How To Make Ogbono Soup

 It gives me so much joy to talk about my best soup. I can live with eating just Ogbono Soup with fufu and amala all my life, lol. But seriously that is how much I love it. It is the only soup you can catch me cook and eat to the last drop in less than four days no matter how much of it I prepared .

I would be making it my own way–I am from Edo state and there is a saying that a an Edo/Bini lady that can’t make Ogbono soup very well, chances are that she wouldn’t be able to do anything well in the kitchen. Not sure how true that is though but it is surely one of the most common– if not the most common–  and favorite delicacy of people from that region.

There is a lot of ways to prepare this wonderful ‘draw soup’ as many call it.Some people like adding vegetables in theirs like pumpkin leaves (ugu), bitterleaf, mint leave (efinrin) or oziza leave. While others like it bare without vegetables. Some even add egusi to it. Some people add Okra to make it draw/slime more while some don’t. Any way you choose to make yours it will always come out tasting yummy unless the Ogbono seeds are bad or the palm oil used isn’t good. We will be making it in the two major ways and provide the easy steps below; Ingredients

Beef or assorted meat (shaki, abordi, roundabout, e.t.c…these are different parts of a cow i.e intestines)
Chicken

Turkey
Stock fish (socked inside hot water with salt)
Ogbono (ground together with crayfish and pepper)
Palm oil
Smoked fish (clean well and remove bones)
Pumpkin leave (ugu) chopped
Pepper
Salt
Onions(chopped)
Seasoning
Kpomo(cowhide) cleaned and cut into cubes
Periwinkle without shells (leave in warm water with salt)
Prawns (cleaned)
Grated okro
Minced ginger
Minced garlic Let’s Cook!

First Way
1. Wash all your meats thoroughly. Put in a large pot–enough to hold the soup. Add all the ingredients, onions, pepper, salt, ginger, garlic and seasoning. Boil the meat according to thickness (some assorted meat  like the shaki take longer time than others, so boil those ones first and after some minutes add the other meats). When they are almost cooked, stir in the chicken and turkey they should be the last. Add the stock fish, kpomo and periwinkle.

2. Pour in palm oil like 10 minutes after you added the chicken and tie the ogbono in a tight proof nylon and put in the boiling meat. Add the smoked fish. Cover you pot and allow to boil.

3. When the meat is perfectly cooked to your taste and the palm oil has boiled enough. Cut the ogbono nylon, throw away the nylon. Stir the Ogbono until it has completely absorbed the meat stock, it will begin to draw and bring out bubbles. Add the prawns. Keep stirring and add water if it is too thick.

4. Stir in the Okra and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning. Stir in the vegetables like a minute before you turn off the heat.

5. Your soup is ready to be served with any of the following: Fufu, Eba, Pounded Yam, Amala, Semovita//Semolina or Wheat.

1. Do exactly same as step 1 in the first method.

2. Put a small pan on fire and melt the palm oil (do not burn or you would end up with black soup). When it is hot you may add onions if you want (some people have the idea that it makes the ogbono not to draw or dissolve properly, I do not agree with that but if it is your first time, you may leave the onions out.).

3. Stir in the Ogbono. Turn off the heat. Keep stirring until smooth with no lumps.

4. Add it to the meat stock and keep stirring until it has finally dissolved and add water if it is too thick until it has gotten to the consistency you like. Another way of getting the ogbono into the meat stock is to add the stock little by little into the ogbono until it has a good consistency. Then you put it back on heat to cook well.

5. Pour in the Okra if you are using it and stir for about 2 minutes. Add the vegetables if you are using them when you are ready to take it off and it is ready to be served.

Enjoy!