Oha soup (Ofe Ora)

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Oha soup is one of the most popular delicacies which is native to the people of the south eastern part of Nigeria. I really don't know how to describe the Unique taste of Ora soup but one sure thing i can say is, it is Simply delicious. The only distinguishing factor between Ora and Utazi or bitter leaf soup is the Vegetable used in the preparation. While Other leaves can be found all year round, Ora leaves are seasonal and is mostly available during the dry/harmattan season.

• Serves:         4
• Prep time:    30 minutes 

• Cook time:   45 minutes
• Total time:   1 hr 15 minutes

• Meal Type:  Main course, Soup

• Region:        Nigeria

Ingredients:::

•1 medium sized stock fish head 

•Dry fish

•Beef (cut into big chunks) 

•Sharki/ Kpomo (CowHide without the hairs)

•A small bunch of uziza leaves 

•A Large bunch of Oha/ Ora leaves 

•1 cooking spoon crayfish 

•1 tbsp ground Uziza seeds “Piper guineese”(mkpuru uziza) 

•Aku (Palm kernel liquid) or 2 cooking spoon palm oil  

•1 cooking spoon Cocoyam “ede ofe”(pounded) 

•4 small sized yellow or red Scotch bonnet pepper 

•1 medium sized onion 

•2 Seasoning cubes (Maggi or knorr)

•Salt to taste

Preparation: 

1. First, I’d like to say that Palm oil can be substituted for the aku (palm kernel) liquid but to get that original traditional taste and feel, I’d be using Palm kernel liquid extract (aku) instead of palm oil. Before you start cooking, Extract the oil from the Aku(Palm kernels) into a large pot then boil till the water evaporates leaving the concentrated  aku (palm kernel) liquid

2. Wash and chop the Oha/Ora and Uziza leaves then set aside separately or simply shred the leaves with your hands.    

Chopping the oha leaves

Chopping the Uziza leaves (Akwukwo Uziza)

3. To prepare the soup stock, wash and add the beef/ sharki/ kpomo into a different pot. Chop the onion, scotch bonnet pepper into the pot. Season with maggi & salt then cook for 15mins.

4. Into the pot with palm kernel liquid; pour in the Beef stock, add the stock fish, dry fish, ground uziza seeds (mkpuru uziza) and crayfish then cover the pot. Leave to cook for about 15mins

Adding the stock fish and dry fish

5. Add a Scoop of the pounded cocoyam (ede) into the pot and watch its viscosity as it thickens. If it’s not as thick as you want it to be, add another scoop to get your desired thickness then leave for about 10minutes 

6. Add your chopped Oha/Ora and Uziza leaves into the pot and continue cooking on low heat for about 5minutes 

7. Turn off the burner and serve with any form of "swallow"