Nigerian Groundnut Soup (Omi Itsagwe)

I was wondering what simple soup I could rustle up on a Sunday afternoon having not had time or should I say not being in the mood to step into a muddy market the previous day.Nigerian Groundnut soup also called Omi Itsagwe was what a friend I called up suggested to me. The rains have started in Lagos and the markets are not interesting places to visit, but again as they say “man must wak”! So if we have to go the market we’ll find a way. I actually have a pair of rubber shoes I wear on such days, it is advisable to get one. I call my cute pair “ominipolish” ( mix of Yoruba and English for water is the polish) an expression gotten from my secondary school days :).

As I stared out the window on Sunday whilst doing the breakfast dishes, I sighted the luscious leaves of my bitter leaves shrub and also remembered the bottle of roasted ground nut on the dinning table and the soup was already constructed in my head for lunch, Roasted groundnuts with  bitter leaves.

Chatting excitedly about my discovery with a colleague at work  the next day, I discovered that this is a soup that is quite common in the Auchi area of Edo state ,Nigeria. It is called Omi Itsagwe (groundnut soup).

My little twist to this Nigerian groundnut soup was to leave some of the pepper whole in the soup. Something I have picked up from Senegalese cooking which allows pepper lovers like me to have that extra spiciness on our plates without making the whole soup too spicy. I also used Uda ( pepper soup spice) but traditionally you use ” itsamagwa”to add that special flavour to the soup. I had just uda at home at the point of cooking .
The bitter leaves compliments the sweetness of the groundnut and with the nice aroma of yellow pepper and some Stockfish , smoked fish and beef …soup is ready. This Nigerian groundnut soup  is quite time friendly for when you want something simple because Oga of the house  wants to ” swallow something”  if you know what I mean*wink * wink .
I went for pounded yam with my soup and it was simply deliiiiiii….cious!

Nutri-tip: Vegetables should be cooked for 3-5minutes to retain their nutrients  It is advisable to add towards the end of your cooking.

 

Recipe  for making Nigerian groundnut soup 

Ingredients:
4 pieces Beef
4 pieces Pomo( cow skin)
Pieces of Stockfish
Hand full pieces of smoked fish
1/2 handful of smoked Shrimps( dressed)
1 cup groundnut ( ground)
I cup washed Bitter leaves
1 pod of Uda (crushed)
1/2 Onion ( chopped)
1tablespoon ground Crayfish
3 pieces Yellow Pepper( chopped) or dried Pepper
2 seasoning cubes
1cooking spoon Palm oil
Water
Salt to taste

Method:
1, Season beef with seasoning cube, onion, some pepper and salt and steam  in its juice till dry. Add water and cook till almost well done.
2, Add the stock fish, smoked fish,Pomo, shrimps and crayfish when beef is near cooked.
3, Add about 60 cl water to the meat pot and let it boil, add palm oil and cook for about 3 minutes. Drop in the whole pepper at this  point if you want.Add left over onion from boiling the meat.
4, Make a paste with the  ground ground nut using liquid from the soup pot . This prevents the groundnut from being lumpy in the soup .
5, Add the paste to the soup and stir to mix. Add the uda, the remaining seasoning and salt to taste . Cook for about 5 minutes until the groundnut soup thickens , like the consistency of Banga soup.
6, Add the washed bitter leaves and cook for  another 3 minutes.
7, Serve with a “swallow “of choice or with white boiled rice