Groundnut Soup Recipe

How To Cook Groundnut Soup

Groundnut soup is also known as Omisagwe. It is a popular soup common to south-south Nigeria, precisely the people of Edo state. Groundnut soup, as the name implies, is made from groundnuts.

This soup has the same method of preparation as Egusi soup, so if you can’t find egusi around where you live then groundnut will be a good alternative. I prefer eating groundnut soup with bitter leaf, instead of ugwu because groundnut comes with its own sweet taste so the bitter leaf helps neutralize some of that.

This soup, unlike Egusi soup, takes a bit of getting used if you haven’t tasted it before. So my advice is to cook a little amount, try it and then increase the quantity as your taste buds adjust. Check out how to prepare groundnut soup below; all ingredients are available on www.supermart.ng.

Ingredients

• 500g fried, peeled groundnuts (peanuts)
• Assorted meat and fish. I used beef, shaki, dry fish, stock fish
• Palm oil
• A small bunch of bitter leaf
• 2 tablespoons ground crayfish
• 2 seasoning cubes
• Ground dry pepper
• Salt

Things To Do Before Preparation

• Wash the stock fish and dry fish with hot water, clean the fish, remove the bones and separate them into small pieces.
• Grind the groundnuts into a powder with a dry mill.
• Wash the bitter leaf and set aside

Method of Preparation

1. Start cooking the shaki first.
2. When the shaki starts to curl, add the dry fish and stock fish.
3. Once your shaki is reasonably soft, add beef and stock cubes and cook till all the meat and fish are well done.
4. Add the crayfish, salt and pepper, cover and cook till it boils.
5. Transfer the meat and fish to another pot leaving the stock in the pot.
6. Now add the ground groundnuts into the stock and stir very well until there are no lumps. Reduce the heat to very low and start cooking.
7. Stir every 5 minutes and top up the water if necessary.
8. Cook till a thin film of clear oil appears on the surface. This should take about 15 minutes. Add palm oil and stir very well.
9. Add the beef and fish, stir and cook on low heat till it boils.
10. Add the bitter leaf, stir and leave to simmer. Stir again and it’s ready.
11. Serve Groundnut Soup with any swallow of your choice

Image from The Guardian Nigeria