Nigeria | Soup

Ofe Nsala

Name: Ofe Nsala
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 6 bowls
Cuisine: Nigeria, West Africa
Ingredients: 1 kg catfish, cleaned and cut in steaks; 350 g white yam, boiled and pounded; 2 tbsp ground crayfish; 1 tbsp ground uziza seeds; 1 tbsp utazi leaves, thinly sliced; 2 whole scotch bonnet peppers, blended; 5 cups water or light fish stock; salt, to taste

Igbo white soup made without palm oil, thickened with yam and cooked with catfish, crayfish, uziza, and utazi.

Country

Nigeria

Region

West Africa

Time

80 min

Serves

Level

medium

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Recipe overview

What to know before you cook

Ofe Nsala is called white soup because it skips palm oil. The flavor is clean and peppery, with yam thickener, catfish, crayfish, uziza, and a little utazi bitterness.

What the dish tastes like

Igbo white soup made without palm oil, thickened with yam and cooked with catfish, crayfish, uziza, and utazi.

When to cook it

Best for Best for swallow meals, special family cooking, and peppery fish soup cravings., with a medium cooking level and about 80 minutes total.

What to serve alongside it

Pounded yam, semolina, fufu, or boiled yam.

Regional lane

South-East and Igbo table. Cassava salads, oha, white soup, bambara nut cakes, palm oil, smoked fish, and cocoyam-thickened soups.

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.
Rushing the base before the raw edge has cooked out.

How you know it is ready

The sauce should coat the spoon and taste rounded, not watery or raw.
The aroma should smell rounded rather than raw or sharp.
Oil, sauce, broth, or steam should look settled and deliberate.

Pantry lane

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

Chef board

Build the table around Ofe Nsala

Pounded yam, semolina, fufu, or boiled yam.

Best route from here

South-East and Igbo table

Collections to keep cooking

Nigerian Regional Table

Servings 6

Scale the dish before you shop, then use the checklist while you cook.

Ingredients

For 6 bowls

Soup

Protein

1 kg catfish, cleaned and cut in steaks

Thickener

350 g white yam, boiled and pounded

Seasoning

2 tbsp ground crayfish 1 tbsp ground uziza seeds

Leaves

1 tbsp utazi leaves, thinly sliced

Heat

2 whole scotch bonnet peppers, blended

Liquid

5 cups water or light fish stock

Pantry

salt, to taste

How to cook it

Step-by-step method

Keep the rhythm calm, watch the texture, and adjust seasoning at the end.

Back to Nigeria

4 steps 80 min total medium

Make yam thickener

Boil yam until soft, then pound or blend into a smooth paste.

yam 20:00

Season the broth

Bring water or stock to a simmer with crayfish, uziza, pepper, and salt.

broth 10:00

Cook the fish

Add catfish pieces and simmer gently until almost cooked.

fish simmer 12:00

Thicken and finish

Add yam paste in small lumps, simmer until dissolved and thickened, then finish with utazi.

thicken 15:00

Catfish is common, but chicken or goat can be used. Some cooks add more uziza for heat and aroma.

Ofe Nsala

What to know before you cook

Build the table around Ofe Nsala

Step-by-step method

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