Ogbono soup is easy and simple to prepare. You will learn everything you need to know about Ogbono soup as you read on. Growing up Ogbono soup was one of the soups my mother used to prepare and i watched vividly to see how she make them. A lot of people have different methods on how to prepare Ogbono soup and i will be showing you three methods which is mostly used.
lrvingia Gabonensis is the scientific name for Ogbono, native to West Africa, sometimes known by its common name Ogbono for Igbos, Obe Apon for Yorubas and African Mango, Wild Mango, Bush Mango bearing edible fruits similar to Mango. Ogbono seed also has health benefits and a lot of things that can be processed from the seed like jam, jelly and sometimes wine.
The seed also called dika nut are eaten raw or roasted, they can also be made into a cake called “dika bread” for preservation. When the seed is pressed it produces oil, that can be used for the production of soap or cosmetics. Ogbono soup has a mucilaginous (slimy) texture, similar to Okro soup and Ewedu soup.
Nutrient Content of Ogbono Soup
Calories 15kcal, Carbohydrate 1g, Protein 0.9g, Water 81g, Phosphorous 42mg, Calcium 120mg, Sodium 364mg, Vitamin A 615iu, Vitamin C 0.7mg, Iron 0.2mg.It is rich in fatty acids such as oleic, palmitic, linoleic, linolenic, stearic, myristic, and lauric acids, which are essential for performing the various bodily functions, maintaining the health of the nervous system and for muscular development.
Health benefit of Ogbono
Eating Ogbono is good for the body and it helps in the management of body weight, research also suggest that daily intake reduces blood sugar, reduces bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol, for those who are overweight.
lrvingia seed extracts help to reduce weight (obesity), especially if combined with a low-calorie diet.
Ogbono contains sticky wax (mucilage) that is useful for making medicinal tablets. The wax acts as a binding agent during tablets production. Studies reveal that tablets manufactured with bush mango have increased brittleness and reduced tensile strength when compared to gelatin tablets. The dietary fibre present in this fruit also aids easy digestion of food thereby preventing bloating .
How to prepare Ogbono Soup
Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients needed for the preparation of Ogbono soup
- Dry ground Ogbono
- 1 cup of palm oil
- Pumpkin Leaves or Bitterleaf
- 2 Seasoning cubes
- 2 pounds of boiled meat/fish of choice- you can use smoked fish, stock fish, beef stripes (towel), chicken, turkey or fish your choice
- 2 hot pepper or 1tbsp ground pepper
- Salt to taste
- Half cup of cray fish
- 1 red onion bulb (choice)
- 3/4 cup of periwinkle ( choice)
How to prepare Ogbono Soup
With medium heat, meat takes about 15-20 minutes to boil, Wash your meat/beef,chicken, turkey, goat meat with half of the red onion bulb, Seasoning cube, Salt and boil for 10 minutes. Add your stock fish, smoked fish (Panla, Catfish) then allow it boil for the next 5-10 minutes.
First Method of preparing Ogbono Soup
After boiling the meat for 20 minutes, add half cup of palm oil into the pot then add the ground Crayfish, 2 seasoning cubes, 1 table spoon of ground pepper or 2 habanero pepper without grounding it to reduce much heat, add periwinkle if you bought one and allow to cook for 3 minutes.
Mix the ground Ogbono seed with the remaining oil in a bowl and then pour it into the pot, stir it well and gently with the meat stock and allow to boil for 5 minutes while watching, at this point i like to leave the pot open, because when it starts boiling, it bubbles and rises.
Add little vegetable or if you want much and mix, i prefer it little tho. Then add salt to taste, add a little water if necessary to prevent it from burning. cook for another 2 minutes and your soup is ready. yipeeeeee.
Second Method of Preparing Ogbono soup
- Pour the 1 cup of oil into the pot, allow to heat a little not pale
- Pour in your nicely chopped onion (very tiny size)
- Pour in the ground Ogbono seed and stir together properly
- Pour in your meat stock (The boiled meat), stir them nice and gently together
- Pour in 1 cup of water and stir together, if you’re cooking 2 cups of Ogbono, you may need more water
- Pour the ground Crayfish, add 2 seasoning cubes, 1 table spoon of ground pepper, or 2 habanero pepper without grounding it to reduce much heat, add periwinkle if you bought one and allow to cook for 5 minutes, leave the pot open as well but watch it
- Pour in your washed Vegetable leaves (Pumpkin Leaves) , have a taste and add salt
- Allow it boil for another 2 mins. Your soup is ready
Finally if you want to use Fish without any kind of meat/ Beef and maybe you don’t want to use vegetable ( Pumpkin leaves) either you can try the third method below.
Third Method of cooking Ogbono Soup
- Wash your sliced Fish and boil, with seasoning cubes, Onion, Salt for 3 minutes
- Pour the 1 cup of oil into the pot, allow to heat a little not pale
- Pour in your nicely chopped onion bulb (very tiny size).
- Pour in the ground Ogbono seed and stir together properly.
- Pour in the water from the boiled fish and stir. Add a little water if necessary and stir together properly
- Pour the ground Crayfish (add more crayfish to the original quantity in the ingredient list above), add 2 seasoning cubes, 1 tablespoon of ground pepper, or 2 habanero pepper without grounding it to reduce much heat and allow to cook for 5 minutes, leave the pot open as well but watch it.
- Pour in the boiled fish and if you didn’t boil it, just pour in the washed raw fish, Taste and add salt to taste.
- Allow to boil for 2 – 3 minutes. Your soup is ready
Conclusion
Ogbono Soup is served with Eba, Amala, Semo, Pounded Yam, Wheat or Fufu.
Sometimes people usually encounter lump when the Soup is boiling and i can tell you that its really stressful trying to dissolve them, so try and give it a good stir before it starts boiling.
If you want to use bitter leaf (Ironweed, or scientifically named Vernonia amygdalina) it’s nice but be aware it will give a little bitter taste, but the leaf is good for the stomach.
I really hope you find this recipe and methods easy and helpful. Give anyone of the methods a trial and i will like to see some of the pictures of what you make on my facebook group.
Howbeit, if you have any questions, or encounter any challenge, kindly leave a message at the comment box and i will reply as soon as possible.