This simply means Okazi soup cooked with akpuruakpu mgbam, english for Egusi balls. This is a delicacy from the people of Umuahia in Abia State. Adding to my repertoire of dishes from the Eastern part of Nigeria. I started making this dish with a lot of trepidation. Achi is a thickener I am not fond of at all. Now I know that I must have been buying it from questionable sources because I got my friend Chiby to send me some all the way from Scotland. Chiby gets her stash sent by her mother in law from Nigeria and I must tell you people, I am now an Achi convert. All I need now is a good source of Ofor (another soup thickener used by the Igbos) and I am good to go. If you live in the UK and you would kindly want to gift me some ofor, please send me an email. I will be very grateful.
Okazi is by far not my favourite vegetable to cook with. I can see why the Efiks pound it for Afang Soup. It is quite a tough vegetable, with not that much flavour. As you only need a handful for this soup, if you are not a huge fan of Okazi, you wouldn’t even mind at all. The star of this dish is the mgbam. Ooooooh, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, and I thought egusi balls made with onions are the best things since slice bread. This is equally as good. Ofe Okazi is the soup to try if you are looking to step out of your comfort zone with cooking. Some dishes I try once for the education and experience, and may never make again for a long time to come, I don’t think Ofe Okazi is going on that list at all. It will be a regular from my kitchen, well until I run out of Achi and back to begging Chiby nicely for some more. Join me in the Ofe Okazi fan club, all hail the people of Umuahia for introducing this delicious goodness to Nigeria. Let’s Cook
You will need
Pre made akpuruakpu mgbam – egusi balls. Learn how click HERE
Okporoko – stock fish
Dry fish – like azu mbasa or mangala
Ground crayfish
Assorted Meat
Snails – if you have
Palm Oil
Achi – powdered
Salt
Beef Stock
Water
1 handful Shredded Okazi leaves – fresh or dry
Achara – if you have
Isam – perwinkle
I would like to state that I could not source achara where I live, and I had run out of periwinkles
How To
First you cook the mgbam. This, people also takes a lot of time and patience. the one good thing, or should I say one of many is that you can make a large batch of the mgbam and keep for later. I definitely did, and I have subsequently made Ofe Okazi. Amazing, how quick it took with already cooked mgbam. While the mgbam is cooking, boil your assorted meats with a lot of stockfish and dry fish. You need to get a very rich stock out of boiling your meats because you should not have to add seasoning cubes or possibly salt when you start cooking the soup.
1. Fill a big pot half way, add palm oil and bring to a boil. I took some cooks artistic license here by adding some ground crayfish into the water, for extra absorption of flavour.
Drop in the mgbam and let it boil until it turns completely white.
This would take quite some time and you would need to top up the water again. You will know the mgbam has cooked completely when it is also white inside when you bite into it. Very important to check the insides.
2. See, the previous brown mgbam? Now white
3. Take out the mgbam from the pot and transfer into another boiling pot containing assorted meats, shredded stockfish, smoked fish, isam, dry fish, a little extra palm oil and fresh pepper and achara (if you are using). This is a rich stock that forms the base of your soup. The flavour of the stock should have a deep robust flavour. If you are not quite there yet, add a tablespoon or 2 of ground crayfish, leave to boil for about 2 minutes and it should do the trick. Allow the mgbam to boil in this stock for 7 – 10minutes to absorb the flavours in the pot.
4. Mix 1 tablespoon of crayfish with 1 tablespoon of achi powder. The crayfish is needed to prevent the achi from forming lumps. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: you only need a little achi to thicken the soup, because ofe okazi is not a thick soup at all
5. Add the achi-crayfish mix to the pot and stir quickly. Leave it to cook for about 5 – 7 minutes to thicken the soup.
Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: if you have never cooked with Achi before, a little caveat. It would look at first as if the soup is not getting any thicker. DO NOT be tempted to add more. That is a rookie mistake I myself made a few times years ago with achi and ended up with a thick globby mess, before i got the hang of it.
Give it some time and the liquid stock you started with would get thicker and take on a pleasant light yellowish orange colour.
see what I mean. Taste to ensure that you are fine with the flavour. Re-adjust if necessary.
