EGUSI SOUP WITH SCENT LEAF.

 Egusi!! Egusi!! where do I start from??....It's really funny because growing up, this used to be my least favourite soup. As in the thought of this soup just made me sad lol. On those days when this soup was made, it just meant I'd be skipping a meal or eating something else. I could only have this soup, if it was some days old (and by this I mean stale).  And you are probably wondering 'why?'. Simple, I just preferred the taste of the stale Egusi soup to the freshly cooked one.

All this changed when my mum started adding scent leaf to it. All thanks to my Grandma 'mamo' as I fondly call her,for introducing her to it. And just like that I went from not liking it to loving it. Right now I can't even make Egusi soup without adding a little scent leaf.

For this Egusi recipe, I used the frying method and I also added little tomatoes to it, this is not the way I would normally make my Egusi soup. But lately I have been adding tomatoes to it and so far, I  have been loving it. But you can simply skip this and use only palm oil.

                                                        Ingredients

7 Cooking spoons of Egusi

Assorted meat ( shaki, cow leg, Beef)

Grilled Fish

1 Bell pepper

1 Onion 

3 Cayenne pepper

1 Opeyi (locust beans)

1.5 Tablespoons of Crayfish

1 Tablespoon of Red pepper

1 Tablespoon of Black pepper

2 Cooking spoons of Palm oil

4 Tablespoons of Tomato paste

3 Cooking spoons of Groundnut oil

2 Cubes of Maggi

1 Tablespoon of Salt

Spinach 

Scent leaf

                                                        Procedure

Step 1: In a pot containing  shaki, beef and cow leg, season and allow to boil for about 40 minutes and set aside.

Step 2: Dissolve the grounded Egusi with little water to form a thick paste

Step 3: Pour the groundnut oil into a pot and allow to fry for 2 minutes, add the sliced onions stir. Then add the chopped pepper & tomato paste. Stir continuously on medium heat for some minutes.

Step 4: To the above mixture, add the palm oil and stir together. Then add the Egusi paste and continue stirring until the oil begins to appear.

Step 5; Add the crayfish, pepper, opeyi , maggi and stir

Step 6; Add the meat stock, mix properly. then add the salt to taste.

Step 7: Now add the grilled fish and scent leaf and allow to simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes.

Step 8: Finally add the spinach(the desired quantity) stir and allow to cook for 2 minutes.

There you have it. The soup is ready, you can serve with Eba or rice..

 What type of leaf do you like in your Egusi soup? And have you tried using scent leaf ? I would love to hear from you. 

PS:

I had previously boiled the cow leg and shaki separately before boiling it together with the beef because it takes a while to become tender.

I also fried the melon seed in a pan on low heat, before finally blending it.

Thanks for stopping by!