Efere Nkpa (Oha Leaves Soup)

A plate of Nigerian Soup is always a pot pourri of ingredients, flavours and aroma depending on the size of your pocket. You go from ’roundabout’ (cow’s intestine) ‘shock absorber’ (busicuit bones), Stockfish, beef, Seafoods and not forgetting Pomo or Kanda (cow skin) to some periwinkle in shell all in a pot of one soup.

Today’s recipe is a soup Nkpa is commonly cooked in the Calabar area. Nkpa leaves more popularly known as Oha is also eaten by the Efiks in Calabar but it is cooked in a slightly different way.

The thickening ingredient that is normally used in cooking Nkpa is called Ibaba. My childhood memory of Ibaba was not great in terms of the preparation process. My mum would boil this hard seed overnight and then pound to a smooth paste for use in cooking the soup the next day. Some varieties of Ibaba also have a way of darkening the soup when warmed after a few days. This is why I am replacing the Ibaba with Ofo, the thickening ingredients used mainly in Igbo soups.

I find Ofo very easy to use. I buy the ofo whole and blend at home just to be sure that I am using the authentic ingredient. If however you trust your retailer in the market then you may wish to buy the already ground version.

The other thing about Nkpa soup which makes it interesting is the use of Uyayak or adian fruit. This brings that extra flavour to the soup. Paired with pounded yam or Eba, this is a meal you will want to have quite regularly as a lunch option. Enjoy.

 

Recipe

Ingredients

1 small bunch Nkpa leaves (Oha leaves)

1 tablespoonful ground Ofo

8 pieces Beef

10 pieces Pomo

2 pieces Smoked Fish

1-2 chunks Stock Fish

1/2 cup Periwinkle in shell

Yellow Cameroun Pepper to taste

2 table spoons ground Crayfish

8-10 pieces smoked Prawns

3 cooking spoons Palm Oil

Small pieces Uyayak or Adian fruit (about the size of a table spoon head)

Seasoning cube to taste

Method

1. Wash, season the beef, pomo and stockfish with pepper, seasoning cube and salt and allow to marinade for about 15 minutes. Steam the meats in the beef juice till dry, then add water and cook till soft. Check the Pomo and stock fish as the meat meats cook and take out when soft
2. Pick the leaves, wash and shred with your hands into large chunks. I understand that using a knife to chop the vegetable makes it bitter. I have never tested this so I don’t know if this is true.
3. When meat is cooked, add water enough to cook the soup.  Add some more pepper at this stage if you prefer your soup hot. The quantity of water that will give a good consistency to the soup with the quantity of ofo in the recipe is about 5-6 cups of water. It is advisable to have extra ofo in case you need to thicken the soup further.
4. Add crayfish, smoked prawns, periwinkle and Uyayak to the soup and bring to boil for about 5 mins
5. Add the palm oil and boil for 5 minutes
6. Reduce heat of the burner, add a little cold water to the pot to reduce the temperature of the soup water and quickly add the ground ofo and stir fast to dissolve the powder it in the soup. If the water is hot and boiling the ofo tends to form lumps.
7. Raise heat back and allow soup to boil for about 3 minutes and thicken. Taste and correct seasoning
8. Add the Nkpa stir and cook for about 1 minute and turn off the heat. The heat of the soup will continue to cook the vegetable.
9. Serve with swallow of choice, pounded yam or Eba.