Okro or Okra is a green vegetable which looks like a capsule and contains numerous creamish seeds. It is native to West Africa though also well known in many other parts of the world. Commonly referred to as ‘lady’s fingers’, Okro can be used in a variety of dishes and its cooking varies very widely amongst different groups of people.

Here, we describe one of the ways of cooking Okro soup as it is popularly done in West Africa.

Ingredients

Fresh Okro

Meat (Beef, chicken, Tripe, Cow foot e.t.c)

Dry fish

Dry/Smoked Prawns or Crayfish (Ground or whole)

Dry ground pepper

Palm Oil

Stock cubes (Maggi, Knorr, Jumbo e.t.c)

Salt (to taste)

Method:

  • Wash the fresh okro in water ensuring they are clean of any dirt
  • Gently chop, blend or grate to get okro into small bits (the size of the bits is a personal preference)
  • Season the meat with onion, curry, thyme, salt, onions and any other meat seasoning of choice
  • Let the meat cook till tender
  • When the meat is tender, leave the stock in and add Palm oil, dry ground pepper, dry fish, smoked/dry prawns and allow to cook for some minutes
  • If available, add Iru (locust beans paste), add salt to taste
  • When the mixture starts to thicken, reduce the heat and add the chopped okro
  • Leave the pot uncovered and allow the okro to cook for about 5 minutes stiring ocassionally
  • Taste to check that the okro is soft; if it is take off the cooker
  • Serve with any of Yam flour, Pounded yam, Gari (Eba), Semovita, Ground rice e.t.c.