Nigeria | Soup

Oha Soup

Name: Oha Soup
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 75 min
Total time: 110 min
Yield: 6 bowls
Cuisine: Nigeria, West Africa
Ingredients: 800 g assorted meat, beef, goat, or tripe; 150 g dried fish, rinsed; 500 g cocoyam, boiled and pounded; 3 cups oha leaves, torn by hand; ½ cup red palm oil; 2 tbsp ground crayfish; 1 tsp ogiri; 2 whole scotch bonnet peppers, blended; 5 cups meat stock; salt, to taste

Igbo oha leaf soup cooked with cocoyam thickener, palm oil, meat, dried fish, crayfish, and ogiri.

Country

Nigeria

Region

West Africa

Time

110 min

Serves

Level

medium

Start cooking Explore Nigeria recipes

01 / Get ready

Everything you need

Tap each ingredient as you gather it. Illustrations are visual guides; follow the ingredient names and quantities.

Servings 6

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

Jump to method My cookbook

Ingredients

For 6 bowls

Soup

A few kitchen essentials

Suggested from the recipe method. Use equivalent equipment you have.

Lidded pot

Wooden spoon

02 / Let’s cook

One step at a time

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

Back to Nigeria

4 steps 35 min prep 75 min cook (check method) 110 min total medium

Cook meat and fish

Simmer meat until tender, then add dried fish and continue until the stock is rich.

stock 45:00

Prepare cocoyam

Boil cocoyam until soft, peel, and pound into a smooth paste.

cocoyam 20:00

Thicken the soup

Add palm oil, crayfish, pepper, ogiri if using, and cocoyam paste in small lumps. Simmer until thickened.

thicken 15:00

Add oha leaves

Stir in torn oha leaves and cook briefly until just wilted. Adjust salt.

oha finish 04:00

Some cooks use achi or ofor as thickener when cocoyam is unavailable, but cocoyam is the classic route.

Cooking notes, photos & serving ideas

Recipe context

More about this dish

Serving ideas, regional context, and cooking cues for when you want more detail.

When to cook it

Best for Sunday swallow, celebrations, and family cooking.. Plan on a medium cook. Allow about 110 minutes total.

What to serve alongside it

Pounded yam, fufu, garri, or semolina.

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.
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

Recipe illustrations

See the dish before you cook

Take a closer look at the dish and its serving ideas.

Oha soup with cooked meat, dried fish and broad torn leaves in a palm-oil and cocoyam broth; AI-generated recipe illustration — Oha Soup finished dish · AI-generated illustration

Chef board

Build the table around Oha Soup

Pounded yam, fufu, garri, or semolina.

Best route from here

South-East and Igbo table

Collections to keep cooking

Nigerian Regional Table

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