Yoruba Ewedu Soup

Ewedu soup is indigenous to the people of Yoruba, a very popular Nigerian ethnic group.

But then I am guessing you know that already so we are going to delve right into the matter of the day which is totally about making Yoruba ewedu soup.

Are you married or dating a Yoruba person? majority of members of the Nigerian kitchen are ladies that are either dating or married to a Nigerian man, if you are in this group sit tight too!

If you are living outside Nigerian you might wanna start looking up the easy to make Nigerian foods, I doubt you would find all the ingredients for preparing ewedu in your location, except of course you know where to look.

There are simple Nigerian recipes like jollof rice, fried rice, Tomato Stew and White Rice, that is just where to start if you are new to the whole “Nigerian food thingy”. Thank you.

My first encounter with this food – ewedu soup amid stew and assorted meat – was a memorable one, it was a Saturday evening, I was siting right at this same spot when I heard a knock by our neighbor’s daughter. They were having a dedication ceremony and the foods was making rounds, the usual Yoruba way.

She presented a plate of amala and deliciously made ewedu soup in its usual form, the way the yoruba people like it best – Ewedu soup/stew and amala.


OK, this image was taken on a different occasion and not the exact one she presented to me although they look alike.

As you can see above, ewedu soup is not usually served alone in a yoruba setting, but this is of course not etched in stones. You can always experiment wildly on Nigerian foods to find your favorite combination.

Over the months that followed I learned more about Yoruba foods and even added some of them to my menu, I learned to make the ewedu soup and lots of other Yoruba recipes. So if you are looking to make a delicious pot of ewedu soup follow me, let’s get started already.

Ingredients for making ewedu soup is as follows; this would make a simple pot of soup for about six people. You can increase or decrease the ingredients depending on the number of people you are looking to feed and of course their stomach sizes.

Ingredients:
Ewedu leaves (corchorus olitorius) 300g
1/2 teaspoon of powdered potash
1.5 cups of water
Ewedu Broom or a blender
Salt to taste
Maggi (1 or 2 cubes)
Chilly Pepper to taste
4-5 spoons of ground crayfish

There are more simple ways to prepare this soup without the use of the mashing broom. You can slice the leaves to tiny bits and commence cooking

or you can follow the process below with a mashing ewedu broom, the normal way.

One of the qualities of the the ewedu leaf is the ability to draw, perhaps the reason you can not make this soup with any other leaf.

How to Prepare Ewedu Soup

Nicely pick just the leaves (no stem allowed), then go ahead and wash properly with a lot of water to remove any sand left on it.

Pour 1.5 cups of water to a cooking pot and heat to boiling point, add the washed ewedu leaves, soak the half teaspoon of potash in half cup of water and filter into the pot (to soften the leaves), cook for 7-10 minutes.

Then use the cooking broom to mash (more like pound) continuously inside the pot, this will turn the leaves to tiny bits after mashing for about five minutes.

Alternatively, You can also transfer into a blender and pulse a couple of times, I think this way is easier and better. That was how I made the soup above, couldn’t find the ewedu broom.

Transfer back to the pot and add the ground crayfish, maggi, salt and pepper to taste. Allow to simmer for just five minutes and you are done with making ewedu soup.

Serve ewedu soup plus stew and meat with either amala, eba, semo or pounded yam, the exact way a Yoruba man would love it.