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Ogbono Soup Delta Style

The Delta State version of Ogbono Soup is enriched and personalised with the distinctive seafood and spice culture of the Niger Delta region. Unlike the standard Yoruba or Igbo Ogbono Soup, the Delta version incorporates fresh periwinkles, smoked catfish and sometimes fresh prawns alongside the usual assorted meats, and uses a touch of Delta spices — particularly uziza and ehuru — to give the draw soup a subtly different aromatic profile.

Ogbono Soup Delta Style, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 2 big cups of ground ogbono seeds
  • Half a medium chicken or big handful of assorted beef
  • 1 big handful of smoked catfish, soaked and deboned
  • 1 big handful of periwinkles (isam), cleaned
  • 1 big handful of dried prawns
  • 2 big handfuls of stockfish, soaked
  • 3 cooking spoons of red palm oil
  • 3 big handfuls of ground dried crayfish
  • 4 Atarodo (hot chilli peppers), blended
  • 1 big onion, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon of ground ehuru (calabash nutmeg)
  • A small handful of uziza leaves, shredded
  • 3 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
  • Salt to taste
  • Meat stock as needed

Method

  1. 01

    Cooking the Meat. Season and cook meat and chicken in water with onion, salt and seasoning cube for 25 to 30 minutes. Reserve stock.

  2. 02

    Frying the Ogbono. Heat 3 cooking spoons of palm oil in a wide pot over medium heat. Add the ground ogbono directly to the hot oil and stir immediately and continuously for 3 to 4 minutes as it dissolves and fries in the oil.

  3. 03

    Building the Soup. Add reserved meat stock gradually, stirring after each addition, to build the draw soup consistency. Add blended Atarodo, ground ehuru, ground crayfish, seasoning cubes and salt. Bring to a simmer.

  4. 04

    Adding All Proteins. Add cooked meat and chicken, stockfish, smoked catfish, periwinkles and dried prawns. Stir and cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

  5. 05

    Finishing. Add shredded uziza leaves in the final 5 minutes. Taste and adjust all seasonings. The soup should be thick, dark, draw and richly perfumed with the Delta spices.

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