How do you make your Eguisi and Ogbono? Not everyone likes slimy soup so you may want to add Eguisi to your Ogbono so you can comfortably enjoy the soup. Growing up I disliked ogbono soup, though, I have a lot of friends who really like this soup and I wonder why they like a soup that is so sticky.
One reason Ogbono Soup will taste some kind of way even after adding enough ingredients is that you did not cook it long enough, when it is not properly cooked it gives it the bland taste. I have seen a lot of people cook Ogbono for only 8 minutes which is wrong.
I will be listing out the ingredients for making Eguisi and ogbono in the next heading.
Ingredients for cooking Eguisi and Ogbono
- 3 cups Eguisi seeds
- 1 cup Ogbono
- Red palm oil (enough to colour, see video below)
- 1kg (2.2 lbs) Assorted Meat: beef, cow skin (ponmo)
- 500g (1.1 lbs) assorted dry fish: dry catfish and stockfish
- 3 tablespoons ground crayfish
- Spicy Pepper and Salt (to taste)
- Bitterleaf as vegetable
- 3 seasoning cubes
Notes about the ingredients
- Bitterleaf is the best vegetable for Egusi and Ogbono Soup combo because it keeps the soup traditional. The quantity to add depends on how much vegetable you like in your soups.
- You can use fresh habanero or scotch bonnet peppers and cayenne peppers for this soup.
Before cooking Egusi and Ogbono Soup
You must have these in mind before cooking Eguisi and Ogbono soup
- Soak the dry fish till soft, clean and debone. See the video below.
- Grind the egusi and ogbono seeds with a dry mill or coffee grinder and keep them separate.
- If you have unground crayfish, grind it with a dry mill too.
- Rinse the washed bitter leaves, pick out the long strands then chop the vegetable a few times.
- Chop the pepper and set aside. If using dry cayenne pepper, grind with a dry mill too.
How to cook Eguisi and Ogbono
This is a step by step direction on how to cook Eguisi and Ogbono soup
- Cook the beef, stockfish and shaki till soft enough to bite. If you are using the very tough stockfish, boil it for 20 minutes and leave it in the pot with the hot water to soak for about an hour before cooking with the other meats. I cook all of them together in a pressure pot. See the video below.
- When done, take out the stockfish, debone and separate into medium pieces.
- Pour the beef and fish stock into two separate pots, one for the egusi and one for the ogbono. Bear in mind that egusi will need more water than ogbono.
- Set the pots on two separate burners and start cooking on medium heat. If you have only one burner, cook the ogbono first then the egusi.
- When they boil reduce the heat and add one cooking spoon palm oil to ogbono pot, add the ground ogbono and mix very will till there are no lumps. Cover and continue cooking on low to medium heat, stirring it often so it does not burn.
- To the egusi pot, add the crayfish and the ground egusi, cover, and continue cooking on medium heat. Stir it often so it does not burn. And add water when it becomes too thick and starts to stick to the bottom of the pot.
- After 10 minutes of cooking the egusi, add palm oil (enough to give it a yellow color) and the bitter leaves. Cover and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. This is the time it takes for the palm oil to integrate into the soup.
- I usually cook Ogbono for at least 20 minutes as well, this is the time it takes for the delicious taste of Ogbono to come through.
- So after 20 minutes of cooking both, pour the ogbono into the pot of egusi. Add salt, pepper and meats and fish.
- Stir very well, cover, and once it heats up again. Your Eguisi and Ogbono soup are ready.
