Egusi soup

Photo: Chef Lola's Kitchen

Ground melon seeds, palm oil, peppers and greens, thick enough to scoop up with fufu. If you've never had West African soup, Lola is the one to start with.

From Lola Osinkolu at Chef Lola's Kitchen · @cheflolaskitchen

Ground melon seeds cooked in palm oil with blended peppers, crayfish and locust beans, with beef and spinach. Scoop it up with fufu.

You need

• 2 cups ground egusi (melon seeds)
• 1 cup palm oil, or to taste
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 habanero (scotch bonnet) pepper
• 1 Fresno chile
• 2 onions
• 1 lb beef (or a mix with tripe, dried fish, cow foot)
• 3 cups beef or chicken stock
• 4 tbsp ground crayfish
• 3 tbsp locust beans (iru)
• 1 stock cube (optional)
• 24 oz chopped spinach
• Salt

How to make it

1. Season the beef with salt, one chopped onion and the stock cube and simmer in the stock until tender, about 40 minutes. Keep the stock.
2. Blend the bell pepper, habanero, Fresno and the second onion with a little water until fairly smooth.
3. Mix the ground egusi with a few tablespoons of water into a thick paste.
4. Heat the palm oil in a pot over medium heat (don't let it smoke). Add the pepper purée and fry for 10 minutes, stirring, until it thickens.
5. Drop the egusi paste into the pot in spoonfuls and let it fry undisturbed for a few minutes so it forms curds, then stir gently. Add the beef, its stock, the crayfish and locust beans. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Stir in the spinach and cook 3 to 5 minutes. Taste for salt and serve hot with pounded yam, fufu or rice.

Written in our own words from Lola Osinkolu's recipe, with their quantities. The original: Egusi soup, Chef Lola's Kitchen.

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