₦airaland Forum

Ijebu for asoki and ofe-egusi. Yellow garri for other soups (especially okra).

What of mixed okro and ogbono (which is a standard way of cooking okro for many Igbos, probably more common than okra without ogbono)?

Come on, y’all. Let’s expand. Let’s talk about what a nice Saturday morning in Ibadan looks like for you.

kpankpangolo:
Open windows with the ceiling fan set on 3 to allow cool air circulate. It actually isn’t an 06 vibe, more of evergreen. I’m doing it now, no different from when I was 9 years old.

Fair enough. Whatever you do, there’s something quite alluring about Saturday mornings in Ibadan.

Probz:
They use broomsticks. Not all but more than is non-concerning. You know they do.

I know all about the variations of what Yorubas call ewedu (heck, it’s a thing in Nsuka). But the Yoruba way of making it is by-far the worst. Stick to the stew part of it if you’re not going to cook the greener stuff properly. No-doubt the leaves are healthy enough but that doesn’t amount to as much as it could when the general standard of cooking it among S.W. Nigerians is very poor. One can survive on onugbu, afang, Ekiti egusi (even) , Delta egusi pepper soup or, indeed, oha indefinitely but with ewedu you’d likely die of malnutrition after under a week.

Let’s be real. Ewedu isn’t a soup. Not a rightly-called one or one that looks appetising in the least. It just looks like someone’s puked up that extra-green fried rice that that vlogger cooked up the other day, mashed it to a pulp and added stone. The way it’s made, notwithstanding the general health benefits of the leaf itself, just isn’t nutritious or palatable to the average Igbo man or woman. The more east-southerly a Nigerian’s origins are (starting from Osun and ending in southernmost Akwa Ibom), the higher the standards they tend to have when it comes to soup. Ewedu (the way it’s made by Yorubas who do it) might be okay for some Yorubas, Hausas and Edos but for a Calabar person or Anambra Igbo who’s used to akpu and onugbu-egusi/ukwa nni-ji and ofe oha, it simply won’t do. Not good enough and not by a long osu-chalk (which is better off used for some okazi-and-ugu egusi-binding). You know it isn’t so why are we even having this conversation?

No-doubt Yorubas are good at cooking rice and a few other things but when it comes to soup I’d only single out Ondo, Ekiti and chunks of Osun as being anything close to good. The rest are utterly hopeless. Perseveration in cultural or personal habits often shows itself In Ondo/Ekiti people and gives them a more consistent template in concretising more variety of things like vegetable-soups, and consistency in the template of even their jollof rice (and maybe fried rice). Soup-quality generally improves more and more the further east you go in Nigeria, and Ondo and Ekiti, being at the Eastern fringes of Yorubaland, carry a better aura for soups (especially pounded yam and egusi and Ondo-city okra soup, which is sublime and could easily stand side-by-side with bright okra soup made by an Awka person) than more typical Yorubas. Ondo and Ekiti people are like a perseveration-tending, strongly-principled type of Yoruba who have Awka-ish/Imo-state leanings. And I do know that some Awka-blacksmiths got as far as Ondo and Ekiti back in the day. Maybe they shared some interaction 200 years ago and fused into this blueprint of principled but accommodating, headstrong Nigerians. Ondo and Ekiti people do it with a certain dry, ENTP/ISFJ-ish intellectualism, though. That’s their niche. They are often pretty smart. So they’re a bit closer to Igbos (and even Calabars) in terms of overall quality of food, between asun, obe-isapa, pounded yam and Ondo/Ekiti-egusi (which, again, has interesting parallels to Awka-egusi) and efo-riro with agidi/boiled white yam. They’re goaty and dry but in a way that adds consistency to their mannerisms and palette, whereas Awka is more malleable but rooted in Anambra-Igbo aristocracy, as-it-were. More headstrong in an ESTP/ISTP-way, whereas Ondo and Ekiti people give off more of an ISTJ/ISFJ/ENTP-ish aura in personality and way of doing things. Both rooted in the overarching tradition and culture but one’s more dryly intellectual and principled by virtue whereas the other has a more malleable street-savvy adaptiveness.

Post edited. I had a few more points to make, and they’re worthy of fresh insight and calibration. So yanno. If you have the time and interest, feel free to read it.

Well-in, Liverpool.

It’s not true.

I was thinking about this man literally this week. RIP.

Mostly just with egusi. Egusi’s the only soup that seems to agree with me in the morning, but even then I’d rather have it with pounded yam or akpu. But can I swallow in the morning? Depending on the soup, sure.

donholy28:
doesn't that mean that they're related…anyway Google and u will find out that nkem owoh is married to chinwe owoh and patience ozokwor is his blood sister

What? You trippin.?

I love Liverpool, mern. Amazing people, amazing city.

pdppower:
This is what happens when the culture doesn't teach the young one to respect their elders.

This is Igboland. It’s just as much about money and land as it is age.

brain54:
It's the particular rice they prefer to use for preparing it...

They usually prefer the local rice to make it!

I see.

Mariangeles:
The truth is, somehow, ugu takes away from the taste of ofe akwu.

The best leaves combo for ofe akwu are Nigerian curry leaves and nchuanwu.
Together, they give a depth of flavour and heavenly aroma.

Never heard of curry leaves in ofe-akwu, to be fair. Hmm. I’ll give it some thought.

A bit of Patience Ozokwor (Mama-G) here, perhaps, a bit of Papa Ajasco there, a bit of Super Story all-the-way there, with a bottle of mineral (let’s go with good-ol. Fanta) for good measure. How are you capitalising on the vibe? What are you adding to the mix to enjoy your time?

Caaz:
Mr Berem said the correct name for Scentleaf is Basil


Oyim ole way?

Native basil, yes. Not just any basil. African basil specifically.

osile2012:
[size=15pt]How come people don't employ female drivers? [/size]

They do in civilised countries.

For what it’s worth, soaking beans overnight and parboiling them for 5 minutes before the main cooking greatly reduces stomach-bloating and so-on.

1. Does ugu really have a place on ofe-akwu, or does it contribute towards blandness in ofe akwu (and/or whatever other reasons you might have against ugu co-existing with nchuanwu in the same space)?

2. What’s this anya-azu vegetable I hear of (which I presume is a Delta-Igbo thang, but I could be wrong) sometimes being used in ofe-akwu? What does it even taste like?

Such a great movie, Dry My Tears was.

Anyone got any idea or insight into this thing? (The 40-character minima is such a pain. Ugh.)

Hmm.

Where won’t you see rat on streets like this?

Funflipper:
Great!! But please God, I don't want to be in any aircraft flown by a female pilot ever.

Why?

(Seun, this 40-character limit is really not necessary.)

I would’ve just taken topiramate, if I couldn’t get my hands on Mounjaro/Ozempic.

opeldavid:
It's in the blood. Just chop small ogbono & okro, it will flow Wella

Nice trial.

Trial or try?