I am a soup lover, you know the kind of person that would use one spoon of swallow to eat a whole pot of soup. I marvel at people who just put a cooking spoon of soup on their plate of swallow, how does the swallow even move?
Anyway, I decided this week to try me some Ofe Nsala soup or white soup. It’s a soup I love, not overwhelmingly though. Like I eat it once in a while, but it’s a good soup.
Ofe Nsala soup or white soup is a meal famous to the east and southern tribes of Nigeria. It is cooked without oil, reason for the ‘white soup’ I guess. The major ingredients of this soup are yam and catfish. However, you can use any other proteins of your choice for cooking. The yam is an important ingredient, it acts as the thickener for the soup, although some recipes would tell you to substitute. But I believe each thickener like the achi or cocoyam all belong to different soups.
When checking the recipes, I realised that there are about three different ways of preparing it and the key difference is the spices.
I love Ibo soups basically because of the spices. Ibos like the Indians, rely so much on the flavour of spices and herbs to give a dish it’s identity. And this makes all the difference to their soups.
The Efik version was made with goat meat and had uziza seeds which every recipe requires, so this makes it the key spice. But the focus spice was the Uyayak pod also known as Aidan fruit. The pod is broken into two: one part slightly roasted then grinded to powder, soaked in water and then sieved into the soup, while the other half is placed whole in the soup to boil with the meat and fish.
It’s an amazing spice, described as one of the wonder plants of the world. It has an amazing aroma and does wonders to dishes. But it is more loved because of its medicinal properties. The article I read, says its health uses range from diabetes, arthritis, fibroid, asthma, leprosy, hypertension and even contraception.
Out of the three, my family loved this version of the soup most.
The second one was made with cat fish and had uda, uziza seeds and leaves ehuru and also locust bean. This was good too, but I found the spice mix a bit too strong. The uda which is also called negros pepper has a bitter taste, so I found mixing it with utazi leaves a bit too strong. But uda is fantastic with fresh fish, especially the palm oil fresh fish stew.
Ehuru for me is the number one spice for peppersoup especially goat and cowleg. Once it’s slightly toasted and ground, it takes the peppersoup to the next level, literally.
The third pot had a combination of both cat fish and goat meat as well as stock fish. This one had just uziza seeds and leaves. This came up really light. But I liked it. I have written about uziza before and it’s no secret that it’s a spice I tuly love cooking with. The combination of utazi and the oziza leaves to finish off the soup was really awesome.
Another thing I did was using different peppers for each pot. I used Cameroon pepper in one, dry small pepper in another and yellow pepper in the last one. Pepper is a spice on its own, understanding the flavour and potency of each type helps you maximise its flavour in every dish. When I make cowleg peppersoup, I use 3 different types of pepper and once one is missing, the soup has a different taste. Most people wouldn’t notice anyway, but if you have not been paying attention to what type of pepper you use, then check it out.
And so, I had 3 pots of white soup cooked to perfection (by my standard o! ,my Ibo sisters I hail o! 
) . Don’t ask me what I did with the soup, that is a story for another day.
) . Don’t ask me what I did with the soup, that is a story for another day.Nsala is a hearty soup, apart from the yam which is carbohydrate ( but then how much of the yam do you put in?) It’s a soup that can be taken while on a diet. It’s filling and the spices will do a lot on the digestive system. It’s just like taking peppersoup, just a slightly heavier broth.
If you haven’t tried it before please do so. And if you know it , then you might consider having it for lunch today. Good food is always always good therapy. Don’t miss the chance to make every meal a delight.
Enjoy your Sunday