Law school 2008! That was when my friend Efe, enchanted me with this soup. I remember there were about 4 of us that sat on the floor with yellow garri and devoured the entire contains of the bowl of soup her sister Anthonia had brought for her.

I couldn’t understand the soup and I didn’t care. It was so good. It was orangey in colour but not as light as gbegiri. It was thick but without the viscosity of Ogbono. At first glance it looked like a light pepper stew, but it was creamy.

I called it “The soup Efe jazzed me with”. When I begged her for the recipe, she laughed and replied, “I will not, It’s juju soup”. Lol. So off I went and I learnt by myself, so I can continue jazzing myself. You should see me eating this with starch! Fada lawd!

Owo soup is native to the people of the Niger-Delta. It’s eaten by the Delta people, Urhobos, the Bini’s and more people in the riverine areas. You will find slight variations in recipes from one ethnic group to another.

Recipe

 Ingredients (serves a family of 6)

1. 2kg Assorted Meats
2. 1/4 Cup Palm nut oil also called Banga. (In the absence of that palm oil)
3. Dryfish(stockfish and catfish)
4. 2 tbsp thick starch dissolved with double the amount of water (alternative is smooth fine Garri about 1/4 cup – you may need less)
5. Powdered Crayfish
6. Blended or dried Pepper (I like a combination of yellow and red scotch bonnet, rodo)
7. Kaun roughly bigger than one knorr cubes
8. Seasoning Cubes (max 4)
9. Salt
10. Water

Procedure

1. Cook your meats with the dryfish, blended pepper, crayfish, salt and seasoning cubes. It’s good to start will enough water to cook the entire soup, or your be adding more as you.
2. Once the meat is cooked, taste to check the seasoning, if need be, adjust the seasoning.
3. Add palm oil and then let it cook for about five to seven minutes
4. Dissolve the kaun in a little water and add to the pot, you may want to lower the heat at the point because there is a chance the soup will froth over into the fire. You will observe that the palm oil will take on an orange hue. Let is cook for about 2 minutes or a little more.
5. Then add the dissolved starch (or garri if you are using garri), stirring continuously as you add into the pot until the soup is thick. (It should have the consistency of runny cooked custard or pap, enough to coat the back of a metal spoon and still drip)
6. Turn the heat down and let it simmer for roughly 10minutes before turning off the heat.
7. Serve with Eba, Starch or your favourite swallow.

• Soups
• Soups, Stews and Sauces
• Stews and Sauces