OHA/ORA SOUP

Ingredients for Ora (Oha) Soup

Vegetable: Ora leaves
8 small corms cocoyam
3 cooking spoons Red Palm Oil
Assorted Beef: Includes best cut, shaki (cow tripe)
Assorted Fish: Dry Fish and Stock Fish
Chilli pepper, salt and crayfish (to taste)
2 Stock cubes
1 teaspoon Ogiri Igbo
Notes about the ingredients:

Ora (Oha) is a unique vegetable hence does not have a good alternative.
If you cannot buy cocoyam corms where you live, you can use cocoyam flour. An alternative to cocoyam flour is potato flour. See how to prepare the cocoyam flour or potato flour before adding it to your soup at: How to Cook Nigerian Soups with Flour as Thickener.
Ogiri Igbo is optional, it gives Ora Soup a traditional taste.

Before you cook the Nigerian Ora Soup

Grind the crayfish and pepper and set aside.
Wash and boil the cocoyam corms till soft. Remove the peels and use a mortar and pestle to pound the corms to a smooth paste.
Using your fingers, cut the Ora (Oha) leaves into tiny pieces. This technique is to prevent the vegetable from becoming darker in colour. This happens when you cut the ora leaves with a knife.

Cooking Directions

Boil the shaki (cow tripe), stock fish and dry fish in 1 litre of water till they are well done. First sign of a done shaki is that the cuts will start curling on itself.
Wash the beef and add to the pot of shaki etc. and continue cooking. When the meat is done, add 2 stock cubes and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the pepper, ogiri Igbo and ground crayfish and cook for 10 minutes. Add the cocoyam paste in small lumps and then the palm oil.
Cover the pot and leave to cook on high heat till all the cocoyam lumps have dissolved. You can add more water if you feel that the soup is too thick.
Add the ora (oha) leaves and leave to cook for about 5 minutes.
Add salt to taste, stir and the soup is ready!

OKRA SOUP

Ingredients

Okra

Red Palm Oil
Fish (preferably Mackerel)
Ground crayfish
Salt to taste
Vegetable: Nigerian pumpkin leaves or Spinach (Washed & Frozen)
1 stock cube (Optional)

Before you cook Kiddies Okra Soup

Cut the okra fingers into tiny pieces. Grind the crayfish. Wash the pumpkin leaves, if it is your choice of vegetable, and cut into tiny pieces. If you will use spinach, defrost and cut into tiny pieces.

Wash, cut and boil the iced fish. Leave to cool and debone.

Cooking Directions

Pour red palm oil in a clean dry pot and heat to dissolve the oil if it is congealed. Add the diced okra and start frying on medium heat, add some fish stock (or water) from time to time till you notice the okra start to draw. This process should take a maximum of 5 minutes to avoid over-cooking the okra.
Now add the ground crayfish, the remaining fish stock, pumpkin leaves, a pinch of salt and the fish and stir well.
Cover the cooking pot and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
The soup is ready to be served with mashed potatoes, Semolina or Pounded Yam.

VEGETABLE SOUP

Ingredients for Edikang Ikong Soup

1kg Pumpkin leaves
500g Water leaves (Talinum Triangulare)
600g Beef, Kanda, shaki and Dry fish
Pepper, Salt and ground crayfish: to taste
200ml Palm oil
1 cup Periwinkle
2 medium onions
2-3 stock cubes
Alternative vegetables for those who cannot buy water leaves and pumpkin leaves:

Use the following to replace the classic Nigerian vegetables for this soup:

1kg normal frozen spinach
200g ground frozen spinach
250g lamb's lettuce (canonigos in Spanish)
Defrost the frozen spinach, cut the normal frozen one into tiny pieces and mix with the ground frozen spinach. Wring out the water from these and add them when the written recipe requires you to add the pumpkin leaves.

Wash, pick and cut the Lamb's Lettuce into tiny pieces. Add them when the written recipe requires you to add water leaves.

Before you cook the Edikaikong Soup

Wash and cut the pumpkin and water leaves into tiny pieces. Put them in separate sieves to drain out all the water as much as possible.
Cut the Kanda into small pieces. Cook the beef, kanda and the dry fish with the 2 bulbs of diced onions and the stock cubes with as little quantity of water as possible.

Cooking Directions

When the meat is done, add a generous amount of palm oil, the crayfish and pepper and leave to boil for about 10 minutes. The palm oil serves as the liquid in the Edikang Ikong soup. You should try as much as possible to make it the only liquid in the soup.
Add the periwinkle and water leaves and leave to cook for another 5 minutes. You may have to cook for less time at this stage so that the water leaves are not over-cooked.
Now add the pumpkin leaves and salt to taste. Stir the contents of the pot very well and turn off the heat. Cover the pot and leave to stand for about 5 minutes.
Thats it!

