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bitter leaf soup.
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5 from 2 votes

Bitter Leaf Soup Recipe (Ofe Onugbu)

Bitter leaf soup or ofe onugbu is another popular Nigerian soup made with bitter leaves and cocoyam paste. This delicious Nigerian soup is packed full of flavour, hearty and quite filling too. Ofe onugnu is similar to the Camerounian Ndole.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time55 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Nigerian
Keyword: bitter leaf soup, bitter leaf soup recipe, ofe onugbu
Servings: 6
Author: Ajoke

Ingredients

  • 1 wrap of ogiri
  • 1 cup dried cod panla washed
  • Cayenne pepper use according to preference
  • 4 medium-size cocoyam pieces substitute with oat or potato flour
  • 2 Beef stock cubes I used Nigerian knorr cubes
  • 500 g cooked assorted beef stock reserved or smoked turkey
  • 2-3 tbsp ground crayfish
  • cup Dried Shrimps
  • ½ cup palm oil
  • 300 g Bitter leaves chopped and washed
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  • Boil assorted beef with salt, seasoning powder and onions. (No to thyme and curry) reserve stock. If using smoked turkey, grill or boil with panla and smoked fish.
  • Bring cocoyam to boil with skin on till tender, peel skin off cocoyam and pound till you get a smooth paste. You can also purée the cocoyam with a blender just add warm water when blending to form a smooth paste
  • Place a pan containing cooked assorted beef on medium heat, add smoked fish, dried shrimps, palm oil and cayenne pepper, mix to combine and bring to boil for about 3-4 minutes, (add more water to the meat if needed to achieve the desired thickness of how you want the soup to be)
  • Add ogiri to the soup and stir to combine (the most important part of this dish, you can’t substitute it with any other thing). After you’ve added the ogiri, check for salt. Note, if your beef is well seasoned you would not be needing salt again for this soup but feel free to adjust to seasoning to taste.
  • Continue cooking until the ogiri dissolves in the soup and you should also be able to taste it, add pounded cocoyam paste in bits to the soup, and don’t stir just yet. Cover the pot with a lid and allow the cocoyam to dissolve in the soup. Once this is achieved, stir together and check for salt and seasoning
  • Add the washed bitter leaf to the soup, stir till well combined (add water if soup is too thick). Reduce the heat and allow soup to simmer. Take the soup off the heat after 15 minutes and serve soup with any swallow of choice preferably yellow garri or pounded yam

Notes

How to wash bitter leaf

Bitter leaf as the name implies is very bitter so you will need to get rid of the bitterness by adding enough water to the leaves and squeezing it between your palms. You will need to wash severally with fresh clean water until you can no longer taste the bitterness. You may add some salt to wash the leaves, we do this in Yoruba land to likewise get rid of the bitterness.
I also heard that you can bring the leaves to boil for about 15 minutes for the same results as above.