Nigerian efo riro recipe
There are many West African soup recipes and efo riro is a favourite for many people. Efo riro is a Yoruba soup prepared with leafy green vegetables. In this recipe, you will learn how to make efo riro with efo green.
For this spinach stew recipe, efo green is also called Efo tete will be used. This vegetable is also called alefu in Hausa language and inine in igbo language.
Across African efo tete is called tseke maputo in Mozambique, fulung in Cameroon, bondwe in Zambia.
In Yoruba, ‘efo’ means ‘vegetables’ while ‘riro’ means ‘to mix’. As the name implies, ‘efo riro’ means ‘mixed vegetable’.
Apart from the fact that efo riro is a healthy delicious soup, another reason why this soup has gained so much popularity with Yoruba people in particular and Nigerians in general is because it is makes a wholesome meal when combined with other foods.
This homemade Nigerian soup is be prepared with most Nigerian leafy green vegetables mostly of Yoruba origin. Some of popular vegetables used for cooking this soup are listed below.
- Efo Igbo
- Efo Ebolo
- Amunututu Leaves
- Ugu leaves/ Fluted pumpkin leaves.
- Efo Iyana Ipaja / Hospital too far leaves
- Efo Shoko
- Efo Tete
Going forward, the ingredients listed below are all you need to prepare this delicious soup.
Ingredients for efo riro Nigerian spinach stew
- Turkey wings 1.5kg
- 3 ponmo
- 2-3 bunch of efo tete
- 1/4 cup palm oil
- 2 bell peppers
- 3 tablespoons crayfish powder
- 4 onions
- 2 tablespoons Iru/locust beans
- 10 scotch bonnet peppers
- 1 cup turkey wings stock
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 seasoning cubes
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup stockfish fillets
I know this is a long list of ingredients for just one soup but trust me, you will love the delicious taste when you finish cooking this soup using this recipe.
Also, kindly note that the quantity of scotch bonnet pepper you’ll use would depend on how spicy the pepper you have is.
You should also consider how well you can tolerate spicy foods.
In view of this, please adjust the quantity of scotch bonnet peppers to suit your taste.
How to cook efo riro with efo tete.
- If you are using uncleaned ponmo ijebu here is How To Clean Ponmo Ijebu
- Slice the cleaned ponmo, two onions separately and set them aside.
- Remove efo tete leaves from the stem.
- Boil water
- While waiting for the hot water, slice the leaves into big chunks and put them in a big bowl.
- Pour the hot water over the sliced vegetables to blanch it.
- Blanch for 1-2 minutes, then pour into a colander to drain the hot water.
- Set the vegetables aside.
- Clean the turkey wings and cut into halves.
- Place your pot on the cooker set to low heat.
- Pour the cleaned turkey wings into the pot.
- Add some of the sliced onion into the pot, add thyme, curry, salt, 2 cubes of seasoning, and one scotch bonnet for extra spiciness if you want.
- Mix well and allow it to simmer for 5 minutes on low heat.
- While the turkey is simmering, blend the bell peppers, 2 onions and scotch bonnet pepper to achieve a rough texture.
- Set the blended peppers aside
- After 5 minutes of simmering the wing, add 1-2 cups of water and cook on high heat for 15 minutes.
- Remove the pot of cooked turkey from the cooker.
- Separate the wings from the turkey stock.
- Pour vegetable oil into your frying pan.
- While the cooker is still on high heat, place the frying pan on it.
- Allow the oil heat up well .
- Fry in hot oil until both sides are a golden brown.
- Place your cooking pot on the cooker.
- Add palm oil and allow it heat up briefly.
- Fry the remaining sliced onions in the hot palm oil for 1-2 minutes.
- After briefly frying the onions, add the cleaned iru.
- Allow the iru fry for about 2 minutes also before adding the blended peppers and onions.
- Add the sliced ponmo, crayfish powder, seasoning cube, stockfish fillets and turkey stock.
- Mix well and allow it cook on high heat for 10-15 minutes.
- Pour the fried turkey wings into the sauce after 15 minutes.
- Mix well and cook for 10 minutes on high heat.
- At this point the liquid in the sauce would have dried up considerably and the oil floats.
- Add the steamed vegetables.
- Mix well and cook for 3-5 minutes
Yummy efo riro cooked with efo tete is ready to be eaten alone or combined with your most preferred food.
Wholesome meal combinations with Efo riro
This stewed Nigerian vegetable soup can be eaten alone. But if you crave a more filling meal, It can also be enjoyed with other foods.
Here are some of the meals that you can easily enjoy with your efo riro in order to have a satisfactory food experience.
- Pounded Yam
- Rice
- Eba – Garri
- Semo
- Eko or Agidi
- Steamed/boiled plantains
As a matter of fact the choice of food to pair with this soup is not limited to the list above.
Like many other vegetable soups, this one can be paired with any swallow food of choice.
I will also be sharing my cooking hack on how to make your vegetables retain its green colour after cooking.
Leafy green vegetables cooking hack.
Most times when leafy green vegetable are used to cook soups, they do not retain their green colour after cooking.
When the vegetables colour changes, to many people it makes the vegetables look overcooked and the soup looks unattractive.
An easy way of making sure your vegetables retain their green colour is by briefly blanching them for one to two minutes in hot water and then draining off the hot water and allowing the vegetable to cool down.
I used this cooking hack to make this recipe and my green vegetables did not change colour even after I finished cooking it.
To verify this, please watch the video of this recipe on my YouTube channel.
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