Nsala Soup

Nsala soup or White Soup is a tasty, fast and easy soup recipe that has its origins in the riverine areas of Nigeria.

How to Cook Nsala Soup [Video]

Nsala Soup is perfect for a cold rainy day due to its spicy taste. Because it is so easy to prepare, you can count on it to save the day when you run out on soup a few days before the big soup day ;)

Ingredients

• Cat Fish: 4 one-inch thick pieces
• Fresh or dry Utazi Leaves (Gongronema latifolium)
• Thickener: Raw White Yam / Yam Powder / Potato Puree
• Habanero peppers: to taste
• Salt (to taste)
• Crayfish (a handful for 4 cuts of fish)
• Seasoning – 1 stock cube (Maggi / Knorr) and Ogiri Okpei / Iru (Nigerian traditional seasoning)

Alternative Ingredients for Nsala Soup

• You can use Conger Eel (Congrio in Spanish) instead of Cat fish. Buy the part towards the tail because the pieces you'll get from there are smaller and do not have large holes in them.
• When using yam powder as thickener, mix the powder with hot water first to make a thick smooth paste (as if you are making pounded yam) before adding it to the soup. Adding the powder directly into the soup will make the soup mushy and you may end up with lumps.
• In the absence of habanero pepper, you can use dry chilli pepper.
• Utazi leaves do not have any good alternative. If you don't have it, no worries because it only adds a slightly bitter flavour to the soup.

Before you cook Nsala Soup

1. Cut the catfish into 1 inch thick cylindrical discs and remove the intestines. Place in bowl and pour very hot water on the fish. This process of pouring hot water on the fish toughens the skin of the fish so that the pieces do not disintegrate while cooking the soup. Leave for about 2 minutes and wash the fish with cold water. You should also wash off any slimy substance on the outer skin of the fish at this time.
2. Boil a few cubes of raw white yam. When soft, pound with a mortar and pestle till a smooth paste is formed, then set aside. You can substitute white yam with yam powder or potato puree for the thickening.
3. Wash and pound/blend the utazi leaves, the chilli pepper and the crayfish and set aside. Utazi is bitter in taste and only used for flavouring so one or two leaves should be enough especially when using the fresh leaves.

Cooking Directions

1. Place the catfish in a pot and pour enough water to cover the fish. Add the seasoning and cook till done. Feel free to add beef and dry fish to this soup recipe.
2. When the catfish is almost done, add the crayfish, pepper and utazi leaves blend. Also add the yam paste in small lumps and salt to taste.

   Note: Catfish is what makes Nsala soup what it is, giving it the unique taste that it has so it is essential to this recipe. The only other fish that I have found to be close to Cat fish as regards to this recipe is Conger Eel.

3. Cover the pot and allow the contents to cook at high heat till all the yam paste have dissolved. While cooking, if you think that the yam paste will make the soup too thick, you can remove some that are yet to dissolve.

The Nigerian Nsala Soup is ready to be served with Eba (Garri), Semolina, Amala, Pounded Yam etc.

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How to cook Nigerian Ewa Agoyin

Ewa Agoyin simply means plain boiled beans eaten with a pepper sauce. This is the perfect way for those who do not like beans to enjoy it. I can tell you that yours truly does not like beans yet, I can never get enough of Ewa Agoyin. I don't know what it is about it that makes it taste so good. Maybe it is the caramelized onions. All I know is that I enjoy eating it. Ingredients Beans (Brown/Black eyed): 2 cigar cups | approx. 500g Red Palm Oil: about 5 cooking spoons Plum Tomatoes: 5 big ones Crayfish (a handful) Onions – 1 big bulb Pepper & Salt to taste Seasoning – 2 Maggi/Knorr cubes Before you cook Ewa Agoyin Soak the beans in cold water for 5 hours. Boil the beans for 5 minutes and discard the water. Rinse the beans in cold water and set aside. This soaking and pre-cooking process will help reduce the gas inducing elements. For more on that visit: How to Reduce Beans Bloating. Chop the onions, grind the crayfish and pound the pepper. Blend the tomatoes and boil the tomato puree till all the water has dried from it. Pre-cook the diced onions without any added water. The aim is to get it to caramelize a bit so that it will take less time to fully caramelize during frying. Cooking Directions Cook the beans till done. For Ewa Agoyin, the beans needs to be very soft. Note: If you have a pressure cooker, beans is one of the staple foods you will want to use it for. It considerably reduces the cooking time. When the beans is done, add salt, leave to dry up all the water and set aside. To cook the Agoyin, pour the palm oil into a separate dry pot. Allow to heat up till the oil starts smoking and the red colour changes to clear. It is better to do this at medium heat so that the oil does not get too hot too quickly. Remember to turn off your smoke alarm before doing this. :) To keep the smoke to a minimum and still have the traditional taste of Ewa Agoyin, I use vegetable oil and when it is very hot, I add a small amount of palm oil. Watch the video below to see how I do that. Now add the precooked onions and stir continuously till the onions is fully caramelized. It should be very dark in colour. Add the parboiled tomato puree and stir continuously till you cannot tell the difference between the tomatoes and onions. Add the pepper, crayfish, stock cubes and salt to taste. You can also add a little water at this point if your want. Stir very well and bring to the boil. The Ewa Agoyin is ready! Serve by dishing the beans into a plate and scooping some Agoyin stew on it. Ewa Agoyin can be eaten on its own, with soft and stretchy bread (known as Ewa ati Bread) or with fried plantains.
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Peeled Beans Porridge

