I have been advised or is it cajoled to marry an Igbo man. Hehehehehehe. Because I seem to know how to cook all their soups. *their words not mine*. I know a few friends and relatives who will disagree, but these are the same people who don’t like to hear me say, I can marry a White man you know, in a lot of ways we share the same ideologies on marriage and family, so we will suit just fine. Hahahaha. Olumide one of the most vocal will say “you are not allowed”. Lol. When someone on the Facebook Group So You Think You Can Cook, mentioned the many Igbo recipes that I have, I went to Google ‘Igbo Soups’ just to be sure that I haven’t missed anyone out. According to Google, I haven’t but I know that there must be some out there that I probably haven’t tasted or even heard of. This is to challenge to all my Igbo readers out there, please enlighten me. I have heard of one other soup called Ofor soup, but it is basically the same as the Native Soup from Rivers. I spoke to my friend Chiby yesterday and she gave me the low down on this soup. Once I source my fresh fish this weekend, I will be making it.
If you’ve always found the cuisine of the Igbos frightening and complicated, especially if you are a new bride looking forward to pleasing your new in-laws with their tribal or clan food, don’t be. As numerous as their soups are, the variety is mostly down to the choice of vegetables which names the soup. There is a lot of commonality with the technique. I have the recipe for Ofe Onugbu (bitter leaf soup) already (recipe HERE), I also have the recipe for Ofe Owerri (recipe HERE). If you have looked at them or tried them before, this recipe will be a breeze for you. The only difference being that Oha/Ora leaves are not to be chopped with a knife. Apparently, it makes the leaves bitter, so you have to tear the leaves apart with your fingers.
You will need
3 pieces of Cocoyam
1 – 2 handfuls of Oha/Ora leaves
half a bunch of Uziza leaves
2 wraps of Ogiri
1 piece of Tatashe – red bell pepper
2 pieces of ata rodo – scotch bonnet/habanero pepper
1 1/2 cooking spoons of Palm oil
Assorted Meat
1 piece of Stock fish
1 piece of smoked fish
Uziza leaves for extra flavour – a few leaves or grind a couple of uziza seeds
Beef Stock
Seasoning cube
Salt
How To
1. Season and boil your meats with the stockfish until tender. When you have a sizeable volume of stock that you think will cook the soup, add the blended tatashe and ata rodo.
2. Put the cocoyam to boil with enough water. Do NOT add salt.
was and tear apart the smoked fish into bite sized portions
3. Let it boil with the meats until the pepper dissolves thoroughly, turning the stock to a shade of orange.
then add Palm oil.
4. Let the palm oil dissolve until you see bits of oil floating at the edges of the pot.
5. Once you have a rich oil filled stock, then add the wraps of Ogiri. Start with one wrap and let it dissolve. In a few minutes you will be able to smell and taste the ogiri in the stock. If you want a much stronger flavour, depending on how large your meat and stock is, add another wrap.
6. Right about when you add the pepper to the meats in stage 2, you should have put the cocoyam to boil. Once it is soft enough, and I mean soft enough not just for the fork to go through, but to break it apart, take it off the heat, peel the skin and put in a small mortar to pound. You can use a food processor or a blender. If it doesn’t move smoothly, just add a little hot water to get the blades moving.
pound the cocoyam until soft, smooth and creamy.
it is okay to have tiny lumps. As long as they are not hard lumps, it will dissolve into the stock.
7. Add the cocoyam paste to the stock in balls. Right about morsel size. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: I prefer to lower the heat once the cocoyam paste is in to reduce the chance of burning.
in a few minutes time, between 3 – 5 depending on how low the heat is, the cocoyam paste will dissolve and thicken the stock.
you should be seeing the stock change to a pale shade of orange and it should be thicker in consistency, but not as thick that it is like a sludgy custard.
8. Add crayfish to the stock, which will thicken it further and give it flavour. Give the crayfish a few minutes to dissolve and taste the soup. Re-season if necessary.
9. Then you add the oha leaves. Simply tear the leaves apart gently with your fingers. The leaves are darker in colour because I used frozen Oha and uziza leaves to cook this soup.
give it a stir, add shredded smoked fish, lower the heat further and let it cook for a few minutes. Not too long, to retain its colour if you are using fresh. I was using frozen, so the leaves had darkened a bit to a deep shade of green, but the essence and flavour of the leaves was still there.
