Steps in Making Bitter Leaf Soup are explained in this article. We hope this guides you in preparing your sumptuous bitter leave soup.

How to Cook Bitter Leaf Soup

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The bitter leaf soup is a very delicious soup in Nigeria. It is termed bitter leaf soup because it is made from a plant renowned for its deep bitter taste.

Do not let the name scare you aware: when the soup is prepared, it has a great taste. Bitter leaf soup is mostly prepared by folks of the south southern and southeastern regions of Nigeria.

Note that there are two ways of cooking bitter-leaf soup. You can use cocoyam as the thickening agent for bitter leaves or you can use egusi and waterleaf. This post will teach you how to make a mouthwatering bitter leaf soup with cocoyam as well as with egusi.

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Recipe for bitter leaf soup in Nigeria

• A sizable quantity of bitter leaves
• Few corms of cocoyam OR egusi and waterleaf
• Beef or any meat of your choice. You can equally use fresh fish.
• Dry fish
• Stockfish
• Ponmo/Kanda/Ikpa
• Palm oil
• Pepper
• Salt
• Crayfish
• Seasoning cubes or powder

How to Prepare Nigerian Bitter Leaf Soup

Note that:

1. Before you start cooking, just know that you have to take your time to wash the bitter leaves. Wash off the bitterness until your tongue can no longer taste the bitterness. When the bitter leaf is in water, it can be very foamy. You can add just a drop of palm oil to the bitter leaf to keep it from foaming.
2. If you do not have the time to wash the bitter leaf, buy the already processed leaf in the market. But before you use it, taste it with the tip of your lounge to confirm that it has no residual bitter taste.
3. Secondly, if you cannot come by cocoyam, you can use cocoyam flour or potato flour.

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Here are the Procedures on How to Prepare Nigerian Bitter Leaf Soup:

1. Wash your bitter leaf very well and extract all tastes of bitterness.
2. Peel and boil your cocoyam until soft. Pound the cocoyam to the pulp or blend it using a blender.
3. While boiling your cocoyam, wash, season, and steam your meat or fish.
4. Wash and shred the stockfish. Add it to the pot of steaming meat and cook it to softness.
5. Wash and cut up the ponmo into small dice. If the ponmo is hard, add the pieces to the steaming pot.
6. Wash and shred the dry fish. Add the pieces to the pot when the meat is almost done.
7. Grind or blend the crayfish and pepper.
8. When everything is done, make sure to add more water to the pot until you have enough water for your soup. Add palm oil to it and let it boil for about a minute or two.
9. Add crayfish, pepper, seasoning cubes, and salt to taste. Let the pot boil for about 2 minutes.
10. Add the cocoyam paste and let it cook until the lumps are dissolved.
11. Alternatively, if you are using egusi, have the melon seeds blended. Soak the egusi in a bowl of warm water to make it rise. Set a pot on fire and pour in some palm oil, enough for the soup.
12. Simmer the oil on low heat. Add the egusi and stir. Let it cook over low heat.
13. Add a little of the meat water at intervals and stir to keep it from burning. Let it boil for about 5 minutes before you add the waterleaf and egusi.
14. Add the waterleaf that you must have already washed and chopped. Continue with the rest of the process.

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Bring down the pot and serve your bitter leaf soup with eba, fofo, semo or wheatmeal.