For weeks now I have been wanting to try an alternative to Egusi soup for a while now. Eva, our Czech honorary Nigerian wife cooked Egusi soup with Almonds. That girl can cook many Nigerian women under the table. Serious smack down, the kind she won’t even play. See why you should be following Dooney’s Kitchen on Instagram, you will see some of Eva’s posts and marvel at her Nigerian cooking prowess, which I shared as part of my weekly #cookcrush episodes. Anyways, using almonds came into my consciousness again because of #Fitfam and I moseyed down to My Fitness Pal to check how many calories one cup contains. Hot Damn!!!!! My eyes almost popped out of my skull. 823 calories. WHAT!!!!!, I checked Egusi too, 836. Yikes!!!!!. Now, you may say hmmmmn, that figure is doubtful, who verified the Egusi, but wait a minute and think back to all you know about Egusi. It contains a lot of oil. Like aaaaaa lot. Fact. it is very buttery too in taste, see where I am going.
Anyways, I thought to strike out almonds. Then I considered Sesame seeds, 825 calories. Ah ah, these nuts and seeds are just conspiring against me. Sad face. Then some lovely reader left a comment on Instagram saying I should try Pumpkin seeds. Of course, of course. They are very close cousins to Egusi. Yes people, on Sunday, I bought a packet of pumpkin seeds and of course I had to bring out the other seeds for comparison, so people can see all the options. These I posted on Instagram. From Left to right, and in order of number of calories; Pumpkin seeds, Almonds, Egusi seeds and Sesame seeds (benniseed).
All 3 can be used to make ‘Egusi’ style soup. To switch things up, you can try them, best of all if you live outside Nigeria, these 3 can be found in your local supermarket, and you may not have to visit the Nigerian food store, if you don’t want to.
Calories in one cup of Pumpkin seeds. Wait for it, wait for it. 285 calories. Digest that information for a second. Okay, now, do the happy dance. Hehehehe. Ignore the colour, believe me you won’t notice when you are done cooking. Have I led you wrong before?
As for the cooked soup, my goodness. I know how my Egusi soup tastes. I switch things up once in a while and it always tastes great. This tasted like a Badass Egusi soup that someone else cooked. Gosh, I loved it.
As for the Efo Igbo, my friend Funmi told me where to buy it. It is supposed to be this rare vegetable, imagine her delight in finding it at one of local Nigerian food stores.
It has a bitter tinge to it, so it needs to be given a good wash between your palms to get rid of the bitterness, just as you would bitter leaves.
Buuuuuuut, who has time for that. I brought out the food processor stat. 2 mins or under, it had done all the work for me. #TheNewNigerianCookery.
If you were not told that not a single grain of Egusi was used in cooking it, I am willing to bet top dollar, that you would not know.
Let’s Cook
- 1 cup of Pumpkin seeds
- 1 - 2 cooking spoons of Palm oil
- Ata lilo - fresh pepper mix
- Efo Igbo - eggplant leaves or any green veg
- Assorted Meats
- Smoked fish
- Meat Stock
- Ground Crayfish
- This is cooked Exactly as you would Egusi soup. I used the lumpy Egusi style method, but as pumpkin seeds contain less oil, it didn't form the giant lumps I was expecting, but I would be trying it again
- Mill the pumpkin seeds to a fine powder
- Heat up palm oil in a pot, add chopped onions, fry, add pepper, let that fry a little too, add the assorted meat, beef stock, smoked fish and ground crayfish. Let the pepper stock reduce sufficiently
- I didn't want to add this in powder form, so I took a little out of the pepper stock and mixed to form a paste. You can also use blended onions
- Using a tablespoon or your fingers, add the pumpkin seed paste in lumps into the stock. Lower the heat and allow it to cook
- In a few more minutes, just as it would Egusi soup, the paste would have combined well with the pepper stock
. See, I told you the green colour will disappear. - Once the soup has thickened as you like it, add the green veg and stir
- A few more minutes, and that is your soup done
Enjoy your lower calorie Egusi style soup. Pumpkin seeds can be found in most local supermarkets outside Nigeria, and in Nigeria, maybe in the fancy shops, or health food shops.
Here’s to alternative Nigerian Cooking. Here’s to making healthier cooking options.
I cant wait to try this!!!
Dooney,
I loved you before.. now that you are on this healthfood kick.. know that I love you forever because you are speaking my language. You are amazing.. God bless you plenty for your zest for life and cooking. I m still working on naming my daughter after you. Lol. Happy 2015 and looking forward to greater things.
Dooney I swear you are wicked and I love you like that. I have removed my mind from eating egusi for now since I moved to another location and do not have an idea where Nigeria food store is. This has awaken my egusi craving and thank goodness pumpkin seed is not that rare to find. Nice one, I just wish you can find a pounded yam alternative.
What is Egusi in English, I believe it’s pumpkin seed.
No, melon seeds
Melon
Dooney, this looks delicious and I definitely will be trying this. Believe me I have found so many healthier alternatives to our Nigeria food and it doesn’t make much differences when you cook it e.g cooking rice and navy beans instead of our normal black-eyed beans (brown beans), plantain porridge with lentil instead of plantain porridge and black eyed beans (brown beans) and the almighty pounded yam I have completed switched to grounded quinoa and have stopped eating pounded yam for the past 1 year now.
