Nigerian Native soup is a must have if you are visiting Port Harcourt. On my last visit to Port Harcourt a few months ago , I was invited by my host to dine at one of those high class ” bukas” and guess what, it was hot Native soup with pounded yam that was served. Of course as this was lunch time many young guys and ladies were all hunched over the table doing what I was about to do.
I am not one that has a problem with knowing when to stop eating when I am full but this time it was a challenge.
Do you think Native soup will be a regular feature in Aso Rock , if you know what I mean? I think this is what Mr President would love to have for lunch. So for a moment you can try cooking this soup and feel like the president.
The riverine areas of Nigeria are naturally rich in seafoods , no wonder most dishes are cooked with sea foods, fish, crabs, periwinkle,moussels, lobsters,shrimps and so on. You find them smoked or fresh in the market. You will benefit from abundance of vitamins, minerals and proteins from this dish.
Nigerian Native soup , don’t ask me if there is no local name for it . It is just Native soup.
I particularly like much pepper in sea foods so this dish will be having much of it. You may want to stay within your tolerable limit. The yellow or Cameroon , pepper ,as it is called is what is bringing extra flavor to this soup. I will be using the fresh and dry pepper. Uziza leaves brings that aromatic kick .
So no long story , try out this simple soup. Just like the Port Harcourt experience I really dug into pounded yam and Native right after I had finished photographing this dish. Enjoy like Mr President!
Recipe for Native soup?
Ingredients
1 Fresh Fish(pieces)
1/2cup Shrimps( dressed)
4 pieces Crab( dressed)
1/2 cup Mussels
1/2 cup Periwinkle ( out of shell)
4 pieces fresh yellow Pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry yellow Pepper
3- 4 Table spoons pounded Cocoyam( type used for thickening soup)
About 1 table spoon Uziza leaves (sliced)
1 cooking spoon Palm oil
Seasoning cube to taste
1 table spoon ground Crayfish
Water
Salt to taste
Method
1,Season all the sea foods with chopped onion, salt, beef seasoning,and dry pepper. Be sure to cut of the soft parts of the periwinkle .
2, Add some water and steam on low heat for about 15 minutes and set aside
3 ,Dress, wash and boil cocoyam for use in thickening the soup. When cooked take out with a spoon and place in cold water to allow to peel easily without scalding your hands. Pound cocoyam until smooth and resilient. Set aside
4,Remove sea foods and set aside.
5, Add water to sea foods stock,add crayfish seasoning pepper and oil and bring to boil
6 , Add the cocoyam and cook till it dissolves completely and soup thickens, ( like ofe nsala) .Taste for salt.
7, Return the sea foods gently into the pot and add the Uziza. Cook for another 3 minutes
8, Serve with pounded yam.
Tip: The quantity of water used will depend on how much soup you are cooking. Adjust the quantity of cocoyam yam accordingly for good thickening.
See my taste bud rising to the occasion…The buka sounds much like Jevinik…If it is, i shall be stopping by on my next trip to PH. BTW, must d thickener be pounded yam? cant it be replaced with Cocoyam or Achi
the thickener for proper native soup is actually ofor. It’s got its own unique taste which is part of the traditional native soup taste. Some people these days use different kinds of thickeners like achi and cocoyam which are fine but then the soup wouldn’t really be ‘native soup’ as it would have a different taste. Im from rivers state just in case you doubt. you can do your own research on it.
Hi,YinklezDimple? The texture of the soup with pounded yam is just different and works for this soup. I am aware though that other people use ukpor another type of thickener for this soup. You may wish to try the achi. Cocoyam texture is not quite it for me.
Please what is the local name for mussels?
The local name of mussels in Kalabari area is Ngbe
nawaoo !! auntie you go make person bite lips on netsoo!!, seeam now its exactly 5.41 am paris time an still awake on your site since 21pm yester nite, anyway i realy bless the lord for your life,, keep up your good jobs an keep on teaching those of us that cares to read from you;
Hi,Sarah. Hahaha! Hope you get to try out some of these dishes. And let me know how you go with them.
This looks delicious,I really can’t wait to try it out!
so so greatful been looking for this recipe havent eaten this since i left portharcourt……..i even called a friend to send mr the recipe just yesterday and im still waiting for her reply…thanks thanks and thanks….
Looks yummy. I wanna try this. Weldone am salivating nau.. Please what is ago in English and can u post a pix please?
Pls wot addede flavour is mussel to d soup & how does it look like? I want to try this recipe. Am a sticker for native soups.
Hello Choc mussel is a sea food. Comes in black shells. You can actually cook this dish without the mussel. Just use whatever sea food you can find.
Abeg oooo is it that person wey de outside PH no fit get all this sea food fresh. Am in Asaba delta state thinking of how to go abt it. Choi……… Am salivating oooooo
Hello Chineye. The choice of sea foods is flexible . Use what ever you find available . Not necessarily all I have listed. Thank you for coming to my website.
@ Chinenye, I cooked it last weekend for some friends and I used snails, Periwinkle (Isam), stockfish bits, tiny kpomo bits and Goat meat!! I also used Ofo as my thickener. For spices, I used both Uziza seeds and some of the leaf. The meal was a real Hit with my guests!! So you can be flexible like our mentor says!!!
This is nice. Just stumbled on your site. Bn looking for this recipe. Thanks again. Will try this soonest.Happy to be here.
Hello Ure4maxy. Thank you for stopping by my blog the kind words. Please subscribe so you get updated on new posts.
@Chineye. Thanks for your additional input.
Hello ma, thnx for dis recipe my hubby enjoyed it. For dis I got the latest samsung S6 duos. God bless u for us. I love u. Pls can u kindly post d recipe for fisherman soup?
Hello ma, is there any other thickner i can use that doesn’t involve pounding as am currently in my third trimester and pounding is not an option?
Hi Bolaji. As an alternative you can dissolve yam flour( poundo yam) in water and mix quickly into the soup for thickening. The texture may not be quite the same as the pounded yam version
As an original Rivers man from the riverine community, I will give you 4 Stars on this recipe.
In as much as a recipe can be flexible to make do with what you have, emphasis should also be laid on the ORIGINAL RECIPE.
In the original recipe, the thickener, as handed down by our great great grandmothers, is COCOYAM (Boiled and pounded). The alternative thickener is Archi or Ofor. YAM IS NEVER USED, AND ONIONS IS NEVER ADDED.
Hi, Promise. Thank you very much for the feed back. I have noted and will see how to update the recipe.