If you don't like the traditional beans porridge, Peeled Beans Porridge is one way to keep beans in your family menu. It is great for kids and they love it. Peeled Beans Porridge [Video] This recipe tastes so much like breadfruit porridge so if you are craving breadfruit and you can't buy it where you live, go for Peeled Beans Porridge. All you need to do is add dry fish to the recipe and you are good to go. What more, this recipe will not make you feel bloated because the beans coat is removed. Ingredients for Peeled Beans Porridge (baby food version) Beans (Brown/Black Eyed): 2 cigar cups | approx. 500g Red Palm Oil: 2 cooking spoons 1 tablespoon ground crayfish Onions – 1 medium sized bulb Pepper & Salt to taste Seasoning – 1 big stock cube Chicken breast: 100g If you want your Peeled Beans Porridge to taste like Breadfruit Porridge (Ukwa) please use the following ingredients: Beans (Brown/Black Eyed): 2 cigar cups | approx. 500g Red Palm Oil: 2 cooking spoons 1 tablespoon ground crayfish Onions – 1 medium sized bulb Pepper & Salt to taste Seasoning – 1 big stock cube Dry Fish Notes on the ingredients: If you want to prepare this recipe for a baby that is less than 1 year old, please do not add salt. If you don't feel comfortable adding pepper to your baby's food, please skip this ingredient. Before you cook Peeled Beans Porridge Remove the beans coat. Chop the onions, grind the crayfish and pepper. Cut the chicken breast into small pieces. If you are cooking the breadfruit-taste-alike version, soak the dry fish and separate into small pieces. Cooking Directions Put the peeled beans in a pot, pour water up to the same level as the beans and start cooking. If using the dry fish, add it at this time. Cook till tender adding more water from time to time, if necessary. Always keep the water at the same level as the beans so that when the beans is done, you will not have too much water in the porridge. When the beans is soft, add the onions, crayfish, pepper and seasoning, stir well. Add palm oil and cook till the oil changes to deep yellow. Stir very well, add salt to taste and it is ready to be served. Bear in mind that the porridge may look watery at this time but it gets thicker when it has cooled down. If you prepared it for your baby, place single feed portions in a flat plate, wrap with a plastic film and freeze. Once frozen, remove the now solidified portions and place in a ziploc bag or container and put back in the freezer. So when you want to feed your baby, all you need to do is bring one portion out and warm it up in the microwave.
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How to Prepare Ukwa (African Breadfruit Porridge)

