Name: Egusi Soup
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 85 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Nigeria, West Africa
Ingredients: 2 cups ground egusi melon seeds; 400 g assorted beef, tripe, or goat, cut in pieces; 200 g stockfish or dried fish, soaked and deboned; 3 tbsp ground crayfish; ½ cup palm oil; 2 medium onions, one chopped, one blended; 3 whole scotch bonnet peppers, blended; 2 cups meat stock; 3 cups ugu, bitterleaf, spinach, or uziza, chopped; 2 whole seasoning cubes; salt, to taste

Egusi Soup

Nigerian egusi soup with ground melon seeds, palm oil, pepper base, assorted meats, stockfish, crayfish, and leafy greens.

Country

Nigeria

Region

West Africa

Time

85 min

Serves

Level

medium

What to know before you cook

Egusi can be smooth or lumpy. For this pot, spoon in a thick egusi paste and let the lumps set before stirring gently.

What the dish tastes like

Nigerian egusi soup with ground melon seeds, palm oil, pepper base, assorted meats, stockfish, crayfish, and leafy greens.

When to cook it

Best for Everyday meals and family gatherings, with a medium cooking level and about 85 minutes total.

What to serve alongside it

Pounded yam, eba, amala, semovita, fufu, or starch swallow

Regional lane

South-West and Yoruba table. Amala, ewedu, gbegiri, pepper stews, leafy soups, beans, and market foods from the Yoruba cooking orbit.

Chef watch-outs

Stopping the base before the pepper, onion, or spice edge has mellowed.
Thinning the pot before the body of the soup or stew has developed.
Overcooking the greens until the color and texture collapse.

How you know it is ready

The sauce should coat the spoon and taste rounded, not watery or raw.
Greens should be cooked through but still look alive and glossy.
The aroma should smell rounded rather than raw or sharp.

Pantry lane

palm oil, crayfish, iru or ogiri, scotch bonnet, melon seed

Cook the meats

Season beef and tripe with onions, seasoning cubes, and salt. Boil until tender, about 25 minutes. Reserve the stock.

The meat stock is the flavour backbone of the soup.

Cook meat 25:00

Prepare egusi paste

Mix ground egusi with a small amount of warm water to form a thick paste.

Build the soup base

Heat palm oil in a pot. Add chopped onions and fry until softened. Add blended peppers and cook for 10 minutes.

Fry pepper base 10:00

Add egusi

Scoop egusi paste in spoonfuls into the pot forming lumps. Add reserved meat stock and stir gently. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Do not stir too much — let the egusi clumps set.

Simmer egusi 15:00

Add meats and greens

Add cooked meats and stockfish. Stir gently and cook for 5 minutes. Add chopped greens and cook 3-5 minutes until wilted.

Add greens last so they keep their colour.

Cook greens 05:00

Serve

Adjust seasoning and serve hot alongside pounded yam or any preferred swallow.

Egusi Soup

What to know before you cook

See the dish before you cook

Build the table around Egusi Soup

Step-by-step method

Egusi Soup

What to know before you cook

See the dish before you cook

Build the table around Egusi Soup

Step-by-step method

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