Nigerian – Ogbono Soup

• 🧑‍🍳 Medium
• ⏱ Prep: 15mins
• 🥘 Cook: 25mins
• 🍴 Serves 8

Ogbono! Who would’ve thought that wild mango seed (botanical name: irvingia gabonensis) could make such a yummy and filling dish.  These seeds are indigenous to the humid forest zone of Africa and can be found in the southern region of Nigeria (commonly igboland). I love eating this (draw) soup. It’s very similar to Nigerian okra soup or the Louisianan variation called gumbo. On a cold winter’s day, it can be eaten with Iyan (pounded yam) or eba (cassava paste) or fufu (cassava dough). There are many variations to make ogbono and this is my simple version.

Ogbono Soup Ingredients

Main Ingredients

• ½ litre Palm oil
• 3kg of ogbono
• 1 ½ L water

Seasonings

• 2 tsp salt
• 2 knorr cubes
• 3 tbsp of crayfish, ground
• 1 tbsp red chilli pepper, ground
• 4 tbsp of dried and smoked prawns, washed
• 4 lantern peppers, washed and finely chopped

Greens

• 4.5kg of Spinach, washed, steamed and expunged of excess water

Meat

• 3kg of goat meat, cooked
• 1kg of cow’s foot, cooked
• 1kg of tripe, cooked

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Ogbono Soup Preparation

1. Add the palm oil in a deep pot and set under medium heat. When the palm oil changes colour from red to a darker colour and becomes more runny like vegetable oil (bleaching process), add the ground ogbono and 1 ½ l of water.
2. Stir until the ogbono thickens to a light consistency. Add your chilli pepper, crayfish adn smoked prawns. Stir and cook for 5 mins.
3. Add your meat to the soup, chopped scotch bonnet and spinach. Combine mixture thoroughly. Once done, take the pot off heat and set aside to cool for 10 mins before serving.

Serving: My usual plate normally contains a portion of ogbono and eba ©

💡Prepare as much as you can before cooking so that the actual soup making event is more of a pick, add and mix activity rather than trying to make everything from scratch on the same day.