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Ila asepo or Ila alasepo (okro soup) is a one pot okra soup. Okro is usually served with a separate stew, but when all the stew ingredients go into the okra in one pot, it is called Ila alasepo.
This Ila Alasepo is great comfort food and easy to make. Just a couple of ingredients and voila! You have your soup ready to be devoured.
I don’t get tired of okro soup be it Ila asepo, otong soup, Ogbono Okro, or plain okro. I just love the way it helps slide swallow down to its destination not to mention its high nutrient value.
What Is Ila Alasepo?
Ila is the Yoruba word for Okra, and Asepo means “To cook together”; ila Alasepo is mixed okra soup. In regular Yoruba style, okro is typically served with stew.
The fact that the ingredient that would normally go into the stew goes into the soup itself makes this a “lesser’ soup for the affluent Yoruba folks. Ila alasepo according to my grandma is something you cook when you are out of money.
The determining factor for a great okro soup is the level of viscosity (how much it draws), this is why akaun is added.
On the nutrition scale: okra is rich in Fibre, protein, Vitamins k/c, Folate, and Magnesium. I turned this soup into a “rich” soup by making use of a wide variety of proteins.
How To Make Ila Alasepo
Okra Soup is one of the quickest and easiest Nigerian soups to prepare. You start by placing a pot on medium heat, pour in the meat stock (or water), cover, and bring to a boil. Add in the cooking potash if using. Add in the prepared meat, fish, prawns, crayfish powder, Maggi palm oil, and pepper, and then finally add in chopped okra and minced tatashe. Food is ready!
What To Serve With Ila Alasepo
So that’s going to wrap this up with this special recipe. Thanks so much for your time. I am sure you can make this at home. Remember to bookmark this page in your browser and share it with your family, friends, and colleagues. Thanks again for reading. Let’s cook!
Some suggestions for Amazon links to “Assorted Meats”.
Ila Alasepo
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 500 g fresh okra finger
- ⅓ cup palm oil
- 500 g beef or assorted meat cooked
- 500 g fresh fish I used fresh salmon
- 1 cup fresh prawns
- 1 red bell pepper
- Scotch bonnet chillies use according to preference
- 1 medium-size onion
- 1 wrap locust beans Iru
- Salt to taste
- Beef bouillon cube Knorr cubes or any seasoning cube of choice
- 2 tablespoons ground crayfish
Instructions
Instructions
- Prep the ingredients: Add the red bell pepper, scotch bonnet chillies and onion to a blender, puree and set aside.
- Chop or process the okra in a food processor and set aside. Cut the meat or fish into manageable chunks and set aside
- Cook The Stew: Place a pan on medium heat, add palm oil, heat for about 1-2 minutes until hot then add the puréed pepper. Leave to cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.
- Check at interval and stir to avoid burning add seasoning cube and salt to taste, add fresh prawns and fish if you are using or meat/assorted meat and cook for another 5 minutes. Take the fish and prawns out of the stew into a bowl and continue to cook the sauce on low heat (leave the meat/assorted meat in the stew) Whilst the stew is cooking
- Cook the Okra: Place a new pan on the medium heat, add 1½ cups of water, locust beans and bring to boil (this should take about 3 minutes) add the chopped okra and stir vigorously to combine. Cook another 2 minutes and reduce the heat.
- Mix the stew and okra: Finally, add the cooked stew to the okra and stir to combine. Taste for salt and seasoning and suit taste. Add ground crayfish, the fish taken out earlier carefully stir to combine and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and serve the stewed okra with a swallow of choice
