NIGERIAN BITTER LEAF SOUP

Bitter leaf soup  
Is a famous Nigerian dish, mainly from the east. Also known as Ofe Onugbu. People who don"t  know this dish may say eww, bitter! And I don't blame you for thinking this way, it says BITTER LEAF soup After all.

But trust me, this soup is actually very delicious and far from bitter.

When cooking this soup, the secret is in the leaf, depending on how many times you wash the leaf the sweeter the soup. 

Ingredients 
Cocoyam(ede), two and a half cup 
1 onions(mashed into paste) 
1 big bunch of bitter leaf (shred apart with hands and wash several times) 
1 kilo of meat(chicken, beef) and assorted meat 
3 large okpokororo (roasted dry) fish (cleaned and washed) 
1 whole stockfish (washed) 
2 tablespoons on ground crayfish 
1 tablespoon of ground ogiri (locust beans) 
2 cooking spoons of palm oil(add more if you want) 
4 pieces of cameroun or nsukka yellow pepper ground (to pepper dem) 
Salt and seasoning to taste 

Preparations 
Wash all necessary ingredient, starting with the meat. Season and allow it to boil. Add enough salt and onions, cook until tender. Separate the meat from the stock, set the meat aside. Add the fish, stockfish and crayfish, season some more and leave to boil. Leave to cook properly so a delicious stock is produced. 
Add the crushed pepper and mix. Meanwhile wash the cocoyam (I usually scrub the skin of cocoyam with my hands or a clean scouring sponge), transfer into a sizeable pot, add just enough water so it covers the cocoyams slightly and cook until soft and pulpy. Remove from the heat and drain of the water. Peel the skin or bark and pound like yam or fufu, until very very smooth. Scoop into a plate and set aside. 
Pour the palm oil into the stock pot, add the ogiri and cover until the colour becomes lighter. Add the cocoyam paste, cover and leave to cook. The paste will have melted into a thick consistency. Uncover, simmer, then stir and add the other remaining ingredients, make sure the soup isn't too watery. 
Put in the washed bitter leaves last, stir gently and leave to simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper.

 
Serve with your favourite choice of swallow, preferably fufu or pounded yam. Hmmm...yummy!

I hope you try this out...