URHOBO OWHO SOUP

This is one of the most famous dishes for the Urhobo people from Delta State, Nigeria. But to be honest the Bini People from Edo State will give the Urhobos a

fight for the origin of this beautiful soup. There are a number of ways to spell this soup-owo, owho,or owgho.

Ingredients

• Assorted meat and fish. You can use:
• Beef
• Cow Skin (ponmo)
• Cow tripe
• Snails
• Shell fish
• Dry fish
• Stock fish
• Palm oil
• 2 teaspoons powdered edible potash (akanwu, kaun, keun)
• 3 tablespoons ground crayfish
• 1 cup garri
• Hot and spicy pepper (to taste)
• 2 stock cubes

Notes on ingredients

1. You can also add native Urhobo salt (A particular type of Potash/native salt called Ugwerue).
2. The classic Urhobo Owho Soup is prepared with palm fruit concentrate (banga oil). This is known as native oil in Urhobo land. If you have it use it instead of normal palm oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. Soak the dry fish to soften.
2. Mix the potash with a little amount of water and set aside.
3. Clean, debone and separate the dry fish into medium pieces.
4. Pour the palm oil in a small container, gently decant the potash water into the palm oil while stirring at the same time till the palm oil turns yellow and becomes thick.
5. Cook the meats and stockfish with the seasoning cubes till soft.
6. Blend the garri with a dry mill then mix it with some meat and fish stock to get a soft dough. See the video below.
7. Add the dry fish, crayfish and pepper to pot, cover and continue cooking.
8. After about 7 minutes, add the palm oil mix and scoop small lumps of the garri dough into the pot and continue cooking. Do not cover it from the point onwards because it will boil over due to the edible potash in the palm oil.
9. It is done when the lumps of garri have disolved and the soup is no longer foaming. If you get the consistency you like for your soups before the garri lumps completely dissolve, remove the excess lumps.
10. Stir very well and take it off the stove.

Serve with yellow garri or any swallow of your choice.

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