How To Make Okro and Vegetable Soup

I love vegetable soup, even more so when it is a combination of different vegetables. Like most of my recipes, the soup is easy to make, and super healthy. Okro is rich in magnesium, folate, fibre, antioxidants, vitamin C, K1, and A. Ugu contains calcium, iron, potassium, and manganese. It also provides a good amount of vitamin C, A, B2 and E.

Ingredients

• Okro
• Ugu (fluted pumpkin leaves)
• Beef
• 3 tomatoes
• 10 Scotch peppers
• 1/2 inch knob of ginger
• 1 big onion
• 70 ml of Palm oil (from Ajimi)
• Stockfish
• A handful of crayfish
• Dried locust beans
• Salt

• Uziza leaves

Preparation (Time – 15 minutes)

First, you wash all the ingredients that require washing. Wash the stockfish with hot water and salt. Grate the okro, slice the ugu (pumpkin leaves) and uziza leaves. Blend the tomatoes, scotch bonnet peppers, crayfish and ginger together. Alternatively you can use ogbono (bush mango seeds) rather than the tomatoes as a base.

Cooking (Time – approx. 50 minutes)

•Boil the stockfish with the blended broth and add salt and the dried locust beans (iru or ope).

•Add the beef next, after 10 minutes and allow it to boil for another 25 minutes.

Add palm oil and allow it to boil for 5 minutes. Add the grated okro first and allow to steam (covering the pot will reduce the slimy quality of the okro) for 4 minutes.

You can stir occasionally if it is thick to prevent it from burning.

Add sliced pumpkin leaves and steam for 3 minutes. And the soup is ready!!!