Una doooh( that’s saying hello in pidgin english in the Delta area of Nigeria)Today’s soup offering is from Urhobo and its called Iribo Eralie ikpogriri. See why I partly Anglo-sized it for us?. Nigerian soup but without the addition of palm oil, Egusi Pepper soup . Some things are just interesting to eat when you are in a traditional setting , You are kidding me? It is for real and trust me I have fully tested this on my volunteer tasters and they gave their nod and took second helpings. But wait a minute it is not completely oil free though , you have oil coming from the Egusi and some from the goat meat I used. I had to emphasize this in case you were looking for oil free soup. I understand you can use chicken or just smoked fish.
As always I will bring that extra thing to my version, a few sprinkles of sliced Uziza leaf to lift the soup to another level. Enjoy my Egusi Pepper soup with pounded yam.
Recipe for Egusi Pepper soup
Ingredients
8 pieces of Goat meat
Handful smoked Fish
1/2 cup Egusi( roasted and ground)
4 fingers Okro ( chopped in large chunks)
1 teaspoon Peppersoup spice ( Uda, Ehuru,and Uziza seed )
1 table spoon ground crayfish
Dry Pepper to taste
1 yellow Pepper ( chopped)
Beef Seasoning to taste
Method
1, Wash, season meat with salt, pepper, seasoning and steam till almost soft and add the dry fish , crayfish , seasoing, more dry pepper if needed and the Peppersoup spices. You can buy your spice in the shop or market but I prefer to make my combination of 2 pieces of Uda , crushed and deseed but not ground+ 3 pieces of Ehuru( African nut meg, ground+1/2 teaspoon Uziza seeds,ground.
2, Add about 1 1/2 cups of water to the little meat stock and continue cooking for about 5 minutes
3, Add a little warm water to the Egusi, make a paste and add to the pot stirring quickly so it does not form lumps. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes for the soup to thicken. The consistency is like Ofe Nsala or Banga,kind of semi runny.
4, Add the Okro and sprinkle on the Uziza leaf and cook for 3 minutes and soup is ready!
5, Serve with pounded yam.
lol! Dis is our native dish here in delta. We don’t roast d egusi and it tastes even much better without roasting! But I am certainly going to try ur version cos as dey say ‘variety is d spice of life’. With dis soup U r sure to eat overfeeding!
Hello, Verere. Please don’t overeat 🙂 . I agree with you that this soup is very delicious.
It is called gbagba fofo in itsekiri, it. Is a special delicacy which can also be prepared without egusi. For variety add fresh Fish, fresh shrimps, crab and periwinkle, simply divine.
Hi Glad. I have cooked this. I will share this on the blog soon.
Hi Glad, U got it quite right. Dat Itsekiri’s version was my Ma’s favourite. Dis soup is so versatile! It even takes bonga, crayfish and tiko meat! But d perewinko, fresh shrimps and fresh tilapia is my favourite! Ah! D joys of a well cooked Nigerian dish!
Dis na real delta soup, we call it egusi ocha and use fresh catfish. but we cook the okro separately. My appetite has risen, i will try it some time next week
I love this soup but i don’t roast the egusi or add okro. I have been trying out all your recipes and i am sure going to do this one this weekend.
Hi Verere, I know what you mean…..the joy of well cooked Nigerian dish.:)
lol. Good one. The greetings though is Uwa dooo, not ‘Una’. The roasting of the egusi is a choice sha. Some people do some don’t. My mother did both ways whenever she felt like and I do both ways too. The reason is apart from having its own taste when roasted, roasting the egusi also makes it very easy to grind using grinding stone, which also gives a taste of its own. ‘The stone’ that is. And the okra is a no no for me. I prefer mine without the okra, that way the soup can be used with either eba or starch.
Thanks for featuring our food.
On, and it is NOT an Urhobo dish. It is common to Urhobo, Isoko, Ijaw and Itshekiri. We Isokos call it Iziwo Evienvien
Sisters I salute una, I got an opportunity of tasting dis delicacy jst yesterday nd thot it ws igbo dish, now I know better. Gotta try it out dis weekend *wink*
[…] There are versions that people do not blend their pepper soup spices but I did. I have also seen versions where people add okro to theirs but I decided to try mine without also because I was lazy to go out […]
My pipo I greet una o. Growing up in Warri was more than fun. Though we r igbo, my mom learnt n taught us many delta dishes including dis. Oboy na chop till ur belle bust o hahahaha. So easy and just too sweet. We don’t add okro as dat is a soup on it own. Nice write-up.
Hello Nkechi. Really glad I took you down memory lane with Egusi Peppersoup
Just cooked mine now and I wanted to say thank u…
I’m 14 years old and I wanted to try out something new for my mum and this was the best its really nice
Dear Jojo, I am glad your mum liked it.
I tink i wil try it out ryt nw.. i knw it very wel cuz my mom makes it at times buh nt always… currently in warri and my aunt wants me to prepare it…
Hello Lois, I will be interested to know if your method is different from mine. Enjoy your stay in Warri and a Merry Christmas to you.
Thanks…just this past weekend my husband mentioned this soup. I’ll try it out this week and get back to you.
Hello Precious. It wiill be interesting to know how you go with the recipe.
Not tried it before… .but definitely ds coming week
Hi Tori. Trust me you will like it.
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