………………..and that’s it. Serve your Oha soup with any starchy solid of your choice.
Some people may be wondering, Dunni why Pounded Cocoyam? That’s strange, isn’t cocoyam simply used as a thickener? Well you are correct, but I am all about pushing the boundaries and exploring options. Sometimes I shake my head about the inane arguments some people have over food and their unexplainable stand on how things must be done. You can’t use this and call it the same soup. Crazy, I know. You left this out therefore it is not the same dish. BS in my opinion. If you have read the arguments some people put up, a non Nigerian will look on and wonder if there is more to it than food. Food is like Fashion, do what you want with it. Express yourself, surprise your taste buds. The greatest chefs in the world thought outside the box. Enough of the preaching.
I decided to pound the cocoyam because I enjoy pinching out of the paste while i put it in the stock. I just love the taste of boiled coocyam. Luckily I had one big piece left, so I decided to boil it to the point that it was soft, just the way you would with yam. Too soft and it becomes a paste. I pounded the cocoyam, wrapped it in cellophane and left it to cool a bit. it toughened up after a few minutes, and I served it on a plate and moulded it in a shape similar to the uncooked Cocoyam and decided to be cheeky by even adding hairs. I am guilty of many things, and attention to detail is one of them. I also decided to be cheeky by serving the Oha soup in the shape of a Comment icon. Hehehehehehe.
This was my Sunday Lunch. I hope you all have a nice week and are preparing for Christmas. if you need an help with your Christmas cooking or Food SHopping List, just let me know, I am happy to help. First Christmas as a Food Blogger, and I am very excited.
God bless u soul sister, being looking for this recipe on your blog, cos I want to make it the dooney’s way. Now I can enjoy this for my Saturday. Thanks hubby have being complimenting my new found techniques of cooking, keep it up girl.
You are welcome Dami. Please let me know how your Oha soup turns out
hi dooney, this is really lovely but as an igbo girl i have some tips that will be worth your while. in addition to the oha leaves, you can add uziza leaves or uziza seed to add a very wonderful taste and aroma to the oha soup, though its optional but most people i know prepare it this way including my family
Wow, thank you Ijeoma for the tips. To think I have uziza seeds and the leaves at home. The next time I make Oha soup, I will use your tips. Thanks
Hey Dooney,
I concur with Ijeoma. If you want oha soup to hit the right spot add uziza if you have the leaves good if not the ground seed will do. You know next time someone comes from Nigeria you can ask for them to dry the leaves so that can preserve it for you. Nothing much changes when it is dried. Meanwhile did you read my epistle? Send me an email.
Hey, my kitchen looks like a bomb went off in it. I have my laptop with me there that is why I can even respond to this message. When I am done cleaning, I will read the email and respond. I am definitely trying out uziza the next time I make Oha soup. In fact, I will add it to the recipe now. Thanks
Biko where did you get the mortar and pestle from? It cracked me up when I saw it I can’t remember the last time I saw that.
Looooool. Mumsie brought it from Lagos o. Valuable thing that mini mortar and pestle. Nothing here comes close
Please what is ogiri and how would you know it when you see it?
Ogiri is a variant of Iru. You will probably recognise it because of its wrapping. If you look at the picture with the smoked fish, the brown paper wraps contain ogiri. On smell you will know too because it stinks a lot, but tastes great. Just ask at the market or African shop and if they have they will let you know
i was particularly watching out for how you were going to prepare the cocoyam and then i saw your mini mortar and pestel and i smiled….i made sure i carried it from naija when i was coming cos am just too used to it….apart from the uziza part you nailed it as usual….infact am salivating for ora soup right now….i will check out african shop tomorrow and pray fervently….that i find
Before it arrived, i used a blender and it turned out perfectly, but i kinda like that cute little mortar and pestle. I will definitely be using Uziza next time. Thanks
Dooney, well done for your effort. I join my people in encouraging you to marry an Igbo man, so that your acquired Igbo culinary skills will highly appreciated. Lol!
