Egusi soup

West Africa's great ground melon seed soup: egusi (ground watermelon seeds) fried in palm oil with tomatoes, crayfish, stockfish, leafy greens and scotch bonnet: the rich, nutty, deeply savoury soup that anchors the West African table

Origin: Nigeria & West Africa

From the journey of Tomato.

Egusi soup is one of the most consumed soups in West Africa and the defining soup of much of the Nigerian table. Egusi (the dried, ground seeds of the egusi melon (Cucumeropsis mannii), a relative of the watermelon) has been used in West African cooking for centuries as a thickener, protein source and flavour base. The ground seeds are fried directly in palm oil until they form golden, nutty clumps, then combined with the spiced tomato and pepper sauce (obe ata) that forms the base of most Nigerian soups. The result is a thick, unctuous soup with a distinctive, slightly gritty, deeply nutty body quite unlike anything in any other culinary tradition. Stockfish (heavily dried and salted Norwegian cod, imported to West Africa since the 19th century) and ground crayfish provide an intense, fermented, ocean-floor umami that is the distinctive background note of Nigerian cooking. Egusi soup is eaten with swallow, eba (garri), pounded yam, amala or fufu, never with a spoon alone. The swallow is torn from the mass, rolled into a ball in the palm, pressed to form a well, and used to scoop the soup to the mouth. The tomato in modern egusi soup is relatively recent, it entered West African cooking through colonial trade, but has become so fundamental that the obe ata base now defines the flavour of the soup as much as the egusi itself.

Ingredients

Main

300 g egusi (ground or whole, if whole, grind in a spice grinder to a coarse flour)
100 ml palm oil

Tomato base

400 g ripe tomatoes, blended smooth with 2 red bell peppers and 2 scotch bonnet peppers
1 large onion, half blended with tomatoes, half finely chopped

Stock

500 ml meat or chicken stock

Protein

200 g stockfish (okporoko), soaked overnight in cold water, then simmered 30 minutes until tender, flaked
400 g assorted cooked meats (beef, goat, or chicken, boiled until tender, cooking stock reserved)

Seasoning

2 tbsp ground crayfish (dried ground shrimp)
2 cubes seasoning cubes (Maggi or Knorr)
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Greens

200 g fresh spinach, bitter leaf (ewuro), or pumpkin leaves (ugwu), roughly chopped

Method

Heat the palm oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat until melted. Add the chopped onion and fry for 5 minutes. Add the blended tomato-pepper mixture and cook, stirring regularly, for 20–25 minutes until the oil separates and the raw smell disappears.
Add the ground egusi to the pot in one go. Stir immediately to distribute it through the tomato sauce; it will clump into irregular golden pieces. Fry the egusi in the sauce for 5 minutes, stirring, until the clumps turn golden and the egusi smells nutty and toasted.
Add the stock gradually, stirring between additions, to loosen the soup to the consistency of a thick stew. Add the stockfish, cooked meats, and ground crayfish.
Add the seasoning cubes and salt. Stir to combine. Taste; the soup should be intensely savoury, nutty, spicy and slightly smoky from the palm oil. Cover and simmer over low-medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes to prevent the egusi sticking.
Add the chopped greens; spinach, bitter leaf or ugwu. Stir through and cook for 3–5 minutes (spinach) or 8–10 minutes (bitter leaf or ugwu) until just cooked but still vivid green.
Taste and adjust final seasoning. Serve hot with pounded yam, eba, amala, or fufu; traditionally made by working the swallow into a smooth, stretchy mass and using it to scoop the soup.

Notes

Egusi is available at West African, Caribbean and some Asian grocery stores. It is sold as whole seeds (which you grind yourself) or pre-ground. Pre-ground egusi is convenient; whole seeds ground fresh have a more pronounced, fresh nutty flavour.

The Gastrographer

Name: Egusi soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Nigeria & West Africa
Ingredients: 300 g egusi (ground or whole, if whole, grind in a spice grinder to a coarse flour); 100 ml palm oil; 400 g ripe tomatoes, blended smooth with 2 red bell peppers and 2 scotch bonnet peppers; 1 large onion, half blended with tomatoes, half finely chopped; 500 ml meat or chicken stock; 200 g stockfish (okporoko), soaked overnight in cold water, then simmered 30 minutes until tender, flaked; 400 g assorted cooked meats (beef, goat, or chicken, boiled until tender, cooking stock reserved); 2 tbsp ground crayfish (dried ground shrimp); 2 cubes seasoning cubes (Maggi or Knorr); 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste; 200 g fresh spinach, bitter leaf (ewuro), or pumpkin leaves (ugwu), roughly chopped

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control