African breadfruit is in a food class of its own. I was not sure where to put it but finally settled for beans section because breadfruit seeds are most similar to beans. It is known as Ukwa in Igbo and the scientific name is Treculia africana. Ukwa is such a versatile food with a natural delicious flavour. It can be cooked plain without any ingredient, not even salt and it will taste great especially when prepared with fresh Ukwa. It can be roasted and eaten with coconut or palm kernel. It can also be prepared as a porridge which is what this page is about. Ingredients 700g African Breadfruit 2 medium dry fish 2 small stock cubes 7g edible potash Palm oil (enough to colour) 5-6 fresh bitter leaves Pepper & Salt (to taste) Common additions to Breadfruit Porridge: White Puna yam Corn/Maize, you can also use sweet corn Notes about the ingredients Freshly peeled ukwa or dried ukwa can be used for this recipe. You can use stock fish instead of dry fish or both. By fresh bitter leaves I mean bitter leaves that have NOT been washed and squeezed. Always add enough palm oil to make your Nigerian meals look appetizing. Edible potash acts as food tenderizer. Only a very small quantity should be used. If you are lucky to buy freshly dehusked ukwa seeds from the same tree, you will not need to use the food tenderiser. I do not know any alternative to edible potash. Before you cook the Ukwa If using dry ukwa, soak it overnight in plenty of cold water. If using fresh ukwa, skip this step. The next day, soak, debone and wash the dry fish or stock fish and break into pieces. Wash the ukwa thoroughly in cold water. Stones and sand usually settle at the bottom so watch out for those. Pound the pepper. Rinse the bitter leaves and set aside. Cooking Directions Put the thoroughly washed ukwa in a sizeable pot. I used a pressure pot in the video below because it cooks the ukwa much faster. Pour enough water to cover the ukwa. The level of water should be about 1 inch above the level of the ukwa. Add the edible potash. Add the dry fish or stock fish, cover the pot and cook till well done. The ukwa is done when the seeds melt when pressed. You may need to top up the water while cooking so watch it closely. If using a pressure pot, top ups will not be necessary. Add enough palm oil to the well done ukwa, add pepper, stock cubes and salt to taste. Stir. Cover and cook on medium heat till the palm oil changes colour from red to yellow. This should take about 5 minutes. Stir and add the bitter leaves. Cover and leave to simmer or till the leaves wilt but still green and the ukwa is ready to be served. Cooking Ukwa with a Pressure Pot If you have a pressure pot, ukwa is one of the Nigerian recipes that you should use it for because it cuts the cooking time by a lot. For pressure pots, follow the directions above up till Step 2. Then for step 3, add edible potash, dry fish or stock fish, pepper, salt to taste, stock cubes and palm oil. Cover, pressurize and cook for 30 minutes. I set the pressure on my pot to 1 and my cooker to heat 7 (my burner's heat settings range from 1-9). After 30 minutes with the above settings, the ukwa should be well done. Depressurize the pot under running water and add the bitter leaves. Cover and cook till the vegetables wilt but are still green. There is no need to pressurize the pot during this step. Stir and it's done! Note: Breadfruit Porridge gets thicker as it cools down so ensure you have enough porridge in the meal when done. Serve with chilled palm wine, palmy. Awww!
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African Coconut Rice With Lime Shrimp

This coconut rice was so good. It tasted yummilicious though the rush for the shrimps was more but the pot of rice got cleared even before I could say Jack. The plan was to cook with four coconuts but some were bad so I had to substitute with one sachet of Emma coconut powder. After reading comments on previous coconut rice posts, I decided to try blending my coconuts this time and yes it was a saver. I chopped in tiny pieces, added hot water and blended within seconds. #ByeToCoconutGrating. Just like the pancake rolls, my girls so enjoyed this meal that they requested I preserve a little for their lunch boxes the following day and guess what? Even the one that has said she never wants to see anything rice in her lunchbox cleared everything and said that was because she enjoyed it and that the shrimps tempted her too, Lolz. INGREDIENTS FOR THIS AFRICAN COCONUT RICE: Rice 3 cups Coconuts 2 medium sizes Coconut powder 1 sachet Shrimps 3 small plates Ground crayfish 2 tablespoonfuls Dried catfish 2 medium sized Thyme a pinch of Curry powder a pinch Lime juice from just 1/2 an orange Vegetable oil 1 tablespoon Ginger a tiny piece (grounded) Salt to taste Seasoning cubes 2 Water I served my shrimps as a side but you can mix the shrimps to your pot of rice before turning off the heat. For those who do not like dry cat fish, you can cook with any fish of your choice or chicken, goat meat, corned beef or even beef sef. Enjoy Your Lunch and Dinner!
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Yam and Vegetable Sauce (Ji Abubo)

