Ofe Akwu Recipe

Ofe Akwu is a favorite Nigerian soup in the Enugu / Abakaliki areas of the southeast. A lot of the women interviewed confirmed that they do like to eat Ofe Akwu with rice. This was not surprising as there is a lot rice cultivation going on in Abakaliki. I visited Eboyin state a few weeks ago and it was an interesting visit to the rice farms in Abakaliki. Following this visit I resolved to try as much as possible restrict my rice meals to locally processed rice that is not over polished. This is of course healthier than the over polished imported ones we buy in markets.

My visit to Abakaliki was truly an eye opener as I realized that the local Abakaliki rice is now refined and packed locally. Gone are the days when you had to buy a calabash for washing the rice and plan way ahead to eat a local rice meal.

Although it was not possible to get into the mud of the rice fields since I had not taken the right foot wear along I found the visit very educative. A rice field is indeed a ‘muddy affair’. I did manage to get into the rice sidling farm where some young ladies were busy tending to the farm. The green color of the rice plants was very beautiful.

 

For today’s recipe I decided the pair Ofe Akwu with local Abakaliki rice. Palm fruit juice is used commonly across West Africa in many variety of soups. Banga, Abak Atama are some of the more popular soups.

Besides the squeezing out the palm fruit juice, this is a simple soup to prepare. Enjoy!

How to prepare Ofe Akwu?

Ingredients

6 cups of Palm fruit juice

2/3 pieces Smoked Fish

6-8 pieces Beef

6-8 pieces Pomo or Kanda

10 pieces dry Prawn

2 pieces Stock fish (optional)

1 handful Nchawun (chopped in large pieces)

2 tablespoons Crayfish

2 pieces Okpei (fermented local seasoning)

Pepper to taste

Beef seasoning cubes to taste

Salt to taste

 

Method

1. Season and steam the beef and stock fish with salt, pepper, beef seasoning and boil until half cooked. If the kanda is tough you may wish to steam it with the beef.
2. Boil, pound and squeeze out the palm fruit juice
3. Pour the palm fruit juice into the meat pot. Add the crayfish, smoked prawns, washed smoked fish, pepper, seasoning and salt to taste
4. Dissolve the Okpei in a little water and add to the soup.
5. Allow soup to boil and thicken. Taste for seasoning again and correct.
6. When soup is thick enough still with a droopy consistency, you add the Nchawun for just one minute and the soup is ready.
7. Serve with rice or any swallow.