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Efo Riro

Also known as Efo Riro (Spinach & Assorted Meat Soup)

Efo Riro — meaning 'stirred leafy vegetable' in Yoruba — is a vibrant, richly flavoured Yoruba vegetable soup that is considered one of the definitive expressions of Lagos and South-Western Nigerian cooking. Unlike other Nigerian soups that are thickened with egusi or ogbono, Efo Riro is a clean, vegetable-forward soup where the star ingredient is a large quantity of fresh leafy greens — typically shoko (Yoruba spinach / Celosia argentea) or soko yokoto — cooked in a deeply f

Efo Riro, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 6 to 8 big handfuls of fresh shoko leaves (Yoruba spinach / Celosia) or fresh spinach, washed and roughly chopped
  • Half a medium-sized chicken, cut into pieces
  • 2 big handfuls of assorted meat (beef, shaki/tripe, ponmo)
  • 1 big handful of stockfish (okporoko), soaked
  • 1 big handful of smoked fish (panla), soaked and deboned
  • 3 cooking spoons of palm oil
  • 3 big Tatashe (red bell peppers), blended
  • 2 to 3 Atarodo (hot chilli peppers), blended
  • 1 big onion — half blended, half sliced
  • 3 big handfuls of ground crayfish
  • 3 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
  • Salt to taste

Method

  1. 01

    Cooking the Assorted Meat. Season all meat and chicken with salt, 1 seasoning cube and sliced onion. Cook in a pot with enough water to cover for 25 to 30 minutes until tender. Remove and set aside. Reserve the stock.

  2. 02

    Frying the Pepper Base. Heat 3 cooking spoons of palm oil in a wide, deep pot over medium-high heat. Add the blended Tatashe, Atarodo and onion. Fry vigorously, stirring constantly, for 15 to 20 minutes until the pepper is fully cooked, the raw smell is gone and the oil is clearly floating on top. The pepper base must be deeply fried — this is the flavour foundation of Efo Riro.

  3. 03

    Adding Protein. Add all the cooked meat, stockfish and smoked fish to the fried pepper. Add ground crayfish, remaining seasoning cubes and salt. Pour in a ladleful of the reserved meat stock. Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes so the meat absorbs the pepper flavours.

  4. 04

    Adding the Vegetables. Add the washed and chopped shoko or spinach leaves to the pot. The leaves will look like a lot but will wilt down dramatically. Stir everything together vigorously — efo riro means 'to stir the vegetable'. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring regularly. The leaves should be wilted and well-coated in the sauce but still bright and slightly firm — do not overcook to mush.

  5. 05

    Final Seasoning. Taste and adjust salt, seasoning and pepper. The soup should be rich in colour — deep orange-red from the palm oil and peppers — with the fresh green of the leaves throughout. Serve hot.

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