6. Rinse your dry shredded Okazi leaves with enough water, add to the to the pot and stir. You can also choose to add more smoked fish, if you wish. Give it another 3 – 5 minutes, take off the heat and serve.
…………….with all pride and pleasure, for a soup I attempted for the first time, here is my Ofe Okazi na akpuruaku mgbam
May The Lord bless the Umuahia people…Mamma nu o!
It is not just the stock part of this soup that rocks something awful, chewing the mgbam, which previously tasted bland, but has absorbed all the flavours from the other contents of the pot. YUMSSSSS!!!!!!!
As written previously, Ofe Okazi is not a thick soup by any means. So, make sure you get the consistency right
Despite the soup being named after the vegetable Okazi, don’t add too much. One handful is just about right
I thoroughly enjoyed this soup. Pairing it with steamed green plantain amala, was a very wise decision. The sweetness of the amala, combined with the sour earthiness of the soup is something better tried than imagined. To learn how to make steamed green plantain amala, click HERE
#steppingoutofmycomfortzone #expandingmycookingrepertoire #igboandyorubafoodfusion
Thats our festive and special soup. Am born and married in Umuahia. We call it ‘mkpurusu’ ie the ‘akpuruakpu mgbam’
Weldone Babe!
Ooooooh, nice Engy. I now have one more terminology to add to my name. Love the variations of the nigerian language from place to place.
Wooow! we call it akpuruakpu egusi. m from umuahia too. try add achara to it.
OMG…Bam! You have indeed really made an ofe okazi soup. This is my native soup as I am from Ibeku Umuahia and we don’t joke with this soup especially during festive seasons. We call the egusi balls “akaboh” though so not sure where the “akpuruakpu mgbam” is from it might be from another part of Umuahia. Although I hate the akaboh and usually pick it out from my plate but I love the achara (elephant grass), it can also be used in Oha soup.
I will definitelly be trying this out as I never really learnt how to make the akaboh as I am not a fan and my mum has gone to be with the the lord so no one to ask…..
Well done Dunni and more grease to your elbows!
Hi Stephanie, I think there are variations. Some other people have left comments saying it is called ahuu and mkpurusu. Good to read the other term for it. I can’t wait to get my hands on Achara. I will just have to wait till I go home. Thanks for stopping by, pretty pleased you can finally make the egusi balls by yourself
Yeah, i just saw Engy’s comment that they call it mkpurusu…I guess different villages in Umuahia call the egusi balls different names. Thanks dear!
You are welcome Stephanie
Dunni, you are my favourite person. Because of you, I now feel like a chef #biggrin. Thank you so much.
I’ve got two questions to ask. First, can the palm oil extracted from palm kernel be used, instead of using the ready-made palm oil?? I feel the palm kernel oil will probably give it a richer flavour.
Secondly, in step 4 you said a tbsp of crayfish and achi. Did you mean a heaped spoon or a levelled tbsp?
Thanks again. U r the Bestest Best 🙂
Hmmmmmn, Awele, I believe you are unto something here. It is probably possible for you to use the pal, kernel juice. I recently saw Egusi made using the palm kernel juice and I was mightily impressed, so I say to you, why not. I used a slightly heaped tablespoon
Hi Awele,
I think you can cook it that way. If I can recall “ofe owerri” is cooked that way which is sort of similar to ofe okazi but without the egusi balls and achara. But please don’t quote me, if there are any owerri peeps commentators than they can confirm or refute my statement as it has been a while!
Dunni of life……You have done it again!!! Kudos!!!Although I am not from Abia, I would want to try this out.
What did you do with the palmoil and water mix in which you boiled the mgbam in? Did you throw it away or added it to the stock?
Thanks @fidy. I threw it away.
Duni weldone! I should be replicating this soon too*winks*… scented efo riro is still rocking my world.. hehe
I was about to ask what achara was and Stephanie helped me out – elephant grass. Thanks Steph.. I’m sure my igbo market woman will be able to provide.
Aaaaaw, hugs Laura. Please let me know how it goes when you try it
OMG 🙂
Dooney you just took me back home now with this soup 🙂 well done the soup looks so yummy! Am proudly born Umuahia 🙂 my grandma always make the soup during festive period like Ekpe festive time!
