Bitter Leaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu) | FoodBlog9ja

The Bitter Leaf soup is one of the most delicious soups in Nigeria, and across Africa. It is a traditional soup of the Igbos in Southern Eas...

The Bitter Leaf soup is one of the most delicious soups in Nigeria, and across Africa. It is a traditional soup of the Igbos in Southern Eastern part of Nigeria. This delicious soup can be prepared by anyone, from any tribe. It is yummy and very easy to prepare.

You have to first wash the Bitter Leaf before cooking so as to remove the bitter taste of the leaf. Wash and squeeze properly such that there won’t be traces of bitterness. If still bitter even after squeezing, boil for about 15 minutes and wash using cold water.

Ingredients:

Bitter leaf 

Coco yam

Ogiri 

Palm oil 

Crayfish 

Stock fish 

Dried fish 

Cow skin

Cow stripe/or any protein of choice 

Seasoning cubes 

Salt to taste

Fresh or dried pepper

Procedure:

1) Cook the coco yam until soft, peel off the back, pound or blend into a paste and set aside.

2) After that, wash the meat and pour in a pot, add a little water, seasoning, salt and place the pot on heat to cook till almost soft.

3) After that, add in the amount of water that is enough to cook the soup (usually, I use 2 cups of water for mine), then add cow skin, stock fish, dried fish, blended crayfish, blended fresh peppers or dried pepper, ogiri, more seasoning, palm oil, then cover to cook again for about 2mins.

4) After which you can add in the coco yam paste (not at once pls. Scoop in using a tbsp - this will enable it to dissolve easily), after that, cover and allow to dissolve.

5) Check back to see if it has fully dissolved. If it hasn’t, use a spatula or any spoon to melt the remaining coco yam (you can achieve this by pressing them against the pot), now add in the washed bitter leaf, stir and cover to simmer for another 1min.

Your Yummy Bitter Leaf soup is READY!!!

Note: I like to recut my bitter leaf in small pieces. You can just wash and add to your soup without recutting if you don’t like it my way.