OFE UGBA: AFRICAN OIL BEAN SOUP

Ofe Ugba aka African oil bean soup is a delightfully tasty delicacy from Eastern Nigeria. It is a special soup of the Mbaise/Owerri people and its environs. This soup can be called ofe ukpaka as well because African Oil bean seed is called either Ugba or Ukpaka depending on what part of Igbo land you hail from.

Ingredients

• 20 okra fingers
• 1 cup of ugba (milk cup is ok)
• 2 pieces dry fish (dry cat fish or mangala fish)

• 2 pieces stockfish (dry cod fish)
• 1 smoked mackerel (smoked titus fish)
•  2 cooking spoons palm oil
• Habanero pepper (atarodo, ose oyibo, atarugu: to taste)
• 1 handful crayfish
• 1 piece of ogiri okpei (dawa dawa, iru)
• 1 onion
• Garden egg leaves (alternative: spinach)
• Assorted meat of choice
• Salt (to taste)

Ingredients Preparation

Rinse all the vegetables and fish thoroughly. In Nigerian markets, dry fish and stockfish are displayed in the open hence contain dust and sometimes fine sand. So wash these very well and rinse in plenty of water.

1. Soak the stockfish for a few minutes and clean with a food brush.
2. Soak the dry fish in cool or lukewarm water till soft. Clean, debone and break into pieces.
3. Break the smoked fish into small pieces, debone and rinse.
4. Grind the crayfish and the ogiri okpei with a dry mill.
5. Cut the okra fingers into pieces. For the best Ofe Ugba, please do not blend the okra. You can grate it but hand cut is the best.
6. Slice the onion into small pieces.
7. Cut up the pepper into small pieces. You can grind it if you wish.
8.  Cut the garden egg leaves into small pieces.

Cooking Instructions

1. Transfer beef to a pot. Fill pot with water to cover the beef
2. Add onions, dry pepper, crayfish, salt and other seasoning to the meat and begin to cook
3. Cook till meat is done. Which takes about 30 to 45 mins depending on how tough the meat is.
4. When the beef is tender add the iru, precooked cow feet and stock fish. Stir, taste for seasoning and adjust if needed then cover pot and reduce heat to simmer on low to medium heat for about 5 minutes
5. When the stock fish is soft, use the cooking spoon to break it into small pieces.
6. Add the dry fish, ugba, crayfish and ogiri okpei, pepper, onions, smoked fish, salt and palm oil. Cover the pot and continue cooking on high heat. Stir often so it does not burn.
7. After about 5 minutes, add the leafy vegetable and okra, stir and add salt if necessary. You want as small quantity of water as possible in the soup before adding the vegetable. I used leafy spinach, watch the video below to see how I pre-prepared the leafy spinach before adding it to the soup.
8. Take the pot off the stove and transfer to another container immediately so that the green vegetables stay green.

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