Vegetable Soup (Efo Riro)

Y’ello everyone

   How’s the week going? Mine has been up and down. With the weather changing, I’ve been battling

cold, but doing better. so I have to tell you guys this, I don’t know if this only happens to me but do
 you guys ever ask your spouse to buy groceries on his way back, with a list of course, and he still messes it up? Lol either he’ll buy too many pepper or none at all 😂...well, such is my case with Tayo. Thought to share that. He does this ALL THE TIME! 🤣 I end up having to run back to the store to pick last minute items. 🤧

  As promised, today I made vegetable soup (efo riro) as the Yorubas call it. This is a staple in many Nigerian homes. It cut across many cultures within Nigerian, and it is cooked differently within each culture. There are different types of vegetable soups. This is usually based on the vegetable being used. There is water leaf soup, bitter leaf soup, spinach (according to my mom, the spinach vegetable is called “efo amunututu” in Yoruba. Not sure if that’s spelt right. Scent leaf (efo efirin), there is efo tete, Efo yarin, shoko, gure, ugu, ukazi e.t.c there are many more vegetable cooked in Nigeria but these are the vegetables I know. With each vegetable used, the taste varies, and vegetable soup can be eaten with pretty much any food, but it tastes better with swallow: eba, amala, starch e.t.c. Also, I have to add that, as per Ekiti girl, this is a specialty heheheh. Okay, many people who aren’t Nigerians may not understand this, but within the Nigerian cultures, it is a popular belief that  each cultures, tribes or cities are experts in certain “traditional meals” as it is often cooked in many homes. For example, Ibadan people are known for “Abula” which is amala, gbegiri, and ewedu, the Ekitis are known for pounded yam and efo riro (vegetable). Mind you, I will be using the phrase “efo riro” and “vegetable soup” interchangeably, so pardon me. 😊

I do not have access to all these beautiful vegetables as they are not present in Canada or I haven’t found any, so I settled for the packed frozen spinach. 😩 don’t worry guys, it tasted almost thesame. Vegetable soup usually comes out well depending on how it has been prepared. I’ll demonstrate to  you guys how I prepared mine.

Let’s dive in:

Here are the ingredients:                                                 

6 shepherds peppers

5 scotch bonnets 

4 onions

3 cloves of garlic 

2 teaspoons of pasty ginger

Best quality chicken powder

Salt

Meat: pomo (cow skin) goat meat, goat tripe (Shaki), round about, cow foot, and smoked turkey. 

 Powdered crayfish

Locust beans

Smoked fish

1 mackerel

Palm oil

Smoked prawns

1 bag of frozen spinach 

Prepping stage

(1) Blended my pepper: all my scotch bonnets, shepherds 2 onions, 3 cloves of garlic, 3 onions and 2 pasty ginger. I blended this with little to no water, then I boiled it on medium heat till the water dries. 

(2) I used thesame method to boil my meat. Set the stock from the meat aside for later use (if needed of course)

(3)The smoked fish and prawns were boiled in a different pot with just water till it soften, then I took out the bones and set it aside. (I boiled the smoked fishes because it usually have dirt particles from when it is being smoked) 

(4) I thawed my spinach in warm water and set aside.

(5) sliced up 2 onions and set aside

Cooking stage

(1) I had my nonstick on the cooker. (Medium heat) After it dries out, I poured about 3 cooking spoons of palm oil into my pot and let it bleach for 3 minutes. 

(3) then I poured my sliced onion into the oil and my locust beans. Let that fry for another 2 minutes. 

(4) after two minutes, I poured my blended paste and started stirring, then I poured my powdered crayfish. 

(5) after about 5minutes of intermittent stirring, I poured my fishes: mackerel, smoked fish & smoked prawns. Still stirring for another 2 minutes. (The continuous stirring is needed to avoid burning. It will burn if not stirred because there isn’t that much water present in the sauce. 

(6) then I let it all simmer for about 10 minutes before pouring my meat in. With the meat in, I let it cook for another 5 minutes while intermittently stirring.

(7) at this point, I have a paste, I tasted it before adding about a table spoon of my best chicken powder and thesame amount of salt. 

(8) two minutes in, I added my thawed spinach. Spread it around the sauce until It is equally evened. (I should have taken the picture of the spinach used but i forgot. Sorry guys. I picked it up at the local African store on wyandotte). I then covered it, let it Cook for another 2 minutes. It tasted good but It needed a bit more seasonings:  added another table spoon of my chicken powder and salt.

(9) let it simmer on low heat for another 5 minutes and it was READY 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣 lol sorry guys, I’m just extra 😂😂🤣

My poundo yam was ready on the side.
Mind you, this will knock you OUT. I repeat, this will KNOCK YOU OUT! lol

My next blog will focus on Yam porridge (ASARO) :)

Until Next time, au revoir!!!