How I got to know about Marugbo soup. People get excited to talk about their culture, traditional dishes and they always want to describe beautiful pictures of their origin. Some weeks back my friend was so excited about the Marugbo soup, he wanted us all to try his soup, but he kept saying that the soup is a black soup and you can actually imagine the look on my face right now, like why should a soup be black? funny.
This wasn’t how it was for my friend, because everyone else who decided not to eat his Marugbo soup was missing greatly, but we were stuck with not trying his soup until he brought a big flask filled with this soup then I realized that indeed this soup must be special to my friend. Let me save you the long story, we still didn’t eat my friend’s soup we were too afraid of his black but delicious delicacy. Black is beautiful and my friend’s black soup was beautiful to him too.
Marugbo soup is a local soup for the Ondo people it is their traditional meal, my friend is from Akure the reason for his excitement about this soup.
Marugbo’ soup also known as ‘eweta’ is called and “luru’. It is a traditional soup with its’ origin from Ondo state, Nigeria. its a black soup cooked with dried leaves which are blended together to bring about this soup. I can remember the very big black fish my friend used in preparing this soup. He spent so much because he has a very large taste and he likes his meal tasting really good.
The leaves for this soup are meant to be fresh, though it’s also kept in the sun to dry which brings about the dark green to black coloring. Due to the concentration of vegetables in the soup, marugbo soup has a laxative effect on the body; this is why the soup is said to be medicinal especially for women that just gave birth. I remember my friend saying that the soup is so rich and nutritious and we should all try it.
He also informed us of the different types of Marugbo soup, this soup has its own various version; from the Ondo, ikales, ilaje, itsekiri to the orhobos
The process of cooking the soup itself might be similar to other vegetable-based Nigerian soups like afang . They said it is simple to make, I believe them, you only have to have all the ingredients for this soup.
Ingredients used for cooking Marugbo soup
These are the ingredients for making Marugbo soup
- Cubed Goat meat (2 cups)
- Shredded panla (2 handfuls)
- Shredded Smoked Fish (2 cups)
- Crayfish powder (3 tablespoons)
- Dried marugbo leaf (3 cups)
- Dried Efirin leaf (1 cup)
- Thumb size fresh ginger
- 1 small white onion
- 1-2 Fresh hot pepper (ata-rodo)
- ¼ cup of palm oil
- Salt to taste
- Maggi (2 cubes)
- Other meat & Fish (to taste)
How to cook Marugbo Soup
To be able to make this soup you have to follow the instructions.
- Combine goat with 2-3 cups of water in a large pot. Add in panla, 2 maggi cube, salt . Simmer on medium heat until meat is very tender.
- Add more water to cover the cooked beef. Add in crayfish powder, smoked fish, and palm oil. Stir
- Cover the pot and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir the broth. Taste and adjust for seasoning
- Blend the dried vegetables with ginger, onion, hot pepper, and 3-4 cups of water until smooth
- Add blended vegetables into the cooked broth. Stir. Taste and adjust for seasoning and water
- Simmer uncovered for another 12 – 15.
- Serve with your choice of Pupuru (native swallow from Ondo), Eba, fufu, or pounded yam.
