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    Home » Nigerian Recipes » Egusi Elefo Meta (Efo elegusi)

    Published: Apr 19, 2016 · Modified: Aug 25, 2019 by Ajoke

    Egusi Elefo Meta (Efo elegusi)

    My parents were around at mine from Nigeria and my kitchen was super busy. You know why? I promised to make different meals especially Nigerian soups every day for a week. I made this efo elegusi soup on day 2 and it was loved by all. I used 3 types of vegetable leaves to cook this egusi soup and one of them is my favourite, uziza leaves. If you have been following me on this platform you would know about my obsession with this vegetable leaf.  

    egusi-soup-recipe

    Egusi soup is traditionally cooked with 1 type of vegetable leaf and it could be waterleaves, bitter leaves or Ugu leaves. This recipe was born out of love, hehehe, just kidding, I had spinach and kale leftover from the last time I made efo riro but truth be told, lots of love went into cooking this egusi soup. You don’t have to necessarily use 3 types of vegetable leaves but it would be nice if you get your hands on uziza leaves and use another vegetable leaf of choice.

    The aromatic flavour from uziza leaves takes the soup from zero to a hundred. It is da bomb, if you’ve tried my ace efo riro here then you would understand what I am talking about. This egusi soup was made with the simplest of ingredients and it did meet up to expectation.

    Ok people, let’s do this. Get your pan and apron and let’s get cooking, to be honest, I didn’t measure any of the ingredients used so bear with me if the ingredients listed are not precise.

    efo elegusi with ponmo

    Ingredients

    11/2 cups ground melon

    350g spinach, chopped

    250g kale, chopped

    1-2 handful uziza, chopped

    2-3 Csp Palm oil (serving spoon)

    1wrap locust beans

    Salt

    Beef bouillion 

    Smoked fish

    Assorted meat/offal (shaki, ponmo, liver, lungs )

    Pepper mix ( tatashe, ata rodo and onions)

    Water

    efo elegusi

    How To Cook Efo Elegusi

    Rinse the vegetables and leave to drain. If you would be using frozen vegetables, allow thawing before using. Squeeze out excess water and set aside

    Wash and rinse assorted meat clean. If you would be using offal, it is best you first boil with just water and a little salt for about 12 minutes to get rid of the blood. Rinse clean afterwards and then bring to boil, add salt, seasoning, onions till tender. Reserve the stock for the egusi soup

    Now let's move on to the soup. Quick tips before we start, go easy on the salt when cooking egusi soup. If the meat stock is well seasoned, you might not need to season the soup anymore. If you have to use salt at all, let it be the last thing you would add to the soup. Egusi soup has a way of sucking up salt and if care is not taken, you end up with soup tasting like it is cooked with seawater

    Add warm water to ground melon to form a paste

    Place a pot on medium heat, add palm oil, heat till hot and add chopped onions

    Add the melon paste, reduce the heat and continue to stir till egusi start to form lumps. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn or stick to the bottom of the pot.

    egusi-soup-recipe

    Add the blended pepper to the fried egusi (melon) and stir to combine, add stock or water to lighten the soup. Add the cooked assorted meat and bring to boil for about 15 minutes making sure you stir at interval. Add the locust beans and continue to cook for another 5 to minutes, check for salt and seasoning and add according to taste, shred the smoked fish into the soup and stir carefully to avoid breaking the fish.

    egusi-soup-6

    Add the vegetables to the egusi soup and stir till well incorporated into the egusi soup. Add water if need be, check for salt and seasoning and adjust to taste.

    egusi-soup-recipe

    egusi recipe

    Other Nigerian Soup recipes you will love

    Efo riro

    Kale Efo riro

    Ila Alasepo

    Edikang Ikong

    See how easy it is to this make efo elegusi soup... I would like to see what you have been cooking with our recipe, don't forget to tag @myactivekitchen on Instagram, facebook or simply send me an email. See you on my next post

    « Agege Bread Chicken Suya Melt Sandwich
    Tomato-less Buka Stew »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Bright says

      November 30, 2018 at 1:03 pm

      Will try it tomorrow I pray I make it delicious 😋😋

      Reply
    2. Mama Alaia says

      May 15, 2018 at 8:42 pm

      I love it Mama, I can almost taste it this is the meal I hope to eat when my family visit you guys one day. Thank you in advance sister mi 🤗

      Reply
      • Ajoke says

        May 21, 2018 at 9:14 am

        Mama Alaia, we can't wait to have you too x

        Reply
    3. Tito says

      January 02, 2018 at 6:52 am

      5 stars
      I tried your recipe to surprise hubby on the 1st Jan 2018 paired with Amala and it was the best meal so far and I loved it. Didn't use Uziza and swapped Ogiri Ijebu for Iru 😋😋😋😋. Also this is the 1st of your recipes to try, very straightforward and yummy. I need to nail puff puff and moin moin to the T!!! Leggo....

      💕💕💕💕

      Reply
      • Ajoke says

        January 19, 2018 at 12:35 pm

        yay! thanks for the feedback, glad to know we got your hubby some yummy food to begin the year with. Happy new year!

        Reply
    4. Dorcas says

      December 08, 2016 at 12:45 pm

      good work. pls what is kale? is it a leafbor what??? enlighten me pls.

      Reply
      • Ajoke says

        December 08, 2016 at 6:47 pm

        Kale is a type of leaf and it can be used the same way you use spinach and other vegetable leaves

        Reply
    5. Kenechukwu says

      June 08, 2016 at 1:53 pm

      Hello Princess, thanks for sharing this ideal. I love egwesi soup very much but each time I eat it, and end up with a serious running stomach, any advice on what i can add to stop this.. tanks

      Reply
    6. Abby says

      May 31, 2016 at 12:04 pm

      Pleas what do u mean by Kale? And is it just uziza one can use or any other vegetable

      Reply
      • Ajoke says

        June 02, 2016 at 7:44 pm

        Hi Abby, you can use any other vegetables you want. Kale is a type of vegetable. thanks for stopping by

        Reply
    7. Mide says

      May 22, 2016 at 12:47 pm

      Am I to boil the blended pepper before adding or I don't?

      Reply
      • Ajoke says

        May 22, 2016 at 5:23 pm

        Hi Mide, you don't need to boil the blended pepper. You can use boiled pepper if that is what you have. thanks and I hope that helps

        Reply
    8. Sherry says

      April 21, 2016 at 10:28 am

      5 stars

      The ingredient list mention utazi and you mentioned Uziza earlier. Which is it? I love your cooking by the way. 😀

      Reply
      • Ajoke says

        April 21, 2016 at 1:45 pm

        Thanks Sherry, that was an oversight. it is Uziza. post edited

        Reply

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    Hello, my name is Ajoke, and welcome to my food world,  I love to cook in my lively little kitchen. Join me in the adventure of cooking what we all call warm, hearty, and quick meals...

    More about me →

    Hello, my name is Ajoke, and welcome to my food world,  I love to cook in my lively little kitchen. Join me in the adventure of cooking what we all call warm, hearty, and quick meals...

    More about me →

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