Hello family, today I will be writing about how to prepare rich Ogbono soup.

Wonderful people welcome to my blog, I hope you find helpful recipes here.

Ogbono seeds also known as mbukpap uyo, bush mango or dika is a major ingredient for cooking Nigerian Ogbono soup.

But it is commonly referred to as “draw soup” because of the sticky and slimy nature it has. Infact, any ogbono soup that is not “drawing” or slimy is not cooked right.

When your ogbono soup is not drawing well, it could be as a result of the following

1. Bad Palm Oil : Nowadays adulterated palm oil filled with coloring and all sort of unhealthy substances is very common in the market. Adulterated palm oil definitely alters the taste and outcome of food. If you are interested in buying good palm oil CHECK HERE 
2. Spoilt Ogbono Seeds: When ogbono soup is cooked with bad ogbono seeds,the outcome is always bad with a terrible taste.
3. Wrong Cooking : make sure you read this post to the end for helpful tips on how to cook ogbono using the frying method the right way to achieve a delicious mouth-watering taste.

That sticky nature is part of the charm ogbono soup exudes which makes it tasty and enjoyable. The slimy nature also.make it easy the enjoy with any swallow of choice. Infact, any ogbono soup that is not “drawing” or slimy is not cooked right.

Some of the Popular Swallow combination with Ogbono soup are;

• Ogbono soup and Fufu
• Ogbono soup and eba
• Ogbono soup and semo
• Ogbono and pounded yam
• and many more (feel free to leave a comment stating the Ogbono combination you like)

Just like many Nigerian soups, Ogbono soup has a unique taste that makes it endearing to many people.

There are different recipes for this draw soup depending on the ingredients you want to use and some of the common major ingredients/combinations are;

• Ogbono with okro
• Ogbono with Egusi
• Ogbono with ewedu
• ogbono with uziza leaf
• Ogbono with bitterleaf
• Ogbono with scent leaf
• Ogbono with ugu leaves
• and many more.

For this ogbono soup preparation I will be using the frying method and I will also be sharing how to cook Ogbono soup with Ugu leaves.

Ogbono soup ingredients are:

Beef

Beef stock

Ponmo(cowskin)

Stockfish

Palm oil

Ogbono seeds

Red chilli powder

Mackerel fish

Crayfish powder

Ugu leaves

Seasoning cubes

Salt

Water

Onions

Curry

Thyme

Cooking Utensils needed

Pot

Spoon

Bowls (big and small)

Fish Preparation

• Pour the mackerel fishes into a big bowl
• Add a lot of water to clean the fish
• Properly clean the fishes by removing the gut, intestines and also make sure the blood is cleaned
• After the first cleaning change the water and clean again to remove any blood residue.
• Put the cleaned fishes in a basket to drain the water and set aside.

Beef preparation

• Pour beef cuts in to a bowl
• Add water and rinse the beef to remove any dirt
• Put a pot on fire
• Pour the rinsed beef cuts into the pot
• Add salt, seasoning cube, curry, thyme and onions
• Cook on low heat for 5-10minutes to extract beef juice
• After 5 minutes, add some water
• Cook till beef is tender
• And set aside

Ugu leaves preparation

• Remove the leaves from the stalk
• With a chopping board, cut the ugu leaves into your preferred size
• Get a clean bow of water
• Pour the chopped ugu leaves into the bow of water
• Rinse the leaves to remove any dirt or sand
• Scoop the leaves into a basket to allow the water drain.

OGBONO SOUP PREPARATION

• Blend the ogbono seeds using a dry blending machine
• Pour palm oil into a pot and allow it eat up briefly
• Add blended Ogbono and stir-fry for 2-3minutes
• Scoop the fried ogbono into another bowl
• Pour water into the pot
• Add stockfish and cook for 10 minutes
• After 10 minutes, add cooked beef, ponmo,mackerel fish, beef stock, salt, seasoning cubes, crayfish powder and chilli powder.
• Stir gently and allow it cook for 10 minutes
• After 10 minutes add the stir-fried ogbono.
• Mix gently and cook for 10 – 15minutes on medium heat.
• Add the sliced and washed ugu leaves and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.

OGBONO SOUP IS READY.

Helpful Ogbono Soup Cooking Tips

1. If you don’t mind the increasing calories, after cooking the beef, you can fry it in vegetable oil to add more flavor.
2. You can also fry the mackerel fish
3. In Nigeria, vegetable sellers offer the extra service of helping customers slice vegetables. This service is free, so if you are not really good with the knife you might as well enjoy this value-added service. It will reduce your cooking time and also save you a lot of stress.
4. When you go to the market to buy ogbono, do not buy already blended ogbono instead buy ogbono seeds. This is because some sellers blended spoilt ogbono and there is really no way to tell the difference until you cook it.
5. Also, make sure the seeds do not have any green colour as this is a sign that the seeds are no longer fresh.
6. If you don’t have a dry mill which you can use to blend the ogbono seeds, you easily blend it at the point of purchase. Many ogbono sellers in Nigeria will blend it for you for free. Or you can also click this link to buy Ogbono seeds or blended ogbono online.