Okro Soup
Aperçu
Okro soup is among the quickest Nigerian soups to make and among the most eaten. Okra is chopped, cooked briefly in a stock built on assorted meat, dried fish and crayfish, finished with palm oil, and taken off the heat while it is still green. The whole thing takes minutes once the vegetables are cut, which is the trade off: most of the work is chopping. Okra is native to Africa, with its origin generally placed in the Ethiopian highlands, and it has spread from there across the continent and well beyond it. The draw it produces, the viscous quality that thickens the soup, is the entire point in West African cooking and the thing that people elsewhere often try to eliminate. Here it is what makes the soup work with a swallow: it slides. The names change across Nigeria. Ila asepo among the Yoruba, okwuru among the Igbo, miyan kubewa in Hausa, otong among the Efik, and okro generally. Potash, called kaun, is traditional for increasing the draw and is now optional and somewhat contested, with many cooks leaving it out entirely. Used at all it must be used sparingly, since too much kills the elasticity it is meant to increase. It is eaten with eba, fufu, semo, amala or pounded yam.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Okra is native to Africa, with its origin generally placed in the Ethiopian highlands, and has been cultivated across the continent since antiquity. The soup is documented across Nigeria under regional names including ila asepo in Yoruba, okwuru in Igbo, miyan kubewa in Hausa and otong in Efik.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Chop the okra and set aside.
- 2
Place a pot on medium heat and add the beef, assorted beef, dried cod, salt, seasoning, onion, ginger, garlic and a little water. Bring to the boil until tender. A pressure cooker is quicker for this.
- 3
Once the meat and fish are tender, separate the stock and sieve it for a clean stock.
- 4
Place a clean pan on medium heat, add about 1.5 cups of the stock along with the beef, assorted beef and dried fish, and bring to a boil for 3 to 5 minutes.
- 5
Add the potash if using, then the chopped okra. Stir until well combined and cook for another minute.
- 6
Add the crayfish and cayenne pepper. Stir, add the palm oil, stir again and cook for about 2 minutes.
- 7
Add the seasoning and salt, adjusting to taste since the stock is already seasoned. Add the ukazi leaves if using, stir, add the smoked mackerel and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- 8
Serve with a swallow of your choice.
Notes de l’Africook
- Take it off the heat while the okra is still green. Overcooked okra turns brown and loses both its colour and its texture, and the residual heat keeps cooking it after the pot leaves the stove.
- Potash increases the draw and is entirely optional. Many cooks leave it out. If you use it, use a very small amount, since too much destroys the elasticity it is supposed to increase.
- Blending the okra briefly on pulse gives a coarser texture that many people prefer to hand chopping, and it works without potash.
- Add a little water if the soup is too thick, but do it before the final couple of minutes rather than at the end.
- For a meat free version, mushrooms substitute reasonably well for the assorted meat, though you lose the stock that carries much of the flavour.
Questions fréquentes
Do I need potash to make okro soup?
No. Potash, called kaun, increases the draw and is traditional, but a great many cooks now leave it out entirely and get a perfectly good soup. If you do use it, use very little, because too much kills the elasticity it is meant to enhance. Pulsing the okra briefly in a blender achieves a similar texture without it.
How do I stop okra going brown?
Cook it briefly and take the pot off the heat while the okra still looks slightly underdone. Do not cover the pot after the okra goes in. Brown okra is overcooked okra, and since the soup continues cooking in its own residual heat for a couple of minutes, timing the removal is the whole skill.
What is the difference between the Nigerian okra soups?
Mostly the additional vegetables and the seasoning. Ila asepo among the Yoruba is often cooked with a pepper stew base. Otong among the Efik pairs okra with pumpkin leaf. Igbo okwuru and Hausa miyan kubewa have their own emphases. The okra and the draw are constant; what goes with it identifies the region.
What is okro soup eaten with?
Eba made from garri, cassava fufu, semolina, amala or pounded yam. It is never eaten alone. The draw is what makes it work with a swallow, since the soup slides rather than needing to be chewed, which is exactly what the pairing is designed around.
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I managed to find dried panla and smoked fish at the African shop in Deira, but no ukazi leaves anywhere so I just skipped them. The stock with ground crayfish and nyama was so rich. Sawa, next time I will add a bit more cayenne pepper because we like it spicy.
The flavour profile with the palm oil and locust bean is proper lekker, but 1.5 cups of stock wasn't quite enough for 800g of okro and all that shaki and beef. Mine turned out way too thick, so I had to add another 250ml of warm stock to get it moving.
Adding the iru right before the okra gives it that deep local flavor my grandma used to make. I didn't even bother with potash sha, fresh okra draws just fine if you don't overcook it past that 1 minute mark. E sweet well well o!