Hello, Today on the blog we have “ChOkro” soup.  In Nigeria this soup is generally known as “Okro Soup” but each tribe has a different name and variation of the soup. In my home-town – Onitsha, this soup is known as “Ofe Okro”.  “Ofe” means “Soup”.

Okro soup is a classic Nigerian soup. It is one of the many foods that are blind to tribe and culture. Typically Okro Soup is made with a variety of proteins also known as “obstacles” (beef, goat, chicken, dried fish, smoked fish, assorted seafood,  game, tofu etc.).  When speaking about soups or sauces in Nigerian cuisine, “Obstacle(s)” is a good thing! This Okro soup is made exclusively with chicken, hence the name “ChOkro”!

ChOkro is easy to make. In about 30minutes using this recipe, you will have an impressive nutritious soup ready for consumption. All you need to do is blend and maybe chop veggies.

Ingredients:

1. One whole organic free range chicken, OR chicken from the African store (the taste of this chicken changes everything) – it should be chopped up
2. 2 red bell peppers
3. 1 scotch bonnet pepper
4. 1/2 bulb of a whole onion
5. 1/4 cup vegetable oil
6. 1 tsp ground cameroon pepper (optional)
7. 3 tbsp ground ogbono seeds (Irvingia gabonensis)
8. 3 tbsp ground cray fish or shrimps
9. 1 1/2 cups of Pomi strained tomato
10. 2 Knorr chicken bouillon cubes
11. 1 tbsp salt
12. 1 1/2 packs of 12oz frozen chopped okro
13. Some bagged fresh chopped Kale (use as much as you desire)

Method

• Rinse the chicken then place in a pot.
• In a blender, add the peppers and onion and about 1/3 cup water and blend until smooth.
• Pour in the the blended mixture into the pot and stir.
• Add everything else into the pot except the Okro and kale and cook on medium heat for about 20 mins.

• At this point, the chicken will be well cooked, the mixture would have thickened, and will look like this:

• Add the Okro and kale and leave to cook for about 5 mins.
• Turn off the heat and leave to cool.

Serve with any starch like:

Boiled rice, boiled plantain, boiled yam, or “swallow”

Honorable Mention:

** Ogbono and Crayfish both make this dish magic. You must include them.

** Ogbono thickens ChOkro and enhances the draw effect.

** This soup is typically made with PalmOil, however the combination of red bell peppers, and tomatoes not only give ChOkro the classic orangish color, but also a richer flavor, and less saturated fat.

Oya Come Chop! 🙂