli, carrots and place in a bowl
  • In a medium sized pot, pour in 3-4 cups of water and bring to a boil on high heat
  • Add in sliced onions, peppers, carrots, thyme, garlic, ginger and knorr. Boil for 4 mins on med-high heat
  • Gently place catfish into the pot and add in salt. Cover and boil on medium heat for 12 mins
  • Add in broccoli. Cover pot and boil for 4 mins on low heat

Let simmer and serve when ready.

This pepper soup can be served alone or with boiled plantain or boiled yam.

cat_fish_recipe_nigerian_dish

 

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