AFANG SOUP

Ingredients for Afang Soup

400g sliced Okazi/Afang leaves | about 4 handfuls
250g Water leaves
20 to 25 cl red palm oil (about 1 drink glass)
Beef, Kanda and Dry fish
2 tablespoons ground crayfish
Pepper and salt (to taste)
2 stock cubes
Notes about the ingredients

Great alternative to water leaves is Lamb's Lettuce, known as Canonigos in Spanish.
Yes, you need that much palm oil. :)
Before you cook the Nigerian Afang Soup

Wash, drain and slice the water leaves into tiny pieces. Grind or pound the sliced Okazi leaves. In Nigerian markets, the sellers of these sliced Okazi leaves have a machine for grinding it. You can also grind it with your blender with a small quantity of water. Take a look at the ground Okazi leaves.
Grind your pepper and crayfish and cut the onions into tiny pieces.
Cooking Directions

Boil the beef and Kanda with the diced onions and stock cubes in a very small quantity of water. When done, add the dry fish and cook for about 5 more minutes.
Now add the palm oil, crayfish and pepper. Once it starts boiling, add the afang (okazi) leaves, water leaves and periwinkle. When the okazi leaves have softened and the water has dried up a bit, add salt to taste and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes. The Afang soup is ready!

YAM PORRAGE

Ingredients

1 kg (2.2 lbs) white puna yam
Red palm Oil (to colour)
1 smoked fish (mackerel)
1 tablespoon ground crayfish
1 medium onion
Fresh green vegetable (eg pumpkin, parsley, scent leaf or green amaranth)
Habanero or Chilli Pepper & Salt (to taste)
2 big stock cubes
Notes about the ingredients

Add enough red palm oil to make the meal colourful.
You can use dry fish instead of smoked fish.

Before you cook Yam Porridge

Peel and cut the yam tuber into medium sizes. Wash the yam cubes and place in a sizeable pot.
Wash and cut the onions into tiny pieces. Grind or blend the chilli pepper. Set these aside.
If using dry fish, soak and pick the bones.

Cooking Directions

Pour enough water to cover the yam cubes and start cooking at medium to high heat. If you are using dry fish, add it now.
When the yams have got a good boil, add the onions, ground crayfish, pepper, stock cubes, palm oil and the smoked fish.
Cover the pot and continue cooking till the yam is done.
Add salt to taste and stir very well. Cook at high heat for about 5 minutes.
Add the green vegetable, stir and leave to stand for about 5 minutes then serve.

BASMATIC FRIED RICE

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons  vegetable oil (divided)
2 cubes maggi
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon curry powder (divided)
1 teaspoon thyme powder (divided)
2 cups mixed vegetables (Carrot, peas, cabbage, sweetcorn)
¼ cup chopped spring onion (optional)
1 ½ cups precooked shrimps or chicken (optional)
½ teaspoons crushed red pepper
3 cups basmati rice (washed) (Preferably extra fancy long grain )
Directions:

Place a large pot (with a good fitting lid) on medium heat; add 1 part each of oil, curry, thyme, 1 cube maggi, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir.
Add in 3 cups water. Cover the pot, increase heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil.
Reduce the heat to minimum (the lowest setting on your cooker), add in the rice and stir. Cover the pot tightly (I cover my pot with foil paper usually and then add on the lid) leave the rice to cook for 25 minutes. Set aside to cool
Place another large pot on medium heat, add in the left over oil and heat slightly.  Add all left over ingredients and cook for 2 minutes.
Add in the precooked rice, meat (if using) and 3 tablespoons water, combine. Taste and adjust for seasoning as needed.  Simmer for another 3 minutes
Serve and Enjoy!

Jellof fiesta

1 chicken, boiled
1 medium onion sliced
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 pound shrimp
3/4 cup carrots chopped
3/4 cup peas
2 large tomatoes, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
4 cups rice
1/4 tomato paste
corn oil

directions
Use some of the chicken stock you used in boiling the chicken.

One could add any other spices needed depending on the individual. Use a large pot cast iron skillet to discourage burning. Stirring often is the key to success with this dish. Use a large wooden spoon and cover the pot tightly.

Skin, debone the chicken and chop into pieces. In a large pot, large enough to hold everything, brown the chicken in oil. Add onions and peppers. Cook over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

In a separate skillet, saute the shrimp in a small amount of butter and precook the carrots, and peas (or other vegetable of your choice) until they are about half done (5 minutes). Drain the vegetables and add to the chicken pot along with the shrimp, tomatoes, salt, pepper. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Pre-boil your rice for 10 minutes and after that combine the rice with the tomato paste, which should coat the rice grains without drowning them. Stir the coated rice to the pot and continue to simmer, adding water sparingly, as needed to avoid burning. When the rice and the vegetables are tender, the jollof rice is ready.