this soup is tied to two origin, the west and the
eastern part of Nigeria, but I love the way bola’s mum and my mum go about this
soup, so I combined both to and come out with this.
This soup
today is just peculiar to all Nigerian today from the north to the south, and
the people from the east and west are not left out.
Ingredients
·
Egusi (Melon) seeds - 3 cigar cups | 600g
·
Red Palm Oil – 2 cooking spoons
·
Fish – Dry Fish and Stock Fish
·
Crayfish
·
Pepper and Salt to taste
·
Vegetable – Pumpkin leaves or Bitter leaf
·
Seasoning – 3 Knorr cubes
·
Traditional Seasoning – 1 Okpei (optional)
1. Before
preparing the soup, soak the dry fish for about half an hour. If you are using
the very tough stock fish, boil till it is tender enough, leave in the pot with
the hot water to soak till u need it. If using the softer stock fish, you can
just soak them in cool water till you can break them apart with your hands,
like the head, soak in warm water, crush with your hands, remove the dirt’s, e.g.
dead warms or caterpillar, and any foreign object like hooks, sticks and rope.
2. When the
fish and stock fish are soft, debone and break them into sizeable chunks.
3. Much
closer to your cooking time, grind the egusi with a dry mill. Grind the
crayfish and the dry pepper separately and set aside. Wash the vegetable to be
used. Cut into tiny pieces.
4. Boil the
shaki, stock fish and dry fish in 1 liter of water with the 3 Knorr cubes till
they are well done. First sign of a done shaki is that the cuts will start curling
on itself.
5. Wash the
beef to be used for the soup, add it to the pot and cook on medium heat till
done.
Cooking
Directions
There are
two main methods of cooking egusi soup. These we will call oil before egusi
and egusi before oil. Confusing? Not. :)
Oil before
Egusi
1. Put 2
cooking spoons of red palm oil into a dry pot and set on the stove to heat.
Stir fry your egusi in hot oil till it start sticking to the hot pot.
2. By now
your stock is close to you, add the stock fish stock you got from cooking the stock
fish, put the stock till you have the
right consistency. If your choice of vegetable is bitterleaf, it should be
added now as well.( bitter leaf only)
3. Cover the
pot let it simmer for at least 30 minutes, then add your cooked and tender
protein such as beef, goat meat, and the rest. Also add pepper and salt to
taste. If pumpkin leaves (or any other soft vegetable) is your choice, please
add it now and bring it down, let your vegetable be fresh and green
The egusi
soup is ready to be served with amala, Eba (garri), pounded
yam or cassava fufu.
Egusi
before Oil
This
method produces a healthier egusi soup. This is because there is no frying
involved.
1. In this
method, as soon as the shaki, fish and meat are done, remove them from the
stock (water used in cooking the meat and fish) and place in a different pot or
plate.
2. Add the
ground egusi to the stock and stir. If the stock from cooking your meat and
fish is not enough to give you a medium consistency, add some water to the same
level as the egusi.
3. Cover and
cook till the egusi cakes. Stir and add a little bit more water. Watch it
closely so that it does not burn.
4. Repeat
step 3, adding only a small quantity of water at a time. After about 25
minutes, you will notice the clear egusi oil coming to the surface of the soup.
5. Add 2
cooking spoons of red palm oil and bitter leaves (if it is your choice of
vegetable), pepper and salt to taste and cook for about 7 minutes.
6. Add the
meat and fish. If using pumpkin leaves or any other soft vegetable, add it at
this time, stir the soup and leave to simmer for 2 minutes maximum.
7. Turn off
the heat. Leave to stand for 2 minutes before serving.
The egusi soup is ready to be served with Eba
(Garri), Agidi, Amala, Semolina, Tuwo Shinkafa, Pounded Yam or Cassava Fufu.
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