Oha soup is native to the South Eastern Nigeria. It is a very traditional soup similar in appearance to bitter leaf soup, but cooked with oha leaves. Oha leaves are gotten from the evergreen tree in Africa. The plant is botanically known as Pterocarpus mildraedii. Oha Soup is special because the tender oha leaves used in preparing this soup recipe are seasonal unlike their bitterleaf counterpart which can be found all year round.
It is one of those native Igbo soups that you taste and just can’t forget. If you ever visit an Igbo person and they make Oha soup for you, best believe you are very important to them.
STEP 1: Put all your ingredients together and prep them. These are:
- Seasoning cubes
- Oha leaves
- Red crayfish
- Ground crayfish
- Uziza leaves
- Ponmo (cow skin)
- Pepper mix (onion, pepper)
- Ogiri (fermented castor oil seed)
- Meat cuts (carefully cleaned and washed)
- Dried fish (washed in hot water and salt)
- Stock fish (washed in salt and hot water)
- 4-5 small pieces Cocoyam (washed, boiled and peeled )
- Salt
- onions
- Palm oil
STEP 2
Preparation:
Put meat, ponmo and stock fish in a pot, add seasoning and onions. Leave to simmer for five minutes, add a little water, cover and cook till meat is tender. You can either add cocoyam while cooking the meat so it can cook together to save time or cook the cocoyam separately.
STEP 3
When it has cooked properly, add two cups of water then add palm oil. Allow to cook for about ten minutes. (Remove cocoyam and pound in a mortar or blend using a blender or a food processor)
STEP 4
Add ground crayfish, ground pepper, salt and leave to cook for another seven minutes.
STEP 5
Add the blended/ pounded cocoyam paste or achi (before you add achi to your soup, make sure you dissolve it in a little water to avoid a lumpy soup ). Let the soup cook for about three minutes.
STEP 6
Add your Uziza first (Uziza leaves are tougher than Oha leaves), then add your Oha leaves.
STEP 7
Let it cook for one minute, and then turn off the cooker. Your delicious Oha soup is ready. Serve with your preferred swallow.
