Description
Okra and Ogbono soup is one of the most favorite Nigerian soups. It is very tasty, nutritious and insanely delicious! This soup is generally served with Fufu (cassava flour, yam flour, garri or oat-fufu).
Scroll up to see what I served this okra and ogbono soup with oat-fufu. This healthy okra and ogbono soup recipe is also easy to follow as soon as you boil the meat, you are pretty good to go!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. of beef (or more/less)
- 1 lb. of goat meat
- 2 lbs. of cow feet
- 1 lb. of Dry fish
- 1 bulb of onions (quartered; use for cooking the meat)
- 1 TBS. salt or less (for cooking the meat; the amount of salt you use will depend on the quantity of meat/your taste)
- 1 tablespoon seasoning powder or 4 seasoning cubes (for cooking the meat)
- 7 cups of beef broth (or more/less. Broth/stock from all the meat)
- 4 (12oz) bags of frozen okra or 2 lb. of frozen okra
- 1 (12oz) bag of frozen spinach (you can thaw or use from frozen)
- 2 TBS of dry Lante leaves (optional)
- ½ teaspoon Nigerian red pepper or any chili/hot pepper
- ¼ cup of palm oil
- ½ cup of ground Ogbono
- ¼ cup of ground crayfish
- 1 – 2 red bell pepper (blend alongside the okra)
- Water (as needed)
Instructions
Preparation/boiling the meat
- Set a clean pot on the stove, add the meat to a clean pot and add quartered onions, salt, seasoning cubes or powder. Then add water until it is well over the meat. Set the pot on the stove to medium to high heat, cover, and cook until tender; separate meat from broth, and set aside.
- Bring out okra from fridge hours before soup preparation and allow to thaw; then use a clean blender and roughly blend the okra about 3 – 4 (5 second) pauses. Add some bell peppers alongside okra and repeat the process until all the okra is blended. Set aside.
For the soup
- Set a clean pot on the stove and set your stove on low – medium. As soon as the pot warms up add palm oil, allow the palm to heat up just a little bit, and then add ground Ogbono and continue to stir. Keep stirring gently up to the 1-2 minutes to dissolve all the Ogbono into the oil. Then gently add the broth (every liquid from cooking the entire meat.) Then stir in fish, and crayfish, mix well into the soup, cover the pot and allow to cook for about 8 – 10 minutes, this enables the fish to cook a bit prior to adding the already cooked meats. Stir in between to avoid burning or sticking to the pot.
- After the said time (when the soup starts to really simmer), add the meat, crush in one seasoning cube or 1 teaspoon seasoning powder, followed by the ground red pepper, stir very well and allow to cook for about 2 minutes, then add washed Lante leaves. Cover the pot and cook for about 8 – 10 minutes, add little water in between this time if necessary.
- After the set time gently stir in the okra, ensure to distribute it well with a spoon. Then cover the pot and continue to cook for about 15 – 20 minutes. This cook time also depends on the quantity of the okra. If you are using the same amount in this recipe, then it will take about that time (that’s what it takes me.) Stir the pot within intervals of 3-5 minutes to ensure that the soup is cooking evenly and avoid burning of any sort.
- After 15 minutes or so it will be time to add the spinach. Stir in the spinach (I would usually squeeze water out of the spinach before adding if it is thawed.) Use the cooking spoon to ensure the okra is well distributed. By this time your soup is looking yum, feel free to taste it and add additional salt and seasoning if desired. Allow everything to simmer for another 3 – 4 minutes, and your yummy okra and Ogbono soup is ready! Serve with fufu, Garri pounded yam or oat fufu or just eat a bowl by itself.
Notes
The meat boiling time is not included in the cooking time for this soup.
You can always use less meat or no meat at all! You are in charge of the amount of meat you may decide to use. You can substitute the entire meat and fish with mushrooms instead. Sometimes I alternate, you can see that in the video I used chicken instead of goat meat or cow feet.
Sometimes I do prefer to cook certain the meats separate, for instance, I would typically cook goat meat separate from the cow feet because the cow feet takes the longest to cook. But if I were using beef and chicken breast I would usually cook them in the same pot but add them at different times. You may notice this in the video as well.
Add extra time to cooking the cow feet; it takes about 2-3 hours to make them tender unless you are using a pressure cooker. As you cook the cow feet the water will continue to decrease, keep adding water as you go. You will need this water as it becomes the base for the soup.
You may need additional salt or seasoning cubes/powder if you are using low sodium or non-sodium broth or plain water. Also, taste the soup as you go along to make sure it is coming along well, and then adjust appropriately.
Please remember that the primary determinant of how much time it will take you to make this soup is the quantity/amount of soup.
Cook this soup on medium to avoid burning or sticking to the pot. Enjoy.
