Technology has made cooking so much fun with preparation steps being reduced. Making palmfruit sauce for Erimonu Soup for example has been made easy . Gone are the days of grinding stone and mortars. Now blenders, food processors adorn our kitchens and take so much stress off of us. But guess what? When I have time on my hands I don’t mind pounding something…my way of improving blood circulations in my arms and preventing those wobbly arms or the cellulite upper arms.
Conveniences even abound in the shops and markets. Okro for Otong soup can be cut up , Ugu sliced for your EdikangIkong , Afang or Okazi sliced in the market. It is this last item that I need technology for. I like to take my Afang home wash before slicing . So a gadget that will make slicing Afang will be a real break through . So for those into designing techies gadgets I am waiting.
For today though I am going towards the Ogwachukwu area in Delta state Nigeria, to bring you Erimonu Soup. I used the organically grown shoko
Aside from making the banga juice, this is a relatively easy soup to prepare. The Ogili and Shoko leaves bring a unique flavor to the soup, a bit like Ewedu (jute leaves) flavor. Enjoy!
Recipe for Erimonu Soup
Ingredients
4 cups Banga juice
8 pieces Beef
4-6 pieces Cow legs
10 pieces whole smoked Prawns
About 1 cup Smoked Fish pieces
Stockfish (optional)
3 balls Ogili
Small bunch (native) Shoko leaves (about N50)
2 tablespoons Crayfish
3 pieces Yellow Pepper
Seasoning to taste
Salt to taste
Method
- Season meats with salt, pepper and seasoning and steam till cooked
- Pick and wash the Shoko and set aside
- Pour the Palm fruit juice into the meat pot and bring to boil. Please click here to see how to make Banga juice.
- Add the crayfish, correct the seasoning , add the chopped yellow pepper
- Mash or pound the Ogili till smooth and add to the soup. Taste and correct the seasoning .
- Cook the soup till thick, chop the Shoko into large chunks and add to the soup.. Cook for just 1 minute as the heat of the soup will continue to cook the vegetable. The thickeners will loosen a bit as the vegetable bring a little water to the soup. The final consistency is like Southeastern Egusi soup.
- Serve with and any swallow of choice.
How to make Palm fruit juice:
this is beautiful. i only used elinionu to garnish egusi once in a while. thanks for this, its a must try out for me.
Can one use spinach pls
Hello Beke. Yes you can use spinach. It’s just it will not give you the aroma and texture of Shoko leaves . Thank you for following my blog.
Hello ma’am, pardon me please, my question isn’t exactly related to this post. When you use shoko leaves for vegetable soup e.g. efo riro, do you blanche it? I always thought blanching was a must with such vegetables and I have found that the leaves get really dark and loose the fresh green colour when I blanche it to use in efo riro. What would you recommend is the best way to use shoko leaves in soups. I note that with this soup, you didn’t blanche the shoko leaves.
Hello Mofoluwasho. Blanching generally helps to reduce the liquids from vegetables making the sauce to be watery. For this dish I have recommended that you get the Banga sauce thick so that when you add the vegetable the sauce still remains thick. Shoko is one vegetable that is difficult to keep the color green. However the native or organic ones are better at retaining the green color. I generally try to avoid blanching as I prefer to retain all the nutrients inside the dish. At most I squeeze the juice drink it and use the leaves.
Thank you so much for your response. I was worried that there was something I was doing wrong. I get it now! Thanks!
I did it just as u instructed,my hubby could not help licking his fingers….The soup is wow…Thank u so much…
Hello Tracy. You just put a smile on my face right now.
Hello Ma, where can I get shoko leaves(is there any other name for it) n ogili ? I Tot it was ogiri u meant till I saw d shape n size. Tanx
Hello Oluchi , if you live in the south west of Nigeria then finding Shoko should not be a problem. For any ingredients just ask the women in the open market and they will readily help.However if you live outside Nigeria it may be difficult.