Cookbook:Ofe Owerri (Meat and Taro Soup with Dried Seafood)

Ofe Owerri (Meat and Taro Soup with Dried Seafood)
Category	Soup recipes
Difficulty

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

Ofe owerri is a Nigerian soup native to the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria. It is considered one of the most expensive soups in Nigeria.

Ingredients

• Cocoyam (ede), unpeeled and rinsed
• Meat (beef or goat), cut in pieces
• Cow skin (kpomo)
• Stockfish
• Snails
• Knorr seasoning cube
• Dryfish
• Ground crayfish
• Palm oil
• Yellow and red habanero peppers, grated
• Okazi leaf, washed and minced
• Nigerian pumpkin (ugwu) leaves, washed and minced
• Salt

Procedure

1. Put the cocoyam in a pot, and cover it with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and simmer until tender. Top up with additional water as necessary.
2. When the cocoyam is tender, drain and peel it. Pound it in a mortar until sticky, stretchy, and smooth.
3. Combine the beef, cow skin, stockfish, snails, and seasoning cube in a pot. Cook in its own juices for 15 minutes.
4. Add extra water, and stir in the dryfish.
5. Stir in the crayfish and palm oil. Add the cocoyam mixture in small lumps; stir well and continue to cook on high heat until you get the consistency you want.
6. Stir very well, then add the grated habaneros, okazi, and ugwu leaves. Return to a boil, and stir.
7. Adjust seasoning with salt and seasoning cubes as desired.
8. Stir and remove from the heat.
9. Serve with eba, semo, starch, or wheat.

Notes, tips, and variations

• The cocoyam takes a while to prepare, so you must start cooking it early.