Today, I’ll be talking about how to prepare okra soup. People get their spelling and pronunciation wrong. It’s spelled and pronounced ‘okra’ and not ‘okro’. It is one of the most commonly prepared soup in almost all tribes in Nigeria. It is one of the simplest and cheapest soup to prepare.
It requires no serious energy and time except you want to prepare the ones containing enough protein which we would be treated today. Other proteins that could be used are isam(periwinkle), fish, meat, chicken, turkey, canda (kpomo), etc. An average okra soup always takes at 25 minutes. Join me as we unleash this recipe.
Ingredients For Making Okra Soup
- Okra fruit-a sizable quantity. Well diced and pounded
- Vegetable leaf- either the ugu (pumpkin) or uziza. Sliced properly
- Grinded red pepper or tatashie
- Red oil
- The protein(fish,canda, stockfish, etc)
- The English seasoning(maggi and salt to taste)
- The local seasoning (efure and uziza seed)
- Grinded crayfish
- sliced onion
- cold water
Tools
The tools cannot be forgone in any preparation even if it’s outside the kitchen, so permit me to take you through it.
- Cooking gas or stove or even our local firewood method
- Pot for both the stock and the soup
- cooking spoon
- Kitchen knife
- Chopping board
- As well as your apron
Procedure for making Okra Soup
There are two different methods of making the okra soup which is the boiling method or the frying method. Let’s go through it one by one
The boiling method
- Boil your protein starting with the hardest to the softest e.g the canda before adding the fish after washing them in clean water. Season with salt and Maggi and a little water for boiling. At this point, you can wash your stalk fish and add to the boiling pot. Allow for 10-15 minutes
- In the same pot containing the boiled protein, add your red oil and allow to cool with the sliced onions.
- Add your Grinded pepper and crayfish together with your pounded uziza and efure seed.
- Add water to increase the quantity if need be and allow to boil. You can now add your diced okra seed preferably also pound after cutting to reduce the drawing nature and cover the pot immediately to create a better taste of the leaf
- You are free to add your Maggi and salt if the stock does not contain it in its required quantity.
- Add the washed and sliced vegetable and cover immediately to also give a better taste of the soup. Your soup is ready and you can serve with tuwo, garri, pounded yam, amala, semovita or even wheat.
The frying method Of Making Okra Soup
- Do the same in the first step
- This is where the difference is. In another pot instead of the stockpot, fry your red oil with onion, pepper, and crayfish. After properly fried you can now add your meat and meat stock into the mixture.
- If you need to add water together to increase the quantity with the Maggi and salt to taste, it’s at this step
- Also, remember to add your efure and uziza seed. Stir properly to give a palatable taste
- Add the diced and pounded okra seed and the cover as well. Also, add the vegetable leaf after allowing the okra to steam with the soup and cover. Leave for 5 -7 minutes. Stir and serve with any of the swallow above.
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