Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare Bitter leaf soup

Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare Bitter leaf soup. Cooking Onugbu soup is similar to oha or ora soup. The only variation between the Oha and Ofe Onugbu recipes is the leaves (Bitter Leaf). The both are known as ofe ede. However, not all bitter leaf soups are the same. You may learn how to set your kitchen to give great look.

What do I mean by the above claim? Anybody can cook or prepare bitter leaf but there original tribes who have mastery of bitter leaf preparations. People like the Nnewi in Anambra state. In fact, Anambra State in general is known for eating and preparing bitter leaf or ofe onugbu better any other tribes in Nigeria.

People cook differently depending on their tastes, culture, and customs. The method of making a given cuisine may differ from one Community, tribe to the next. For example, bitter leaf soup preparation in Anambra differs significantly from that in Enugu and Ebonyi States. The way the Yoruba tribe prepares bitter leaf soup differs from how the Igbo people create bitter leaf soup.

When you are unfamiliar with the usage and selection of ingredients, making Bitter Leaf Soup might be tough. Here are all the secrets to making delectable Igbo Bitter Leaf Soup. How to Cook Bitter Leaf Soup.

Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare Bitter leaf soup

Bitter leaf soup, also known as (ofe onugbu) in Igbo, is a natural delicacy. It is very popular among the people of Eastern Nigeria. It is a fundamental soup of Anambrarians, primarily Nnewis.

The difference is always obvious when it is prepared by these individuals. Not all of them, and not all people can cook properly.

Many individuals, I've observed, struggle to produce a bitter leaf. For some, this beloved dish looks to be the most difficult soup to cook. When they create the soup, the oil either separates from the soup or the bitter leaf fights with the soup water.

It has now become a practice among many to hire an Anambrarian cook to prepare bitter leaf soup whenever there is an event. This should not be the case. It's not difficult to make bitter leaf soup.

In this post, I will teach you 2 ways to make bitter leaf. One is the normal way everybody makes it while the second is the Ofe Onugbu Anambra state.

Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare Bitter leaf soup

Recipe/Ingredients for Ofe Onugbu or bitter leaf soup

Leaves of Onugbu (Bitter Leaf) a few of thickeners
8 tiny corms cocoyam
Or Achi (2 teaspoons powdered) or Ofor (2 teaspoons powdered) (optional)
Half painter palm fruit (akwu) or 2 frying spoons red palm oil
Beef meats in various cuts
Dry Fish Variety
Scotch bonnet, habanero, and rodo peppers, fresh
Season with salt to taste
Crayfish (powdered) (powdered)
Cubes of Bouillon
1 teaspoon Igbo Ogiri

Note: People include thickeners like achi or okpo when they have listed cocoyam. Look, in making bitter leaf soup or oha, if you are using cocoyam, there is no need for other thickener. Unless they are few and the soup still looks watery. Personally, I used Ede (cocoyam).

I have also read somewhere where someone said ogiri is optional. This is a typical lie! If you don't have ogiri for onugbu soup, what are making? Ogiri bu ogwu ofe. Meaning ogiri is the soup medicine. Without this local fermented condiment, your soup will be sick in its taste.

If you're using Cocoyam, wash and cook the cocoyam corms with their skins on until tender.

Remove the peels and combine to a smooth paste in a blender. You may also use a mortar and pestle, which is the more traditional method. Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare Bitter leaf soup.

Personally, I buy washed bitter leaves from the market. When I arrive home, I pour boiling hot water over the bitter leaves and let it sit for about a minute before straining. A buddy told me to use salt instead of hot water to simply wash it a little more to get rid of more of the bitterness. You may want to buy your Bitter Leaf fresh and wash it from scratch, which I believe is laborious, but whatever floats your boat. Set it aside for now.

Season and simmer the meats, then add the stock fish and dried fish when they are soft.

Cook for 10 minutes after adding the pepper, ogiri Igbo, and ground crayfish. Add either the Achi/Ofor powder mixture or the cocoyam paste in tiny lumps, followed by the palm oil.

Cook over high heat, covered, until all of the cocoyam lumps have dissolved. If you think the soup is too thick, add extra water.

Remove any smoked catfish at this time to prevent disintegration. Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare Bitter leaf soup

Cook for about 5 minutes after adding the rinsed Onugbu (bitter) leaves. I've been in love with it since since the Igbo woman who sells me spices suggested I use a blend of Achi and Ofor instead of Cocoyam. The smoothness, consistency, and flavor are very different from what I get with cocoyam. It's fantastic.

Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare or cook Anambra Bitter leaf soup

Only a few things had to be removed from the meat before it could be consumed (proverb).

Again, those who do not hire a native cook have discovered a shortcut to making this soup.

To prepare the soup, this shortcut uses bitter leaf soup ingredients, taste, and starch. In any case, this approach produces the required flavor.

However, it is no longer natural. What was once a natural dinner has become artificial and full of preservatives. This way of creating bitter leaf soup, while tasty, silently destroys the bodily system.

Bitter leaf soup with flavoring, fake spices, and starch causes heartburn and indigestion. It plugs the stomach lining and causes toxins to develop. It does not take long to prepare a nutritious bitter leaf soup.

It only took having the correct components and understanding when to mix them together. Traditionally, bitter leaf soup is made in the following manner:

Steps in Cooking Delicious Anambra Bitter Leaf Soup

Put the desired quantity of palm fruit (akwu) and cocoyam (ede) in a pot of water and cook until they are done. Separate them. Process the palm fruit in a mortar or container. Pour warm water and sieve the palm fruit crude into a pot until you get the desired quantity.

Peel the back of the cocoyam and pound in a mortar or blender until it becomes pulp. Put it on a plate and cover it.

Put the pot of the palm fruit crude on the fire and allow to boil away the foamy crude.

Wash an already scrubbed bitter leaf and put it in the boiling pot.

Add salt. Cover to cook but not tightly covered.

Wash the meat and stockfish and add.

Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare Bitter leaf soup

NOTE: Bitter leaf is added earlier to allow it to be softened. When it is well cooked, it blends with other ingredients. Raw bitter leaf soup is not ideal.

Pound pepper, crayfish, and Ogiri Igbo (melon Seeds or Ugba) or both. Add them and allow them to continue cooking.

Taste the bitter leaf to see the level of its softness. Add the pounded cocoyam (ede).

Add dry fish at the time it will not disappear or melt in the pot.

Add Maggi and salt to your desired taste and continue to stir.

By now, everyone in your neighborhood and compound should be aware that a pot of bitter leaf soup is on the fire in your kitchen.

If you are using Chicken to cook, do not put it at the same time as the bitter leaf. If you do, it will turn into pulp, even before the soup is done. (Me, I like steaming my chicken and put it at the end of the cooking).

Add cocoyam before you add your chicken. You can also add grounded “azụ ịbara”, smoked fish, and fresh fish at the same time with your chicken if you have them.

Be sure you do not cover your boiling pot of soup tightly. If you do, it will not thicken. Cover your cooking pot of soup half-opened.

Ofe Onugbu - How to Prepare Bitter leaf soup

Summary

What to do, if your soup refused to thicken or the cocoyam is not enough. Very simple.

Get garri and spray a small quantity in the pot. Turn it from the bottom to the top. In less than a minute, the soup is good to go. Learn the Secrets You Need in Cooking Delicious Igbo Bitter Leaf Soup.