Ofe Onugbu Nigerian Ibo Soup

I was reading a brief profile of Patience Ozokwo , MamaG,the other day and she confessed to Ofe Onugbu being one of her favorite soups. It is not uncommon in some of the Nollywood Ibo home movies to see Ofe Onugbu and Akpu  served up as the meal. One ball of akpu following another with leaking of fingers in between, the mound of akpu is soon demolished, the men burp and  proceed to down the food with palm wine.

Ofe Onugbu is one of those soups people from Anambara state light up as soon as you mention the name . Restaurants who are truly Nigerian also ensure to keep this soup on their menu.
I love bitter leaves myself so having this on the menu for this week at home is a delight. Bitter leaves like many other vegetables comes with the fiber and vitamin C benefits. There are many health claims about bitter leaves but I will leave that to medical experts. What is clear though is that when you drink water after a meal containing bitter leaves you have this bitter sweet taste in your tongue which I also love.

Local seasonings like Ogiri brings this homey flavor to the soup. Although this local seasoning comes with a strong smell, but in the soup the smell is much milder blending in with the stock fish, Pomo (cow skin), and smoked fish. Our grandparents were quite forward thinking in their ” manufacturing skill”. Ogiri /iru/ dawadawa are all local seasonings. I will research into how these are made and share sometime soon.
A friend shared another way to treat the Cocoyam which is to boil and blend instead of pounding. The texture is quite smooth  like corn pap and therefore blends into the soup quite easily.
Enjoy Ofe Onugbu ,another popular Nigerian soup

Recipe for Ofe Onugbu

6 medium pieces Beef
8 pieces Pomo( smoked (Cow skin)
2 pieces stock Fish
Handful smoked Prawns
2 pieces smoked Fish
2 small balls Bitter leaf ( washed)
8 cooking spoons Cocoyam (blended)
1 teaspoon Ogiri
1 cooking spoon Palm oil
4 yellow Pepper
1 tablespoon ground Crayfish
2 crayfish tablets
1 beef seasoning cubes
2 liters Water
Salt to taste

Method
1, Wash and seasoning the beef with beef seasoning cubes, some pepper, and salt. Steam till water dries up ,add more water and cook until meat is almost soft
2,Peel and boil cocoyam till soft. Pound the cocoyam until smooth and resilient
2, Wash, the smoked fish, stock fish and pomo add to  meat pot and boil  till soft
3,Add  prawns, ground  crayfish ,seasoning cubes and remaining  pepper if needed, and the 2 liters of water and bring to boil
4,Add  the ogiri, the palm oil and boil for 2-3minutes.
5, Add the bitter leaves and cook for 2 minutes
6, Add the Cocoyam paste , about 6 – 8 cooking spoons and boil until soup starts to thicken about 10 minutes
7, Taste for salt and  serve with any ‘swallow’ of your choice