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February 5, 2024

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Oha Soup and Pounded Yam Swallow

Oha Soup is an incredibly flavorful and nutritious traditional dish widely enjoyed in Nigeria, particularly among the Igbo people. The dish gets a unique taste and texture from the Oha tree leaves, also known as ora leaves. These leaves are carefully shredded and added to the soup, made from a rich blend of ingredients such as meat or fish, stockfish, crayfish, ogiri (a traditional Nigerian seasoning), palm oil, salt, and pepper.

The soup is cooked for a prolonged period to allow the flavours to meld together perfectly, creating a rich and savoury taste that is impossible to resist. The aroma of the soup alone is enough to make one’s mouth water. Oha Soup is often paired with pounded yam, fufu, or eba and is a staple in many Nigerian households. It is a hearty, wholesome, and satisfying dish that both young and old enjoy.

The process of preparing oha (ora) soup and onubu (bitterleaf) soup is quite similar. Nevertheless, the two soups differ significantly in terms of the main vegetable used. While oha (ora) soup primarily features oha (ora) as its vegetable, bitterleaf (onubu) soup, on the other hand, uses bitterleaf (onubu) as its main ingredient. Despite the similarities in their preparation methods, these soups have distinctly different flavours, and it’s hard to believe they were made using similar ingredients.

Oha (Ora) Soup Recipe

Get ready to experience the magical flavors of Oha Soup with this extraordinary recipe. To make Oha Soup, you'll need palm fruits, cocoyam, stockfish, dry fish, meat, crayfish, ogiri, salt, pepper, and Oha leaves. Extract juice from palm fruits and cook oil. Cook cocoyam, pound into paste. Combine oil, stockfish, dry fish, meat, crayfish, ogiri, salt, and pepper in a pot, then simmer. Add cocoyam paste, stir, and cook. Add Oha leaves and cook until wilted. Serve hot. Enjoy the magical flavor!

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 40

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine African/Nigerian

Servings 4 People

Calories 240 kcal

Ingredients

2 kg Beef/ Chicken/lamb/turkey or your preferred protein cow tripe (shaki) will add more flavour
Stockfish
Smoked fish
1 tbsp Ogiri Igbo
Periwinkle optional
Ground crayfish
Ponmo
3 cooking spoon of Palm Oil
Red Onions optional
1 kg Cocoyam or Achi ( Soup Thickeners)
Oha leaves cut using a knife or shredding with your fingers
Uziza leaves Chopped
Seasonings to taste
Salt to taste
Water/Stock
Fresh Pepper

Instructions

Wash the meat (protein of your choice) and cook it with preferred seasonings. let simmer for 5 minutes, then put a little water, cover and let cook till meat is tender.
You can either add cocoyam while cooking the meat so it can cook together to save time or cook the cocoyam separately.
After cooking the meat properly, add 2 cups of water. Then add palm oil and let it cook for ten more minutes. Remove the cocoyam and pound it in a mortar, or blend it using a blender or food processor.
Add ground crayfish, ground pepper, and salt. Allow it to cook for an additional seven minutes.
Add the pounded cocoyam paste or achi. Before adding achi to your soup, make sure to dissolve it in a little water. Cook for 3 minutes.
Add Oziza leaves before adding Oha leaves.
Allow it to cook for a minute and then switch off the heat.
The delicious Oha soup you have been waiting for is now ready.

Notes

You can serve Oha soup with any swallow, but it's best with pounded yam. Some enjoy it alone. Click here to order.

Keyword Ofe oha, Oha

Nutritional Content/ Value of Oha Soup

The nutritious value of Oha (Pterocarpus mildraedi) 1 contains per 100 g edible portion: water 85 g, energy 237 kJ (57 kcal), protein 3.8 g, fat 0.8 g, carbohydrate 8.2 g, crude fibre 1.13 g, Ca 72 mg, Mg 28 mg, Fe 4.7 mg and Zn 3.1 mg.

Source: Grain Field Food