OGBONO SOUP

My husband and I cooked some ogbono soup a few days ago and I became curios about ogbono. I wanted to find out what exactly it is and (because I'm interested in nutrition) I also wanted to know about the medical/herbal value of the seed.

I found out that Ogbono seed is being sold in America as a drug for weight loss. Ogbono helps weight loss by increasing the levels of leptin in the body, a hormone that reduces the apetite and it reduces the amount of blood sugar converted to fat.


The nutritional value of one serving (150mg) of Ogbono soup is 470 calories but most importantly case study done in America actually showed that Ogbono helps to achieve weight loss.


I'm definitely convinced about the importance of Ogbono soup in my diet with a little exception of some ingredience. My husband likes putting cow tongue in the soup but as a hungarian girl I'm still not used to eating tongue! Other than that Ogbono soup is delicious.

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

• Assorted Meat and Fish: Beef, Shaki, DryFish, Stock Fish
• Ogbono Seeds: 2 handfuls
• Palm Oil: 3 Cooking spoons
• Vegetable: Frozen Spinach (you can also use Pumpkin leaves or even Bitterleaf)
• Crayfish: 1 handful
• Pepper and Salt - To taste
• 1 medium size Onion
• 2 Stock cubes (Maggi/Knorr)

Pour the palm oil into a clean dry stainless steel or aluminium pot. Set on the stove and melt the oil at low heat. Remember, only melt the oil, do not allow it to heat up.
Once melted, turn off the heat and add the ground Ogbono.
Use your cooking spoon to dissolve the Ogbono in the oil.
When all the Ogbono powder has completely mixed with the oil, add the meat/fish stock (water from cooking the assorted meat and fish). Set the heat of your cooker to low and start stirring. You will notice the Ogbono start to thicken and draw.
Keep stirring till the Ogbono has completely absorbed the meat stock.
Add a small quantity of the hot water and stir till the Ogbono has absorbed all the water. Repeat this process till you get a consistency that is shown in the video below.
Making sure that your heat is set to low, cover the pot and start cooking. Once it starts to simmer, stir every 2-3 minutes for 20 minutes.
So what you'll do is: every 3 minutes or so, open the pot, stir every well, scraping the Ogbono that sticks to the base of the pot, cover the pot and cook for another 3 minutes.
After 20 minutes, the Ogbono should be well cooked and you will begin to perceive its nice flavour and aroma.
Add the assorted meat and fish, ground crayfish, salt and pepper to taste. The Ogbono may have become thicker from the cooking. If so, add a little bit more water and stir very well. Cover and cook till the contents of the pot is well heated up.

If you prefer your Ogbono Soup without vegetables, turn off the heat and serve but if you like to add a vegetable then keep reading :)
When the contents of the pot have heated up, add the vegetable (frozen Spinach used in the video). Stir very well, cover the pot and turn off the heat. Leave to cook for about 5 minutes and serve with Fufu.