Egusi Soup

Egusi Soup Recipe

Name: Egusi Soup

Origin: Igbo, Nigeria

Ingredients:

• melon seeds (egusi)
• palm oil
• meat (often beef or goat)
• fish (often dried or smoked)
• crayfish
• onions
• pepper
• and leafy vegetables like uziza
• spinach or pumpkin leaves. Other common additions include locust beans (iru)
• stock cubes
• and various spices

Steps:

1. Set a cooking pot on heat and allow drying
2. add the palm oil and allow to heat for 2 minutes but don't let it bleach
3. Disolve the egusi seeds in a cup of water and add to the heated oil
4. Fry the dissolved egusi seeds in palm oil for the next 8-10 minutes
5. Always stir to avoid burning it
6. Once the egusi is fried, add 6 cups of water, the cooked meat, stir
7. add the roasted fish, stockfish, ground crayfish, a seasoning cube, ground scotch bonnet pepper then cover and allow to boil for the next ten minutes
8. Stir occasionally to avoid burning
9. Add the already washed bitter leaves, one spoon of ground dawadawa (local ingredients), taste for salt and pepper
10. Allow to boils for ten minutes, stir in between
11. Serve Egusi soup and any kind of swallow like garri, fufu, pounded yam, etc
12. This is how you make the best Egusi soup with lumps