Traditional Nigerian Edo Egusi Soup

Egusi soup, in which I channel my inner ‘Edo‘ girl.

My ‘Igarra heritage.

For this is the soup by which we are woken up on many a morning, ladled into yellow enamel bowls, motiffed with green leaves and rimmed in red. Covers clanging, hiding the pungent, fried scents of une, what we call locust beans and what the Yorubas call iru.

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The Real Egusi soup!

The smell of the soup is undeniably ‘hometown’ to me. There’s something ‘local’, elemental. Its not soup I would expect to feast on in a city.

No, this is the preserve of the grandmothers and aunts who have learnt from tradition, and live it daily.

The seeds (of the locust bean) are famous for their greasy extract, which is fermented and pressed into cakes or balls, known in West Africa as dawadawa. It has a pungent odor, often compared to that of aged cheese, and is used as a condiment or an ingredient for soup.

Our Egusi soup is always served with ‘Poundo’.

As in ‘real’ Poundo, beaten to submission by the noisy pestles of silent women. ‘Up, down, kpom, kpom‘, they pound – partners in a rhythmic dance that needs no human words or intervention.

The result? Fine, smooth, stretchy pounded yam. Not stirred in a pot, on a stove, in some microwave somewhere.

Served on an enamel tray. The balls of Egusi, distinct knots of cream in this spicy melange. Where they sit…..thick with promise. Of fullness and sustenance – that leave the eater sated, ready to battle another day.

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There are many kinds of Egusi soup, and I’ve cooked the lot. From light and creamy, to thick and peppery and every version in between.

But first, you probably want to know what Egusi soup is, if you aren’t familiar with it? I’ll tell you. It’s an eating soup, in the manner of other Nigerian eating soups  – really stews, that’s thickened with crushed melon seeds  (in the family and whitened versions of pumpkin seeds), often with a variety of green vegetables which range from Bitter leaf, to Amaranth leaves aka Green, pumpkin leaves and water leaves too. Meat, fish, chicken? All are fair game in this soup that can be cooked any which way.

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The Ghanians have similar Egusi-type seeds. I can’t remember what they are called.

As do the Indians, called CharmagazThe seeds are used in markedly different ways from how we Nigerians use them – in sweets and puddings and fudges.

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In Nigeria, those from the east, The Igbos make a ‘watery’ version where the egusi is milled finely and is evenly dispersed in the stock. The result is a homogenous blend, sometimes called SPS. Small Pikin **** for its watery nature. This phrase has no business being here – on a food blog. Sigh. And ‘Pikin’ means child in Nigerianese 🙂

And those in the west, The Yorubas make theirs similar to how we, the Edos in the south, make ours. The egusi is formed into balls which are then lowered into simmering stock and  left to bubble away till the balls are cooked, shedding their creamy white colour for a thickened, orange appearance.

The spectrum is long, and wide – as varied as the people who call it favourite.

My Egusi soup leans more to the south than elsewhere. To my hometown of Igarra. Where thickened balls are welcome. For breakfast.

I cooked this soup when I had a craving. A deep, deep craving that would not go away.

I imagined it would be a buffet of meats and fish and vegetables. Served in one pot :-).

It would be flavoured with Une – fermented locust beans….which would lend a certain ‘grandmother’ essence to the dish.

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Dried Une cakes, to the left; Fresh Une seeds on the right

This is one of the most important food condiments in Nigeria and many countries of West and Central Africa.

It is used in much the same way as bouillon cubes are used in the Western world as nutritious flavouring additives along with cereal grains sauce and may serve as meat substitute.

Dadawa (Iru) is prepared from the seeds of African locust beans, thus are rich in fat (39 to 40%) and protein (31 to 40%)(Achi,2005) and contributes significantly to the energy intake, protein and vitamins, especially riboflavin, in many countries of West and Central Africa.

Dadawa or iru is made from locust-bean (Parkia biglobosa) seed, a leguminous tree found in the Savannah region of Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. Dadawa is produced by a natural un-inoculated solid –substrate fermentation of the boiled and dehulled cotyledon, the major fermenting organisms are the Bacillus and Staphylococcus. The beans mass after fermentation is sun-dried and moulded into round balls or flattened cakes. Due to the high protein content, it has a great potential as a key protein source and basic ingredient for food supplement.

