The best Nigerian okro soup recipe that you can't resist

Okro soup is one of the most popular delicacies in Nigeria. The dish is not only full of nutrients, but it is also quite tasty. If you would like to prepare the soup, then you need the help of some tasty okro soup recipes. Luckily for you, we have you sorted.

What makes this soup so special is the okro plant. This is a vegetable that contains a lot of slime, which is extremely helpful for people with digestion problems and stomach issues. Besides that, okro contains minimal calories but plenty of food fibres, which are also great for digestion.

Here are two of the best okro soup recipes.

The best Nigerian okro soup recipe for non-vegetarians

Here is the recipe for traditional okro soup.

Ingredients

Traditional and authentic okro soup should consist of the following ingredients:

• A full medium-sized bowl of finely chopped okro
• Fresh pumpkin leaves
• 1 cup of fish stock made of fish heads (start with only a little because you can always add more if necessary)
• ½ kilo of beef (or goat meat, if you like. If none, replace with chicken or turkey)
• ½ kilo of shaki
• 2 frozen mackerels of medium size (you can use roasted ones if you like)
• Smoked fish or/and dried fish (as you like, to your taste)
• 1 to 3 cubes of Maggi (to your liking)
• Salt and pepper
• Palm oil
• ½ cups of ground crayfish

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Method

• It’s recommended that you slice the okro yourself even though it’s usually sliced when sold.

• This done, proceed to the preparation of the fish. If you choose frozen fish, it’s necessary to parboil it for several (up to ten) minutes. Pick the pieces of fish out with a fork, and add the stock and smoked or dry fish that you have.

• Now, it’s time to get down to the meat and shaki. Cut it into small pieces, parboil with some salt, pepper, and a seasoning cube, add two cups of water, and cook until it’s done. You can also try the precooking method, where the fish and meat are precooked together, then fish pieces are removed from the pot after 8 minutes, and then the meat is cooked alone until it’s soft.
• When the fish and meat are ready, put them together in the same pot, add some oil, seasoning cubes, pepper, and salt.
• After several minutes, add okro and cook for several more minutes. You can also add some fish/beef stock or plain water if you think that the soup is too thick.

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• Add pumpkin leaves, cook for 3 minutes more, and the okro soup is ready.

In case you don’t like the slimy texture of the soup, try adding tomatoes or a little lemon juice to reduce the slime.

Okro soup with tomatoes: A vegetarian recipe

This variation of the traditional recipe contains no meat; it contains tomatoes instead. Tomatoes influence the taste significantly. Furthermore, the acid they contain reduces the amount of slime given off by okro.

Ingredients

To cook this soup, you will need the following:

• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon of palm oil
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic (smashed)
• 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• ½ tablespoon of ground black pepper
• ½ tablespoon of flakey red pepper
• 4 cups of vegetable stock
• 3 cups of water
• 4 cups of fresh, peeled and chopped tomatoes
• 2 cups of fresh, chopped okro or frozen chopped okro
• Pumpkin leaves
• 2 cups of already cooked rice
• Crayfish
• Seasoning cubes (optional)

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Method

• To begin with, heat the butter in a saucepan until it melts.
• Add the palm oil.
• Add the chopped onion and parsley and cook until they are soft.
• Add garlic and cook for only a little until you can smell the fragrance.
• Immediately add thyme, both peppers, and salt and keep on cooking for another couple of minutes.
• Add the vegetable stock, water, and tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes over medium heat.
• It’s time to add okro. Cook the soup with okro for 20 to 25 minutes more or as much as needed for the okro to become soft and tender.
• Add pumpkin leaves, and cook for a couple of minutes.
• The soup is ready! Serve it in bowls, adding a lump of cooked rice in each.

Tips on how to cook okro soup

There are several cooking tips regarding okro soup which you should know:

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• Make sure you remove the short hairs on the okro before cooking to avoid allergic reactions.
• If you want your soup to have a unique, authentic taste, use both meat and fish, especially smoked fish. The taste will be even better if you use only meat or fish stock and no water.
• You can intensify the flavour with the help of seasoning cubes, but it’s better to use more crayfish for a more mouth-watering dish.
• Adding pepper will improve the taste of the soup.
• Many people recommend using spinach instead of pumpkin leaves. However, spinach leaves will not give the necessary flavour and texture.

Preparing okro soup is quite easy. Just follow our simple recipes, and you are good to go. Try out these recipes and share the results with us.

Source: Legit.ng