Wednesday 9 October 2013

Native Soup (Rivers State)


Ingredients:
Cat fish (cut n gutted)
Goat meat
Prawns/Shrimps
Ngolo
Periwinkle (isam)
Snail
Stockfish
Crayfish (handful)
Achi (thickner)
Hot Peppers
Onions
Uziza leaves
Palm oil
Knorr Cubes
Salt



Directions:
To wash the catfish, add some hot water to a big basin and then drop the fish in for like 30 seconds (don't use boiling water else you'll cook the fish). After 30seconds of being in hot water, remove the fish and the scrape the body of the fish to remove the slime. Wash well and put in the pot you'll cook the soup with. 

To clean the snails, make sure there aren't any shells hidden anywhere so you won't get cut while cleaning it. Clean the snail with lime to remove the slime (haha, I just rhymed). I added half a cup of freshly squeezed lime juice to the snails and rubbed together. That was easier than cutting the lime in half and rubbing on the snail one at a time. Set the cleaned snail aside.

Clean the prawns/shrimps by removing the head, shells and veins. For the ngolo (I don't know the English name), ask the sellers to show you how to clean it 'cos I can't explain the process here. Wash the periwinkle. Set all of them aside.

Blend the onions and peppers together and set aside.

Wash the goat meat and add to a pressure pot. Wash the stock fish and add to the same pot. Add the cleaned snail to the pot also. Add two-thirds of the blended pepper n onions to the pot. Season with salt and knorr and pressure cook for 10minutes. Set aside.

Steam the fish with the remaining blended pepper, knorr and salt for like 5minutes. Remove the steamed fish from the pot and pour the cooked meat into the fish stock. Blend the crayfish, add to the pot and boil.

Add 2 cooking spoons of palm oil and boil for 10minutes. Then add the shrimps, isam and ngolo. Cover the pot and boil for 5minutes.

Add the achi 1 tablespoon at a time so you don't over thicken the soup. Allow everything to boil for 5minutes then cut up the uziza leaves and add. Boil for 3-5minutes and your soup is ready to be served.

Enjoy with garri, semolina, wheat etc.

17 comments:

  1. I cooked this soup for my frend Teddy Ehianeta and the boy went bananas! He calls it ofor soup and its now his best soup. Lol

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  2. Hmmm...The very first time I'm commenting on a blogspot. Interesting it is about a soup. U call it River State's native soup, I call it ofor.whateva it is called, I care less...just get some morsels of fufu or fufu and begin d journey.U shall what d exact name when U get to the peak of enjoyment...sucking d 25th efik(periwinkle) and speaking in unknown tongues is just an experience. Thanks Dobis. And Chichi, God bless ur heart! I learnt Dobis is a learner on ur scale of kitchen skills #hugs#

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    1. Lol, thnx for your kind words Teddy. I can tell u enjoyed the soup. Itz become one of my favs too!

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  3. Hmmm...The very first time I'm commenting on a blogspot. Interesting it is about a soup. U call it River State's native soup, I call it ofor soup. whateva it is called, I care less...just get some morsels of fufu or pounded yam and begin d journey. U shall d exact name when U get to the peak of enjoyment...sucking d 25th isam (periwinkle) and speaking in unknown tongues is just an experience. Thanks Dobis. And Chichi, God bless ur heart! I learnt Dobis is a learner on ur scale of kitchen skills #hugs#

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  4. Wow!!! Girlie u r jst too much. I like d way u take ur time 2 explain. U actually teach a lot of us here. Thank u soooo much

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    1. Thank U too Nwando, I'm glad I can reach out to others. I try to explain as much as I can.

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  5. Chichi, this is amazing. I am just seeing this for the first time . Wooow. Great job. What is another name for Achi? I am at the african store, I said Achi/Thickener and he doesnt know what am talking about. How does it look? Is there a substitute I can use? I have been craving this for a really long time. Thanks a lot :-)

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    1. Hey Yugo, if you cant find achi, ask them for ofo but i doubt u'll find dat either. You can use corn flour or regular all purpose flour too to thicken the soup. Just make sure to dissolve in a little water first before adding to the soup.

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    2. Okay, Cool. I would check another store before I settle for corn flour. I would let you know how it goes.. Thanks sis.

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  7. Hi chichi,love ur work.doing a phenomenal Job.pls what is ngolo and how can I identify it

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    1. Ngolo is in the purple plate with the shrimps and isam. The pic is small tho. So I'll have to snap it again and put so that people will see it better. If you can find ngolo in the market tho, you can skip it.

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  8. Woww,Chi u re such an angel for d gud wk u re doing here.I simply love the way Teddy expressed himself abt d soup nd it has gingered me to give it a try.No one seems to know wht Ngolo is,at least I hp I pronounced it properly.Since u said u dnt know d name in Eng.Cld u kindly post d picture of Ngolo dear. Cheers.

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    1. Awwww, tnx for ur compliments Anon. I hope u like it wen u try it. Pls let me know how it goes. Ngolo iis in the purple plate wit shrimps n isam. if you're not in Rivers State tho, u might have A Hard time finding it so just skip it if you can't source it.

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  9. Nice one, Chi! Original rivers soup doesn't contain meat, just sea food all through.

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  10. What is the meaning of ngolo

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    1. English name for Ngolo is Conch. It's a little bigger than periwinkle.

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