….. Traditionally fermentation of African locust beans involves boiling the beans for twelve hours in excess water, until they are very soft to allow for hand de-hulling after which the separated cotyledon is boiled for another two hours to soften it. The cotyledon is then wrapped with enough banana leaves (Musa saplentum ) and packed with covers to ferment at room temperature; Source

All the meat – the various sorts, would be chopped inch-wise and bite-sized  so that the phrase ‘everywhere na market‘ would spring to mind. Meaning, everywhere you put your fork or fingers, you get the goods.

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Front row, L – R: Kpomo (cowhide), Beef, Tripe; Back row, L – R: Biscuit bone, oxtail, snails

I wanted nuggets of ‘turf’ – as in seafood, in this surf & turf soup. Flavour by way of stock fish.

I wanted green and a hint of bitterness, provided by the humble, highly nutritious ‘Bitter Leaf’.

I got my soup.

Edo Egusi Soup

Tips

Cook your meat, stockfish, and  other proteins prior to starting the soup. In my case, I cooked the beef and biscuit bone together, in a seasoned stock which I reserved for the cooking of the soup.

The tripe was cooked separately with the cooking liquid discarded, as were the stockfish, snails, oxtail and pomo.

You can substitute roasted groundnuts/peanuts for the melon seeds

You could use annatto oil if you want to get the palm oil ‘colour’. – the taste will be different though

Ingredients

1 cup of blended onions and fresh chilies, to taste ( about 5 small onions)
4 cups of egusi (melon seeds), dry-ground or milled
1/2 – 1 cup palm oil
2 teaspoons fresh Une (iru, locust beans)
Pinch of salt
Ground crayfish, to taste
7 – 8 cups of stock
Cooked Meat & fish, quantity and variety to personal preference and stock reserved. I used a combination of beef, tripe, stockfish, oxtail, biscuit-bone, snails  and pomo (cow skin).
2 cups Pumpkin leaves (ugu), cut
1 cup Waterleaf, cut
3 tablespoons Bitter leaf, washed

Directions

Prepare the Egusi Paste

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Begin by making a thick paste of the ground Egusi seeds, and the blended onion mixture. Set aside.

In some areas, people roll little balls of this paste which are then lowered into the cooking stock. I find it easiest to use a teaspoon to form the ‘mounds’ from bowl to pot.

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Make the soup

In a large pot, heat the palm oil on low to medium for a minute or so then add the Une/Iru.

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Fresh Une (Iru)

This ensures that the pungent, savoury flavours of the fermented locust beans are extracted.

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Extracting the sweet and pungent – Une in hot palm oil

Then, slowly add the stock – yes I know….oil and water.  Set on low heat to simmer.

Scoop teaspoonfuls of the egusi paste mixture into the stock, being careful that they stay whole, till all the egusi is used up or add the prepared balls if you’ve gone down that route.

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Leave to simmer for 20 – 30 minutes so the balls cook through.

Add the Meat & Fish

Gently add the meat and fish and other bits which you’d like to use.

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Check for seasoning, and adjust accordingly

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Add the Vegetables

Allow to cook through. Its time for the vegetables and I use 3 sorts:

First to go in are the pumpkin leaves – not whole though….cut up.

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Leaves of Ugwu, Nigerian fluted pumpkin

Then the waterleaf is next.

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Once added, stir and put a lid on the pot and allow cook for 5 – 10 minutes, till the leaves wilt.

Finish off by adding the Bitter leaf! Leave the lid off while the cooking finishes for another 5 – 10 minutes.

We – at least my mum and I believe that if the lid is left on, the bitterness from the leaves takes over the soup.

Stir, check seasoning and adjust accordingly.

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Turn off the heat and set aside to ‘cool’.

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On any good day, I like to leave let my Egusi soup rest for a few hours or ‘overnight’.

But not on this day.

On this day, I had my friends over to dinner. We ‘wacked’ (ate, Nigerianese) . It was ‘tech’ (awesome, Nigerianese).

For you – well, serve with any starch of your choice.

I love it with pounded yam and eba, but also with steamed white rice, and plantains.