Greatly done dear and you got it correct becos the ukazi they put it long (don’t need to blend it first) lol. #missing home now#
Thank you Angela
Dooney Dooney,Am always amazed with your cooking skills and u always leaving me with no option than to follow your footsteps when it comes to cooking, i can do shakara with the different dishes i have learnt from u,please keep this up,i really love it. Will definitely try out the ofe Okazi this weekend.thanks so much Donney
aaaaaw, hugs Izu. Thanks
Hi Dooney!
My pregnant sister just introduced me to your blog while we were discussing food as I’m a serious foodie. I’m really impressed I must say with your beautiful presentations and your menus. I’ll be definitely be visiting very often.
By the way, have you considered contesting on Masterchef because I think you’re really good and you can give our Nigerian food the much needed publicity it deserves. I think you will do us proud. I’ll be rooting for you if you do. Lol.
Thank you Funmi. Thinking about it, honestly but a lot has to change in my life to make that happen, i.e. being away from work for weeks. When the opportunity presents itself, I will definitely apply. Thanks for the vote of confidence
Akpuruakpu mgbam is used by those from Ngwa cos am married there but am from umuahia North and we call it Mkpurusu. well done dooney. As for the achi, u can also use ofo seed. For those that have difficulty with their achi forming balls, u can mix it with palm oil. Reserve some oil when adding it to your soup. Use the remaining one to dissolve ur achi nd i tell u, there won’t be anything like lumps. As for me, there can’t be okazi soup without mgbam nd no occassion in umuahia region will be well recognized without this soup. welcome to my tribe dooney. u have identified with us by appreciating our food, we appreciate u too an what u re doing. God bless u
Aaaaaw, hugs Mercy. Thanks
Aww thank you so much. I feel so proud to be from Umuahia
Hugs Ogechi. Thanks
Nice. Well done Duni. I will try this recipe this weekend.
Please do Nkiru. Thanks
Oh!!!! Dunno where I went wrong….. Tried this out today and I am heartbroken to report that my egusi ball dissolved when cooking them. Well most of thm did. I just stared at my pot in shock and kept looking at your instructions. Was practically in tears but after a while I just cheered up and mad a pot of egusi. And …… Well it turned out nice and we enjoyed it!!! Will try again though but would appreciate some pointers on where I went wrong #sad face#
Aaaaaaw, hugs Nkiru. The only time I experienced that breaking was when i left the egusi out for too long and it dried out way more than it should have making it very crumbly. In as much as you should squeeze out excess oil, squeeze too much and the egusi becomes crumbly, no oil within it to keep it together. Think of making pastry dough with not enough butter, it will crumble into pieces when heat is added. That is the only guess I can come up with. I will ask Chiby though, maybe she has any experience with this that she can share. Really sorry it didn’t turn out well. I do hope you try it out next time and lets see if it holds its shape
I can’t shout! I just heard about your website today and I’ve literally spend the last 3 hours browsing (i’m supposed to be working), I can’t stop browsing!!! I’ve made 2 mental 4 course meals already. I’m so going to throw down this weekend.
You need to make a recipe book biko and/or an app if you haven’t already
P.S. I can help with the app 😀
I’ve bookmarked this site forever. My go to (oh and the hand mixer amala – genius!). I’m hoping to stunt on momsi when she visits hehe.
Thanks for all the awesome recipes, I’m gingered to cook now
P.S. my ibo in-laws won’t know what hit them #offtopractice
Hahahahahahahaha, loved reading your comment Yomi. Welcome to Dooney’s Kitchen. Don’t worry, I don’t mind that you have bookmarked it forever. Cookbook and App will manifest by His Grace
Abia kwenu! I am proudly Abian and Ofe Ukazi is one of my FAVOURITES. I love it like… I dey cook am anyhow. Try it with fufu, cornmeal or yellow garri.
Dooneybuchi, u try. See as u set am out with the amala, who could ever believe Ofe Ukazi can be this …, wow!!!
Aaaaaaw, thanks Zuriel
We call the egusi balls “akagboh” … Good to see my staple soup on here… Olokoro Umuahia mmamma nuo o!