“Green & Yellow” Egusi Soup

When I first laid eyes on egusi soup I had no desire to eat it, thinking that something so colourful and odd looking could not possibly taste good -- but I LOVE food, so I grabbed a fork and prepared my taste buds for the ‘unknown’ -- until I was abruptly informed to eat with my hands... “You want me to do WHAT?” After building up enough courage to break one of the most important rules at the dinner table growing up: “We don’t eat with our hands, we eat with a fork”, I decided to dig in. The taste exceeds all expectations – I've never savoured something so succulent. These days, my stomach yearns for a plate of warm pounded yam with egusi soup.

Egusi seeds come from a West African melon, which is why this soup is also called melon soup.  Egusi seeds are high in protein and their flavour is said to be close to that of pumpkin seeds. Nigerian soups can be eaten with garri, fufu, or pounded yam (pounded yam is my favourite).

FYI: Palm oil (red oil), ground crayfish, ground egusi, dry pepper and pounded yam powder can be bought at your local African store. If you live in Toronto, there's one at Lawrence and Warden.

Ingredients:

¾ cup of palm oil

3 medium tomatoes

1 medium onion

5 scotch bonnet hot peppers

1 cup of beef stock

2 teaspoons of dry pepper

2 tablespoons of ground crayfish

1 cup of ground egusi

2 magi cubes

Salt to taste

2 bunches of fresh spinach

Pounded yam 

Place a large pot on medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes. Pour in the palm oil and allow it to get hot (it will get very smoky).

Blend the tomatoes, onion and scotch bonnet peppers.

Pour blender into hot oil and cook on medium heat.

Cook your meat (I prefer king fish in this soup). Season your fish with salt, pepper and paprika and fry until cooked.

Pour the beef stock into the soup along with the dry pepper, ground crayfish, ground egusi, magi and salt. Cook for 10 minutes.

When the fish is cooked, cut into large pieces and remove any bones. Place fish in the soup. 

Clean and chop the spinach.

Place the spinach in the soup (It looks like a lot, but it will shrink). Allow the spinach to cook for 5-10 minutes.

Finally, heat up a pot of water and mix in the pounded yam powder. Egusi soup and pounded yam!!!