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| Nigerian Okra Soup with Assorted Meat and Fish |
Okra soup (also known as Okro soup or Lady's finger soup) is a delicious soup popular in several parts of the world. It is also a popular Nigerian Soup and known as Ofe Okwuru (Igbo), Obe Ila (Yoruba ), Miyan Kubewa in Hausa language.
Some folks love their okra soup chunky, while others want it smooth, but all that really matters is that the soup comes out tasty and delicious.
Okra soup is very easy to prepare and you don't need to break the bank or have any cooking skills to make a delicious sizzling pot of okra soup. Below you'll see how easy it is to make this soup.
Okra is also great for weight watchers and has lots of health benefits. Some of these benefits can be found here.
Ingredients
* 300grams Okra (Ladyfingers)
* 2 cooking spoons Red Palm Oil
*500grams Assorted meat(Beef, Shaki(Cow's Tripe), Ponmo(cow's skin), turkey, chicken(you can use anyone of choice or all if you choose)
*200 grams Assorted Fish (Dry Fish, Stock Fish,Fresh or Iced Fish )(you can use anyone of choice or all if you choose)
* 1 tablespoonful ground Crayfish
* 1 small onion bulb( for cooking the meat).You can add some to the soup if you want to.
* 2 handfuls of shredded green Vegetable – Pumpkin leaves or Spinach
* 2 big stock cubes (bouillon cube)
* Pepper to taste
* Salt to taste
TIP: If you are on a weight or health watch, you can substitute palm oil for stew oil from any red stews or use blended tomatoes. These are healthy alternatives , but it won't give you the distinct taste of palm oil.
So, I'll recommend you add just a tablespoonful of red palm oil to your tomatoes, ONLY if you want that distinct palm oil taste ☺.
Cooking direction
Before your cook the Okra soup
** Chop the okras into tiny bits, but if you want it less chunky, you can grate it with a grater. Set aside
Shred or cut the vegetables into thin sliced and set aside.
** Season the stock fish and assorted meat with a stock cube, onions and salt to taste.Cook until tender.
If you'll be using shaki(cow's tripe) or ponmo(cow's skin), you need to cook them first before adding the other meat because they are tough .
Add the fresh or iced fish and precook for 5minutes.(that's if you're using this)
Now,to cook the Soup...
* In a clean dry pot, heat up the palm oil , add the chopped or grated okras and stir-fry for 5 minutes until you begin to see the okra mucilage(''until it begins to draw a bit'')
* Add the stock from the cooked meat and fish. Add the ground crayfish, pepper, stock cube and the cooked assorted meat and fish (don't include the precooked fresh fish yet , so that it doesn't overcook and break into pieces).
Cover and leave to cook for 5 minutes. Okra is also a vegetable, so try not over cook it.
* After 5 minutes, add the vegetables, salt to taste and the Precooked Fresh or iced fish. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes or until the fish is well cooked.
And you delicious Okra soup is ready. See how easy it is to make a yummy okra soup. You really don't need all the assorted meat and fishes, but as we say in Nigeria ''Food wey sweet, na money kill am'' ; so feel free to indulge ☺ .
Okra soup is usually served with pounded yams, eba, fufu , tuwo masara, wheat meal and other ''swallow meals''.
