You’d find about 2 types of Ofe Okazi recipes online. There’s one with Egusi and there is one made with thickeners. For the egusi version, you’d add ukazi to egusi soup as you’d add any other vegetable at the tail end of cooking. For the version with thickeners you can use, Achi, Ofor, boiled cocoyam paste or cocoyam powder.

Okazi or Ukazi are two spellings used interchangeably for the same vegetable. This is the same vegetable used along side water leaf in Afang soup.

Recipe

Ingredients (the volumes are mostly eyeballed so please cook with your heart)

• Okazi (Utazi) leaves (thinly sliced)
• Uziza leaves (thinly sliced, this should be ⅛ of the volume of the Okazi)
• Assortment of meats
• Smoked Fish
• Stock fish
• Crayfish powder
• Blended peppers (blending onions with it is optional)
• Palm oil (depending on how large the pot of soup is you may not need more than a cooking spoon)
• Achi or Ofor (powdered form)
• Salt
• *Ogiri ( this is is optional, ¼ of a tsp is sufficient for a pot of soup that serves 4-6 people)
• *Seasoning cubes*(optional)
• Water

If you are vegan, skip the meats, fish and crayfish, replace with dried mushrooms, tofu or any other vegan meat replacement

Procedure

• Rinse shredded vegetables, strain and set aside.
• In a pot on medium heat, add meats, smoked fish, stock fish, blended pepper, salt, seasoning, and water.
• Cook until the meats are well done. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly, add palm oil and Ogiri.
• Achi and Ofor are thickeners so ensure you add a little at a time till you get your deserved thickness or else you’d get a sludgy soup that will need a lot of water to thin out.
• Allow to cook for about 5 mins, then turn the heat down to let it simmer, and add vegetables.
• Take the lid off and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes and turn the heat off.
• Serve with your accompaniment of choice.

• Soups
• Soups, Stews and Sauces