This Nigerian Okra soup recipe is a delicious, brightly coloured medley of delectable meats, vegetables and spices. This slimy goodness is astonishingly easy to prepare and it will leave you very satisfied…right after you go back for seconds-hehe!
If I could pick one soup to eat for the rest of my life I would pick this one no argument…why?
Have you tasted it? My goodness!! I don’t know who or how the first Nigerian cook stumbled upon this recipe but they FINISHED WORK!
There are two versions of okra that I had growing up
- Stewed Okra– where the okra is cooked together with the sauce
- Okra and stew- where the okra is cooked separately and served with stew
I don’t have a preference. Feed me anything with okra and I will devour!
Let’s take about the Slime
Okra itself is slimy and while few people find that appalling, most don’t mind the mucusy nature of the soup. In fact, that is the essence!
the first time I made okra in Canada I cooked my soup with Indian okras which were not as slimy as the Nigerian okras I was used to.
I also noticed the smaller you chop it the slimmer it becomes. If you blend or grate your okra it releases more mucilage which causes the sliminess in the soup, if you want to reduce that consider chopping your okra instead
Can I make okra soup without palm oil?
Yup! If you don’t like palm oil you can take it out of the recipe completely and your soup will still turn out delicious. All you have to do differently is season the base with crayfish and iru instead of the oil.
You can also try the okra and stew method with any of my stew recipes for fantastic results.
What can I eat okra soup with?
This soup is commonly eaten with garri or eba in Nigeria. You can also eat it with pounded yam/poundo or amala. However, amala goes better with okra and stew
More Nigerian recipes
P.s if you try this recipe at home, remember to tag me @nigerianfoodiehub on instagram so that I get to see it and I add you to my cabinet of honourable foodies.
Nigerian Okro soup
Ingredients
- 5 cups Chopped okra
- 1 Cup blended okra
- 3 Red bell peppers
- 2 Scotch bonnets
- 2 cayenne peppers
- 1 onion
- 1 lb meat of choice goat meat, tripe, smoked turkey
- 1 cup shrimp
- 1/2 cup palm oil
- 1 tbsp iru (locust beans)
- spinach
Spices
- salt
- Cameroon pepper
- stock cubes
- crayfish powder
Instructions
Boil meat of choice
- Wash goat meat and tripe (or meat of choice) and place it into a pot
- In a blender add 1/2 onion and 1 scotch bonnet. Blend into a paste and pour into the pot of meat
- Season the meat with salt, cameroon pepper and 2 stock cubes. Place on medium heat and boil for 30 minutes
- Separate stock and bake or fry meat
Prepare pepper base
- Blend Red bell peppers, scotch bonnet,1/2 onion and cayenne peppers and transfer to an empty pot to boil for 15 minutes( or till dry)
Prepare soup
- Add palm oil to the pot a and season with iru, crayfish and 1 stock cube
- Add pepper blend into oil and let it fry for 1 minutes. Then pour in the pot of meat( with stock),
- Taste sauce and season with salt, pepper and crayfish (to taste)
- Pour the blended okra into the soup and stir well. Wait a few seconds then add chopped okra and spinach into the pot
- Stir soup well and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
