SOUP RECIPES (OWO SOUP)

 SOUP RECIPES (OWO SOUP)

Owo Soup  is very delicious and tasty. It originated from the South-South. Owu soup, also known as Oghwo/Owho/Owhofibo/Owhoephri is a creamy yellow Niger-delta delicacy, peculiar to the Urhobos, Itsekiris and Isokohs of Delta/Edo State, Nigeria. It is mostly cooked during festive seasons…especially when giving out a daughter’s hand in marriage. 

Cooking  owo soup is very easy and saves lots of time compared with other soups.  And you have to determine what you want to eat the soup with. The owo  soup is traditionally  used in eating mainly cabohydrates such as boiled yams, boiled plantains, sweet potatoes, boiled green bananas. etc

Ingredients

-        3 handful of yellow garri (sieved)

-        7 pieces of beef

-        Snail                                            

-        4 pieces Ponmo

-        1 small Smoked Fish

-        1 cup of periwinkles (optional)

-        1 small Urheri(native salt)

-        1 teaspoon of crayfish (using too much crayfish will make your soup brown)

-         2 cooking spoons of Palmoil

-        1 handful of starch (Usi)

-         Habanerno pepper(Ata rodo)

-         Lime/ Lemon Juice

-        Stock cubes

Preparation Method

• Boil and season your meat. Once they have sufficiently cooked with some stock left, add your blended tomatoes and pepper.
• Add the crayfish and smoked fish.
• Bring the contents of the pot to a gentle simmer.
• Dissolve potash about the size of 3 quarters of a stock cube in water, add to the pot, and bring to boil. The presence of the tomatoes, will mean it wouldn't bubble up as much.
• Leave it to cook and in a few minutes, you will notice that the addition of the potash has caused the prior watery stock to thicken a little. Take it off the heat and let it cool down a little.
• Stir in Palm oil into the pot. The soup will thicken and the colour will change to a pale shade of yellowish orange.    
  

How to cook Owo Soup

-        In a medium sized pot, cook your beef and pomo with salt and seasoning cubes for about 15 minutes .

-        In a clean pot, add water, sieve the garri into the pot and stir over flame until it is thick. Bring to boil.

-         Add the cooked meat with stock into the pot with garri, add the dried pepper, crayfish and then cook for like 5 minutes. Please note that adding too much crayfish darkens the soup.

-        Add the periwinkles and smoked fish. Allow to boil.

-         In a mortar, pound some native salt into powdered form. Using only a teaspoon's worth, pour it into a clean bowl, adding 2 handful of starch, 2 cooking spoons of palm oil and a cup of water. Mix all together until it flows freely.                                           

-        Pour the mixture into the cooking pot and blend in with a wooden spatula   until you get your desired consistency. If it's too thick, you can add warm water to loosen it up a little. The oil should blend in nicely and not float around the soup.      

Allow to simmer for a few minutes more before turning off the burner.

Leave to cool for a few minutes before serving with Starch (Usi), boiled yam or unripe plantain.