Dooney I really love all your westernised invention of our Nigerian food, kudos to you and keep up the good work!
Na wa o! i just discovered this blog yesterday and have been on it endlessly since then. The comments are very inspiring, first on my list is the poundo made with food processor!! I had signed off naija food for the past 4 years cos it just takes too much time and effort and i’m a lazy cook, but seeing shortcuts like food processor motivates me. Plus i’m relocating back to naija this year so i gats brush up them skills! LOL. Thanks for sharing all this knowledge, I do not see me embarking on any naija meals from now on without consulting this oracle first : )
Pls what do I call the pumpkin seed if I want to get it in Nigeria.
It is called Pumpkin seeds
Dooney, the soup looks fantastic but I know you are particular about your accurate information so I thought I would share that the calorie information may be wrong. I think that’s what Google lists for 1 cup but if you change the setting in the Google result to 1 oz, you see that they list 126 calories per oz and there are 4.4 ounces of seeds per cup. Also they list a cup as 64g, when it is closer to 124g. So even with their data a cup would be 550 calories, which I believe is still wrong.
I have eaten pumpkin seeds for a long time and all my research shows a cup of pumpkin seeds is closer to 800 calories. The green ones are sometimes called “pepitas”. I have used different brands and the nutrition information in a cup ranges from about 750 – 820 calories. Keep in mind that they are similar in stricture and composition to egusi (carbohydrate, protein and fat content) so it makes sense that their calorie content would also be similar,
With that said, the omega in egusi and pumpkin seeds are healthy fats, just like in the healthy nut types (almonds, walnuts, etc.)
Cook your delicious food and keep those delicious recipes and innovative ideas coming!
Marlene, you are definitely right about the Calorific content of pumpkin seeds. It is closer to 750 per cup!
Hi Dunni,
This is looks absolutely fantastic and definitely try it. Quick question, are the pumpkin seeds to be used raw or roasted (can I just grab a pack of pumpkin seeds in say Holland and Barrett and I am good to go?). Thanks
what is the native name for pumpkin seeds in yoruba or igbo. Also did you peel it before grinding?
Thanks
No native name. They don’t grow in Nigeria
Pumpkin grows in Nigeria, actually. Seen it in the East before. They called it “Fruited Pumpkin”. I don’t remember the local name tho.
Actually ugu is pumpkin leave. We had a farm in the East whilst I was growing up and we planted the pumpkin seeds but come to think of it, the specie is different from the one they sell here in the US. The pumpkin back in Nigeria is a bit bigger and also when you open inside the pumpkin it had some sort of bigger round seeds covered in black skin which was planted to get the ugu leaves then inside the flesh of the pumkin had these pumpkin seeds we are referring to which we picked out and dried, salted and roasted in a pan or oven. How I wish my mum was alive for me to verify this :(.
Dooney you’re bad but I’m loving your badness you just have a way of making my brain bring out fumes weekend soup tinx #activated# always on point
Pls I stay in the States, where can I get pumpkin seeds, ones without the shells. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
Check whole foods.
I just stumbled on ur blog today. I googled how to make Efo riro and of all d answers I got, urs stood out. U have a new follower now o. U cook like my mum. I am Igbo but ur method of cooking is simply fantastic. God less u dear. Mrs Amara
God bless you I meant. #typoerror
Dooney Rocks…
You made my day, I have not been able to eat egusi for a while now somehow I get stomach pains with it. i’ll sure try one of these alternatives. God bless!
Hi Dooney, Ardent follower on IG (You are doing a great job!). Bachelor who just moved to the UK and I’m struggling adjusting to life without proper Nigerian meals. I want to hopefully replicate this recipe however i need tips on the greens to use. Please kindly advise on the vegetables that I can get in a part of UK that has no Nigerian stores. Many Thanks..
Hi Damz, Kale is a very good option to use. Kale is sold in most supermarkets here, and cheap too
Thanks Dooney!
Hi Dooney, if I did not come back and say thank you, I will be an ungrateful person. Thank you so much for this ëgusi soup, using pumpkin seed instead, which is a healthier option. I prepared it yesterday using pumpkin seed instead of egusi….oh my God! It came out so well, delicious and especially no difference from the normal egusi. God bless you. Thank you so much. Your fountain of wisdom & knowledge will never run dry. Am having a visitor, would allow her to eat half & ask her what she is eating, I bet with a million dollar, she will think its egusi. It tastes and look the same. By the way, I live in Brisbane Australia. You only get egusi from Africa store (which might have been mixed) & very expensive, so discovering ‘pumpkin seed/kernel’ to make egusi soup is a great news, Its cheaper and healthier. We have been so excited since yesterday. My husband loves it so much & have even been boasting that if I go to Nigeria, I will never bring back egusi. Never going to use egusi again!
All the way from Australia, aaaaaaaaw, so pleased to read. Happy to help. Now go stock up on Pumpkins, and tell your friends and family in Australia
Hello dunni,I’m about to try using sesame seeds,bcos I cannot get pumpkin seeds or egusi seeds where i live,I hope to get a good result and share my feedback with you.thanks