Efo-riro is a rich vegetable soup that is native to the Yorubas of Western Nigeria. This flavorful Efo riro soup is perfect for a weekend lunch or dinner. This vegetable stew is for the motherland and all the adventurous foodies that love to delve into continental dishes.
Warning! As the native name implies, it is a green vegetable soup or stew. This recipe is well known with the Yoruba from the southwestern part of Nigeria. This soup's distinctive taste is the use of Irú (a.k.a Fermented locust beans). Even though this seed's scent might be unpleasant to some, it doesn't take away from its health benefits, like helping to control cholesterol levels, diabetes, and weight loss.
How to Make Nigerian Efo Riro - Nigerian Vegetable Soup
Ingredients and Preparation
Like I said earlier, the soup is pretty easy to put together.
Key Ingredients
- Greens: I used a combination of frozen spinach and kale. You can use either. Also, reduce the amount of liquid if you decide to use fresh leaves.
- Peppers: I used a combination of red bell peppers (tatashe), habanero (or scotch bonnet), and sweet peppers. You can sub the sweet peppers for cayenne a.k.a sombo, this will pack more heat.
- Fermented locust bean (Iru): This secret ingredient gives this stew its memorable aroma and taste. it's best when soaked in water to remove any greyish tint from the fermentation process. Once in a while, we ask a friend visiting Nigeria to buy the locust bean to freeze for future use. Problem solved right there! No more starved taste buds.
- Crayfish: these are ground-dried shrimps that are mostly found in African grocers. You can also find it at specialty Asian stores or online.
- Onion: I prefer using red/purple onions because of their flavor. Yellow or white onion is equally fine.
Step-by-Step Cooking Instructions
- First, you start by cooking the animal protein. Cook the toughest ones first, like goat, cow, pomo, e.t.c, Then add the likes of shaky (Tripes) much later.
- Next, roughly pulse the pepper, ginger, onion, and garlic in the food processor. Add the peppers, onion, garlic, and ginger into a food processor. Pulse about 3 to 4 times until roughly chopped.
- Then, saute or cook the tomato puree or paste. If you are using fresh tomatoes, it's best to cook them first until it has reduced in volume; this way, it takes less time to put the dish together. This is also the point where you add the Iru (locust bean).
- Add the palm oil to a saucepan over medium-high heatonce it’s hot, carefully add the pepper mixture and iru. fry for about 7-10 minutes, often stirring to avoid burningAdd the seasoning cube, salt, crayfish, and fish shreds. Stir to combine. Cover loosely and simmer on medium-low heat for 3mins.
- While the tomato base is cooking, start adding the animal protein from earlier and the stock, a little at a time, depending on the consistency you like. Add the seasonings. Add the seasoning cube, salt, crayfish, and fish shreds. Stir to combine. Cover loosely and simmer on medium-low heat for 3mins.
- Meanwhile, run your frozen vegetable under cold running water until thawed. Squeeze out any excess water from the vegetable.
- Finally, stir in the vegetables and cook for a few minutes. Add the vegetable and combine with sauce. Allow to simmer uncovered for about 4 minutes, adjust taste and remove from heat.
The soup is ready to serve.
Variations and Serving Suggestions
Although I used tomato paste, you can make it with fresh tomatoes, adding more cooking time. Feel free to use beef, chicken, shrimp, or fish. For the vegetables, you can use fresh leaves. I mostly use frozen spinach and kale because they are readily available year-round. Also, you can cut down on the amount of meat in this dish by using less fatty fish, shrimp, snails, or meaty mushrooms like cremini, shiitake, and portabello. Better yet, leave it out.
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Efor can be enjoyed with pounded yam, eba, fufu, lafun, asaro, rice, or other native dough balls. I have made mine with eba, which is a stiff dough made from garri (cassava grains). The eba is soaked in hot water and then kneaded with a flat wooden spoon to form a mashed potato-like consistency. This dish transports me back home because I always have it when I am back in the holidays, and it tastes better every time.
If you want to go all out and eat this the traditional way, you can use your hand to scoop the eba into little ball shapes and dip into the stew.
Storage Tips
The best part of making the sauce is that it freezes well. Usually, I prepare twice as much as I need and store it in an airtight, freezer-safe container. It freezes well for up to a month plus. The taste is even better when it's eaten on the second day because all the ingredients are still marinating. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or defrost in the microwave. In my personal opinion, it tastes much better after sitting in the refrigerator overnight. Store remaining soup in a food storage container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or freeze for 2-3 weeks.
Health Benefits
Is Efo Riro Healthy? I am no nutritionist, but any dish with an abundance of vegetables sounds pretty healthy to me. To make it even healthier, use less palm oil or sieve oil from the top of a tomato-based stew and use it as a substitute for palm oil.
I have turned a whole community into believers in this delicious dish, and I hope that you are, too.
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Recipe Card
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Vegetable oil | 2 tbsp |
| Red peppers (tatashe) | 2 |
| Onion | 1, halved |
| Chili pepper | ¼ |
| Water | ½ cup |
| Tomato puree | 2 tbsp |
| Salt | 1 tsp |
| Curry powder | 1 tsp |
| Shrimps | 50 g |
| Smoked Basha fillet, cut in chunks | 120 g |
| Fresh spinach | 125 g |
Detailed Recipe
- In a blender combine peppers, onion, tomatoes and scotch bonnet with 1/2 a cup water. Blend the mixture until smooth but not too smooth.
- Add vegetable oil to a medium-sized saucepan and leave on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Once hot add in the blended mixture and leave for about 10 minutes till it's slightly thickened.
- Put spinach leaves in a medium-sized bowl and add boiling hot water. Set aside for about 7 minutes.
- In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons tomato puree and 2 tablespoons water to make a paste. Add the paste to the stew mixture along with salt and curry powder. Stir.
- Drain spinach and add cold water. Leave for about 5 minutes then squeeze water and set aside.
- Add shrimps and cut basa fillet to stew and stir till fully combined.
- Add about 1/4 cup of water to stew and leave to cook for about 7 minutes. Then add spinach to stew, stir and leave to simmer for about 7 minutes. Until it produces its own liquid.
- Serve on a plate with eba and enjoy.
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