Groundnut (Peanut) Soup - Nigerian Style
A spicy, nutty and flavourful Nigerian peanut stew.
Groundnut soup is a great alternative for when you can't find the ingredients to cook egusi soup or you just want to try something different. It is not only a common and delicious Nigerian delicacy but also popular in other African countries like Ghana, Sierra Leone as well as other cultures like Taiwan (East Asia) and Virginia (United States) with peculiar recipes specific to each of them.
It is usually eaten with carbohydrate like rice or a ‘swallow’ like eba, pounded yam, cassava fufu etc. It goes by several names such as Maafe, Soup d'arachide, Omisagwe (Etsako people of Edo state, Nigeria).
This is the first time I'm actually making/eating this soup.
Why did I pick up interest in it? Recipes and questions about groundnut soup keeps on popping up wherever I go, cookpad, Facebook groups etc, but having never eaten this soup before, I was sceptical at first not knowing how it'll taste? if I'll like it?, but I had to get past all that and after researching more about it, the various ways it can be cooked, I tried it out and all I can say is.....
I'm definitely making it again!!! 😍INGREDIENTS
- Assorted meat/fish
- 1 cup raw ground nut (roasted groundnut works as well)
- 1/2 teaspoon of Uziza seed (Piper guneensis)
- 1 cooking spoon of palmoil
- Scotch bonnet/habanero pepper, blended
- Ugwu (fluted pumpkin leaf)
- 3 tablespoon of Ground crayfish
- Seasoning cubes
- 2 medium sized onions
- Salt to taste
PROCEDURE:
STEP 1:
PREPARING THE INGREDIENTS:
- Wash and boil the meat/fish with seasoning cubes, salt and onions, boil till tender and keep aside. Ensure you boil the hard meats like kpomo, shaki and fish like stock fish before adding the softer ones.
- Pick out the bad ones and toast the raw groundnut in a pan, stirring constantly till they become fragrant and turns light brown.
- Leave to cool down completely.
- Grind the toasted groundnut and uziza into a rough powder with a dry mill, processor or mortar and pestle. (I didn't bother removing the skin)
STEP 2
Here, you can use any of the methods for cooking egusi soup to cook this groundnut soup. This includes:
1st Method (Frying method; the one I used)
- In a pot,heat up the oil a bit, add the chopped onions and blended pepper and fry till it dries up
- Mix the groundnut with water to form a paste (you can choose not to though, it depends on how you do your frying method of egusi), then pour into oil and mix properly.
- Add the crayfish and stir properly for about 1 min.
- Then add the meat/fish with stock,cover and simmer for 5 minutes stirring at intervals to avoid burning
- Cook till the soup thickens and add more water if too thick for your liking.
2nd method:
- Add more water enough to cook the soup to the meat stock.
- Add the ground groundnuts and stir very well till there are no lumps.
- Bring this mixture to a gentle boil over low- medium heat for about 5 minutes
- Add the palmoil, the pepper, crayfish and dry fish and continue cooking,stirring every 5 minutes to prevent burning
- Add more or less water if necessary and continue cooking till you get your preferred consistency.
Step 3
- You can adjust the seasonings and serve the soup at this moment if you don't like having leaves in your groundnut but if not, continue to the next step.
- Add ugwu leaf, taste and adjust the seasoning, cover the pot and turn off the heat.
- Serve with rice or any swallow of choice.
- Store bought roasted groundnut/peanut also works perfectly for this.
- The soup tend to thicken up real quick and burn so watch closely, stir as often as necessary and add enough water but, not too much to make it watery.
- The palmoil is added mainly for colour so don't add too much cause the groundnut itself contains oil.
- This soup is a bit sweeter than egusi so I suggest you make it spicy (thanks to the uziza and fresh peppers) if you're not a fan of sweet things.
- Washed bitterleaf can also be used instead of ugwu to tone down the sweetness.
- Other leafs you can use includes scent leaf, uziza, and though I've not tried them, I think okazi or utazi leaf will make a wonderful addition too.
- If using bitter leaves, add it a bit earlier because it is a tough vegetable.
- Dry cayenne pepper can also be used in place of fresh habanero pepper.
Have your tried Groundnut Soup before? Will you be trying it after reading this?
Let me know how it goes in the comment section below.
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HAPPY COOKING!
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