Looool. Thanks. It is The Lord’s hands
Dear Dooney, merry xmas, please can I use ogiri for recipes that call for iru!? Like the alapa stew? Thanks
Hmmmn, now that is a very interesting question. I guess you should be able to. Ogiri and Iru have similar tastes.
Good job on your website and culinary skills. Great job on the ora soup. I also love cooking and ora is my favorite soup. I also love pushing boundaries and believe that cooking doesn’t need to be stressful to be delicious. Some of our food can really be painstaking to prepare (case in point onugbu soup).
I grew up with the tale that ora should be shredded by hand and not with a knife. I was also taught to pick out the little bits of stem at the head of each ora leaf as they looked like maggots in the soup. (if you’ve even seen fresh ora leaves, you can understand what a chore that was). I decided one day to chop it with a knife without removing the stem. The little stems did not look like maggots and chopping with a knife was faster and easier and did not make the ora bitter. It actually looked more pleasing to the eyes (IMHO). You can also use cocoyam flour which is available in African stores or I usually have my relatives, in Nigeria, dry and grind the cocoyam into flour for me. Keep shinning a positive light on Nigeria. It beats reading about our 419 and other miscellaneous crime escapades any day.
PS. What food processor do you use? I have a Cuisinart 11 cup food processor and a nutribullet and have been wondering if I should invest in a kitchen aid/vitamix/blendtec.
I ctually hit the table when i read your comment Beautifully written. I have also passed that message across without knowing why, and I feel a tad ashamed of myself because i am not one to just accept things about food. Thank you sooooooooo much for restoring my faith in Nigerian food and for daring to try something else. Our mentality of if we don’t slave to cook it can’t be delicious must stop. Thank you so much for that. If you have a Cuisinart, as long as it works don’t get sucked into the bad habit of buying kitchen gadgets. I had to make a resolution to myself to sep spending money on stuff when what i have at home is working perfectly
Thanks :). I haven’t been able to justify spending $400 or more on a blendtec/vitamix. I guess that just proves that I don’t need it. Keep us the good work.
Thank you Vivian
Doing a good job Sis!Ma blender and Microwave has been more useful since I joined the group n your blog!God bleSs your home as you have done to all of us all,whAt of Achi ma Ibo coleaque taught me with Achi but will try your recipe?
Hi Grace, yes you can use Achi to thicken the soup. I don’t particularly like a chi, so I use cocoyam. Please let me know how it turns out
Well done Dooney! I’m not sure about tatashe and red rodo in ibo soup; my mom and aunties always used yellow rodo peppers and good palm oil for color. You may want to try that….it’s a favour on its own.
Thanks for the tip Chichi. Yellow ata rodo is very difficult to find where I live.
I live in 9ja and still use your site! Just made oha according to Dooney! Thank you!
You are welcome Nana. Thanks for visiting the blog
Yay! I made oha soup with goat meat and it turned out wonderfully well. Thanks Dunni. God bless you
Oha soup with goat meat, just sounds amazing. Well done
Hello Dunni,
I was wondering why you used tatashe (aka bell pepper). I guess I wasn’t “taught” that way but I was wondering if there was an explanation as to why. Just like the onugbu soup (i haven’t checked out your recipe yet), I figure the tatashe will take away from the authenticity of the dish. Have you tried it without the tatashe? Let me know what you think. By the way. BRAVA!!!! You do a great job, you are a STELLAR chef!!! Point.blank.and.theperiod. LOL
Thank you Debbie. I find that the flavour of tatashe sets creamy soups with veg (igbo soups) apart. I have had a number of people ask me it doesn’t taste like everybody’s own, and i smile and say tatashe.
Aha! I see. I will try it your way and give you an update. Cheers!
Great Debbie. I will be looking forward to your update
Hi Dooney, I don’t have cocoyam but I’ve seen my sister’s mother in-law use achi as a thickener and I was just wondering, if don’t have ogiri what can I use as a substitute?
Yes, Yes, you can use Achi as a thickener. Ogiri on the other hand, Iru can help, but the taste is not quite the same
God bless you real good!! Someone else had explained how to make this soup to me and i cooked it, rated it a B and am a very decent cook. I cooked it your way and its an A+. My husband who isnt a Nigerian asked for second helping!