Egusi Soup

Contents… Recipe Ingredients How to Make Recipe Variations Tips and Tricks Make-Ahead Instructions Serving and Storage Instructions FAQs What to Serve More Fabulous African Recipes to Try Watch How to Make It

What is Egusi Soup?

One of my first posts was about egusi soup—an authentic West African classic. People in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon, to name a few, enjoy this delicacy with slight differences in preparation from country to country and even between villages.

Technically speaking, it is not a soup. I believe we Africans have become so complacent, or some would say lazy, we call every sauce or stew a soup.

Egusi Soup Recipe Ingredients

• Meat – Smoked turkey, beef, or a combination of both make a fantastic broth for our egusi soup. Of course, if you’re in a rush, you can use canned broth, and vegetable broth works for a vegetarian option.
• Tomatoes – The whole tomato, juice and all, add a pleasant acidity and color. 
• Egusi – You have no idea what you’re missing if you’ve never tried these. We have a particular melon, white-seed melon, which seeds provide protein and flavor for many dishes. You can replace them with pumpkin seeds if you can’t find them locally, though the flavor won’t be as strong.
• Dried Crayfish – The savory seafood flavor complements the veggies and nutty egusi paste perfectly. You can use dried shrimp instead if you don’t have crayfish. Most Asian and Latin grocery stores carry it.
• Spinach – I usually use frozen spinach for this recipe because it’s easier. However, fresh spinach or dark leafy greens such as kale, collards, or bitter greens work great.

How to Make Egusi Soup

1. Boil the Meat – In a medium-sized saucepan, boil the beef seasoned with salt (garlic salt), smoked paprika, pepper, and onions until tender – make sure you add plenty of water, so you have about 3-4 cups of beef stock for the soup. Remove the beef and reserve the stock. (Photo 1)
2. Saute Onions, Meat, and Crayfish – Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until they are translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add the beef, smoked turkey, and crayfish, and continue cooking. (Photos 2-5)
3. Add the Tomatoes – Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, garlic, and 1-2 cups of beef stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for another 5 minutes. (Photo 6)

1. Now the Egusi – Add ground egusi and simmer on medium heat for approximately ten more minutes. Then add beef stock as needed to get the desired consistency or prevent burning. (Photos 7-9)
2. Add Spinach – Finally, throw in the spinach and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste. (Photo 10)
3. Serve warm with fried plantains, fufu, yams, or your favorite starchy side dish.

Recipe Variations

• If you want lumpy egusi, I’ve got you covered.
• You can use smoked fish or any meat for this versatile egusi soup recipe.
• A vegan version is super easy; omit the meat, replace the beef broth with vegetable broth and the crawfish with half a cup of pureed sweet potatoes.

Tips and Tricks

• Bitter greens are good for you, but not everyone enjoys them. Adding a little sugar will balance the bitterness.
• You don’t want watery broth, so add just enough water to barely cover the meat. You can add more water if you need to later, but you can’t take it out.
• This recipe uses a lot of oil, and some people may think it’s too much. Feel free to reduce the amount of oil to a couple of tablespoons if you’re worried about the fat content.
• Grilling the meat you remove from the pot for a few minutes really amps up the deliciousness.
• Have you ever had peppers that got a little old and started wrinkling? I’m not talking about the moldy ones; just kinda dried out. They’re not ideal for a salad, but they’re perfect for soups because they don’t add as much moisture.

Make-Ahead Instructions

Most soups and stews with tomatoes taste even better the next day. So go for it, and make it the day before for a stress-free dinner. You can reheat it in a saucepan over low heat until it starts to bubble.

Serving and Storage Instructions

Store dried, shelled egusi in the refrigerator for more than a year and in the freezer indefinitely.

Egusi soup keeps in the fridge for three or four days and three months in the freezer.

FAQs

What Goes with Egusi Soup

Fufu, fried sweet plantains, and pounded yams are traditional sides. Jollof rice may not be so usual, but it shows up sometimes, and we don’t complain.😉 I also like to have a stack of injera for a stress-free starchy side.

More Fabulous African Recipes to Try

We Cameroonians also use egusi to make a delectable and highly addictive egusi pudding. Here are some more recipes I’m sure you’ll love.

• Piri-Piri Chicken
• Jollof Rice and Chicken
• Puff Puff
• Fish Stew

Conclusion

This highly satisfying one-pot meal is super easy. Have you tried it yet? Please let me know in the comments how your family liked it. 

Watch How To Make It

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”SO2puNwg” upload-date=”2022-03-22T07:23:28.000Z” name=”Egusi Soup” description=”Egusi Soup is an outstandingly delicious, quick, and easy soup with ground egusi seeds, similar to pumpkin seeds. This meaty, nutty, spicy soup is protein-packed and full of tasty greens.” player-type=”collapse” override-embed=”false”]

This blog post was first published in October 2014 and has been updated with new write-up, photos, and a video.