 

40 Comments

  1. Hi!
    I wanted to know if there are equivalents that you know of for Une, water leaves and pumpkin leaves in other cuisines that I can use?
    Just like the Indians sell the egusi seeds under another name 🙂

    Thanks!
    G

  2. Oz,
    Long time! How are you are the family? Just wanted to say hello. Thank you for keeping this site going and for cooking and sharing with us

  3. Hello! I am planning to make this on Christmas Day. I love egusi soup but it has been a long time since I have cooked it. I found all the ingredients at our local African market. Yay! One question: How many servings does this recipe make? I have 3.5 pounds of oxtails for the meat. Thank you!

  4. This is really an awesome website!
    i so much enjoyed this Egusi soup recipe…most especially the clear step by step used just like the site Egusisoup.com

  5. I just love the way you paint pictures with words. Definitely trying this style of egusi soup before the end of this week

  6. Am a Tanzania i love your blog, i didn’t know how to cook nigerian food throu your blog today i cooked egusi soup and my husband is a nigerian he got shocked of when did I learn to cook it i told him through your blog and the egusi soup came out delicious more than the one we eat at the restaurants, though i didn’t use all the ingredients bcoz i didn’t want to complicate things for the first time, just use only goat meat, little cow meat, dry fish, dry mushroom, cray fish, magii cubes, onion, little cooked tomatoes, thyme, egusi, spinach, palm oil, and salt and followed your process it came out wow, be blessed and keep teaching us other coutries to learn your food is very very delicious cnt even imagine hahahah have become an expert lol through you, keep it up.

  7. This was absolutely beautiful…I.found this blog post while looking for alternayuve ways to cook egusi soup BUT i need to say that I don’t agree with the idea that ibo version of egusi is watery like…..what???? It’s general knowledge that ibo soups are thick and full but for the very first time I see someone saying Yoruba soups are thicker! Chai…I wish I could have this argument in person.LOL!!! But great job. Love your blog.

  8. Hi I’m American and my husband is Nigerian I’ve been trying to test out recipes that he likes some of the stuff that you use is not available in the States can you tell me what kind of beans and other ingredients I could substitute and the bitter leaf what can I use we do have pumpkin seeds I would so appreciate any information at all thanks I love your website

    • Thank you Connie for your kind words.

      You could use kale, dandelion greens instead of bitterleaf, and spinach for waterleaf.
      Instead of the Egusi (bitter melon seeds), you could use roasted, skinned peanuts if you have no allergies or a mix of peanuts and raw pumpkin seeds

      I hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do what I can. Cheers

  9. Meeeehn!!! you are just soooo AWESOME!!!! Lol

    I love your blog so much, I am humbled as a foodie and cook as you’ve redefined it with fresh and solid meaning.
    Your piece on cook vs chef was very educational and interesting.
    I love the way you write, your creativity, the depth, pictures, Mangoslaw????gurrrl….Love it ALL!!

    Not a big egusi fan but your rendition is a must try and can’t help picturing what you’d do with periwinkles. I so look forward to attending a food tour I hope you will organise in the very near future.

    Nice 1 Oz, you’re ‘repping naij’ on a whole new level & the sky is just the beginning.

  10. Very insightful post! My friends and I were at a Nigerian pub here in Cape Town and they ordered Egusi. I didn’t get to taste it but they said it was tasty and nutritious. You explain it in a more informative and interesting way!

  11. So happy I found your post, have been searching for this recipe for a while after tasting this dish made by a nigerian friend here in Sweden. I want my husband to discover this dish, so I’ll first make an adjusted version to introduce the new and unique flavors! Thanks again!

  12. I am also Igarra. There is no palm oil in the country I reside. How can I still cook egusi using other oils. I have egusi and une (locust beans) in my fridge but don’t know how to go ahead because no palm oil. Please advise me. thanks

  13. Born in Agenebode; only learnt to cook this style of egusi soup in my early twenties when my friend’s mother-in-law who is Igarra taught . In my opinion, this is the best way to make egusi soup. I am making this sometime this week.

    Happy new year Oz.

  14. An amazing post Oz! So much history wrapped in unique flavors! Someday I hope to share these traditional Nigerian recipes with you. Until then I will savor your lyrical posts!

    • Thanks Deb. Let me go first though – I want to come see you, East of Eden…..you’ve totally changed the way I read books with how you share snippets of the book, and weave a beautiful story around them. Hugs X X X

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