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It is loved by the Yorubas and also by some other tribe that can lay their hands on it. To full surprise, most Foreigners that visit Nigeria often always love requesting the recipe.
What Is Ewedu Soup?
Ewedu soup is a savory soup commonly eaten by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. It is made using Jute leaves, a highly nutritious leafy green plant eaten in countries all around the world.
Ewedu has a mucilaginous (somewhat slimy) texture when cooked, similar to Egyptian molokhia or okra soup, making it a perfect dish to go with fufu.
Is Ewedu a Spinach?
How Do You Preserve Ewedu Leaves?
What Are Benefits of Ewedu Leaves?
Can a Pregnant Woman Eat Ewedu Soup?
Is Ewedu Good For Diabetics?
Can I Drink Ewedu Raw?
Now, people make it into smoothies and they drink it raw! The immature fruits are dried and ground into powder for the preparation of a slimy sauce. It has been demonstrated that anti-nutrient levels in the leaves are low, while zinc bioavailability is high. Ewedu leaves can be used to make face masks.
Ways to Prepare Ewedu Soup
Ewedu soup is traditionally prepared with a broom, a small bunch of broomsticks, known as ijabe is used to mashed until it dissolves in the liquid and forms a light slimy soup, however, your blender can save you the stress it takes to do this repeatedly which is what I used for this delicious soup.
There are more simple ways to prepare this soup without the use of the mashing broom. You can slice the leaves to tiny bits and commence cooking. One of the qualities of the ewedu leaf is the ability to draw, perhaps the reason you can not make this soup with any other leaf.
Can I Cook Ewedu Without Potash?
Ewedu Soup Can be Served Over:
Ewedu is traditionally served with soups such as beef stew, chicken stew, fish stew, or buka stew and then accompanied with a swallow of choice. The popular swallow you can serve it with includes fufu, eba, or amala.
You can also serve this green soup with gbegiri for some abula experience.
Storing And Reheating
Ewedu soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days but can be frozen for much longer. To reheat, you can use the microwave or reheat it on the stove.
If frozen, it is best to bring it out the night before and let it thaw overnight in the fridge.
Tips
- Do not cook the ewedu soup for too long. You only need to bring it to a boil and simmer for about 3 minutes.
- If your iru is frozen, soak in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain.
- Traditionally, only ground crayfish is added to ewedu soup, since it is almost always paired with stew. I add more spices for flavor but you can omit the extra spices if you wish, and only add ground crayfish.
MORE NIGERIAN SOUP RECIPES
If you made this recipe, don’t forget to leave me feedback
Ewedu Soup
Ingredients
- Ewedu leaves (corchorus olitorius)
- 1/2 teaspoon of powdered potash
- 1.5 cups of water
- Ewedu Broom or a blender
- Stock Cubes (1 or 2 cubes)
- 4-5 Spoons of ground crayfish
- Salt to taste
- Chilly Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Directions
- Nicely pick just the leaves (no stem allowed), then go ahead and wash properly with a lot of water to remove any sand left on it.
- Pour 1.5 cups of water to a cooking pot and heat to boiling point, add the washed ewedu leaves, soak the half teaspoon of potash in half cup of water and filter into the pot (to soften the leaves), cook for 7-10 minutes.
- Then use the cooking broom to mash (more like pound) continuously inside the pot, this will turn the leaves to tiny bits after mashing for about five minutes.
- Alternatively, You can also transfer into a blender and pulse a couple of times, I think this way is easier and better.
- That was how I made the soup above, couldn’t find the ewedu broom.Transfer back to the pot and add the ground crayfish, maggi, salt and pepper to taste.
- Allow to simmer for just five minutes and you are done with making ewedu soup.
