Make Efo-riro your weekend delight

Now  that we have it aplenty, you can make Efo Riro a delight this weekend. Efo riro is a native vegetable soup of the Yoruba people of western Nigeria. The two vegetables most commonly used to prepare the soup are (1) Celosia argentea (ṣọkọ̀ yòkòtò) and (2) Amaranthus hybridus (ẹ̀fọ́ tẹ̀tẹ̀).

If you want to make efo riro the Yoruba way, it is important you use locust beans, smoked fish/dried fish and palm oil. Every other thing you decide to add after the core ingredients just complements it. Also, you need coarsely blended pepper to make the vegetable soup.

 INGREDIENTS

Bunches of green vegetables (efo tete) subtitute with fresh or frozen spinach Red bell peppers (tatashe)

Scotch bonnet chillies

Onions

Palm oil

Locust beans (Iru woro)

Dried shawa/palamu (dried or smoked fish)

Smoked mackerel

Ponmo, washed and diced

Ground crayfish

Salt

Seasoning

     Process:

Pick the vegetable from the stalk and slice into   chunks

Rinse vegetable clean, drain and set aside

Wash locust beans and set aside

Chop 1 onion and set aside

Shred the smoked fish into flakes and also set aside

Roughly chop the bell pepper (tatashe) and onions, add to a blender and pulse for coarse texture (alternatively, use a food processor for perfect coarse texture)

Place a pan on medium heat and add palm oil, heat for about 5 minutes but don’t bleach. Followed by iru woro, chopped onions and fry in the oil for about 2 minutes stet and saved the rest to be used before I finished cooking the soup). Add blended pepper to the palm oil and stir to combine, after about 3 minutes, add the remaining locust beans. Move on to add the diced ponmo and ground crayfish and cook for another 3-4 minutes on low heat

Add seasoning and a pinch of salt.

Whilst you are waiting for the sauce to cook, boil water enough to cover the vegetable. Once the water is boiled, pour over the vegetable and cover with a lid for 5-10 minutes. Strain and squeeze out excess water from the vegetable. Continue to cook the sauce till oil floats on the top, add half of the smoked fish, dried smelt fish and stir to combine. (You can add little water to the sauce if it is too dry but do not overdo it as efo riro is almost water free) Add the vegetable to the sauce and stir till all is well incorporated.

Add the remaining smoked mackerel and carefully combine in the vegetable. Check for salt and cook for another 4 minutes.

Serve efo riro soup with a swallow of choice or rice and you can even choose to eat it on its own.

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