Ji Abubo is one of the most traditional Igbo delicacies. I look forward to a visit to grandma's place because I am sure to eat either Ji Abubo or Abacha when I get there. Prepare this for the traditional Igbo man in your life and he will fall in love with you all over again! Ji Abubo (Yam & Vegetable Sauce [Video] Ingredients 1kg (2.2 lbs) white puna yam 200g Nigerian pumpkin leaves Palm oil 200g ukpaka (shredded oil bean seeds) Ogiri Igbo (castor bean paste) 1 Habanero/Scotch Bonnet pepper pepper or to taste Salt (to taste) Notes about the ingredients Puna yam is sweet and starchy and is the yam we use for most Nigerian yam recipes. The pumpkin leaves stated above are not halloween pumpkin leaves. They are Nigerian pumpkin leaves: Telfairia occidentalis. If you do not have those, use spinach. That's what I used in the video below with great results. Add palm oil till you get the consistency you like. For the authentic taste palm oil is very important to this recipe, vegetable oil or any other oil cannot be used as alternative. Ogiri Igbo gives the sauce the very traditional taste. If you do not have it, use stock cubes. Before you prepare the Ji Abubo Wash the yam thoroughly with plenty of water and a sponge. Do not peel the yam. Slice into desired shapes and sizes for example the half-moon slices. Rinse the ukpaka and place in a foil bag or plastic bag. My grandma uses leaves to wrap the ukpaka. Wash the vegetables and tie them up with strings. Directions Boil the yam, vegetable and ukpaka Put the yam pieces in a pot and pour water to cover the yams. Place the tied vegetables and wrapped ukpaka on top and cook till the ukpaka and vegetables are soft. Continue cooking the yam if not done. Make the vegetable sauce Pound the habanero pepper in a mortar till smooth. When the ukpaka and pumpkin leaves are soft (from step 2 above), pound them in the same mortar one after the other till they are as smooth as possible. Add palm oil to the blend till you get a consistency you like and mix very well. Add salt and ogiri Igbo to your taste and mix with the pestle till everything is well incorporated. Dish in a serving bowl and set aside. Check the yam Once the yam is well done, decant the water and place the yams in a serving plate or tray. Ji Abubo should be served piping hot to complement the cold vegetable sauce.
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Nigerian Meat Pie

This came about as a result of an experiment in my kitchen. I wanted to jazz up my Nigerian Meat Pie because everyone in my home was getting bored with the conventional meat pie with its half moon shape. Nigerian Meat Pie as a Dessert [Video] This one tastes so good and believe me, the first time I made it, a whole pan was consumed in no time! I only made a few changes to the original Nigerian Meat Pie to get this. I replaced the Irish potatoes with sweet potatoes and added sweet apple. These two add a kind of subtle sweetness to the meat pie. Then I used a flat baking pan to make it look like the western pies. Ingredients I used a baking pan that is 9 inches (23cm) in diameter and 1.5 inches (4 cm) deep. For the dough meat pie baking pan 300g plain flour (All Purpose Flour) 150g margarine 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 pinches salt ¼ cup cold water For the filling ½ of a medium SWEET potato (150g) 1 small carrot (130g) 1 sweet apple 250g minced beef 1 small onion 1 big stock cube 1 teaspoon thyme Salt to taste Water Thickener for the filling A mixture of: 1 tablespoon plain flour ¼ cup cold water Ornamental Ingredient 1 egg Tools you will need to make a meat pie Oven: This will be used for baking the meat pie. Buy it in USA | in UK Dough Roller or good old wine bottle. Buy dough roller in USA | in UK Kitchen scale: Buy it in USA | in UK A table: You will need a flat surface to roll out and cut the dough for the meat pie. Small baking pan Table fork: This will be used to press the edges of the meat pie after the filling has been added. Directions The Meat Pie Filling Wash, peel and dice all the vegetables. Do the same for the apple. Follow the direction for making Nigerian Meat Pie filling. After step 4 from over there, add the diced apple, add the thickener, stir and leave to simmer for about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool down. The dough The dough for this pie is mixed exactly the same way as the dough for the classic Nigerian Meat Pie. Follow the directions over there to mix the dough. Roll, Fill and Close Set your oven to 170°C (335°F) to preheat. Rub margarine on the insides of the baking pan. Break the egg, beat it and set aside. Knead the rested dough for a bit and divide it into 2 parts. One part should be slightly bigger than the other. Roll out the bigger dough to a 5mm thickness making sure that the diameter of the rolled out dough equals the diameter of your baking pan plus two times the depth of the pan and then some excess to allow for sealing the meat pie. Once happy, drape the flat dough on the pan and make it snug the inside corners of the pan. Fill the dough-lined baking pan with the filling. Brush some egg on the dough covering the edge of the pan. Roll out the remaining dough to 5mm thickness and a diameter that is a bit wider than that of the baking pan. Cover the pan with the rolled out dough and use a fork to seal the edges. Feel free to close the edges any how you like. Rub the egg on the dough. This gives the pie a golden brown look when done. Set the pan on a rack in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or till the top covering is golden brown. Place the pan closer to the bottom heating so that the dough at the bottom of the pan will be well done by the time the top dough is done. Try this and you'll love it!
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