Lets wet our Appetite with steps on how to prepare EGUSI Soup

Egusi soup is a major Nigerian/West African cuisine made from dried and grounded melon seeds. Most tribes in Nigeria eat Egusi and they have different ways of preparing it. I will be unveiling the secrets of that your favorite restaurant where you usually buy Egusi soup from. There are two ways of making Egusi soup. It’s either by boiling the egusi or by frying it. The recipe in this article is the “frying method”. It is commonly prepared by the Yorubas.

Find below the fail proof recipe for the best tasting Egusi soup ever!

Ingredients

4 Cups of Grounded melon

1 cup of Red oil

1 kilogram of Goat meat

Half kilogram of offals (shaki, roundabout, liver etc.)

Cow skin (ponmo as desired)

1 large Stock fish

1 large dried catfish

Half cup of locust beans

1 cup of scotch bonnet pepper (ata rodo)

2 cups of Red bell pepper (tatashe)

Ugwu i.e. Pumpkin leaf (other vegetables like bitter leaf, spinach, green amaranth etc.)

3 large Onions

3 stock cubes

Half cup of grounded crayfish

Salt to taste

NOTE!

From experience as chronic a foodie, I will tell you that the two secrets of a super tasty and perfect Egusi soup is “Crayfish and onions”. You can quote me anywhere.

Caramelizing onions at the beginning of your cooking gives the soup that sweet delicious taste while the blended crayfish should be added at the end of the cooking to give the egusi soup that authentic African taste, flavor and aroma. Have you ever eaten an Egusi soup with all manner of meat inside but it’s still tasteless? That crayfish at the end of the cooking is the SIGNATURE that is missing. You can take that to the bank...LOL

METHOD

• Blend the red bell pepper and scotch bonnet pepper with one large onions. Set aside.

• Mix the 4 cups of grounded melon with 1.5 cups of water. Mix thoroughly to form a paste and set aside. Please note that the mixture should not be runny or too thick.

• Cut and wash the ugwu leaves, drain and set aside.

• Boil offals, goat meat, and stock fish. Keep the stock water and set aside (please note that these proteins cook at different times so it’s not advisable to boil them together).

• Set pot on cooker, add red oil till hot.

• Add the remaining onions (chopped), let it fry on medium heat so it doesn’t burn. This is when caramelization takes place. Fry onions till translucent.

• Add locust beans and fry.

• Add the melon paste, stir continuously with a wooden spoon still on medium heat. Fry until the melon starts to become grainy.

• Add the pepper mixture and fry for 2 minutes.

• Add the wash dried fish.

• Add the boiled proteins (offals, goat meat and stock fish)

• Add the ponmo.

• Add the stock water and some water depending on the quantity of the stock water. Make sure you taste the mixture before you add other seasoning. Remember that you boiled the protein with seasoning.

• Add the stock cubes

• Add salt to taste, stir to combine and cover to cook. Cook for 5-10minutes.

• Add the washed ugwu leaves.

• Add the SIGNATURE crayfish and mix. Cook for 2 minutes and simmer. Your award winning Egusi soup is ready!

Egusi soup can be enjoyed with pounded yam, semo, wheat, eba, tuwo, fufu and other swallows.