Egusi Soup
A thick, nutty soup made from ground melon seeds, leafy greens, and assorted meats — served with fufu or pounded yam.
Ingredients
- •Ground egusi (melon seeds)
- •Palm oil
- •Onions
- •Tomatoes
- •Scotch bonnet
- •Spinach or bitter leaf
- •Assorted meat (beef, tripe, stockfish)
- •Crayfish
- •Locust beans (iru)
- •Seasoning cubes
- •Salt
Instructions
Cook the meats
Season and cook assorted meats with onions and seasoning until tender. Reserve the stock.
Fry egusi
Heat palm oil in a pot and fry ground egusi with onions, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until it clumps into small balls.
Add base
Add blended tomatoes, scotch bonnet, crayfish, and locust beans. Stir and cook for 10 minutes.
Add stock and meat
Pour in the reserved meat stock, add the cooked meats. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes.
Add greens
Stir in washed, shredded leafy greens. Cook for 5 more minutes. Adjust seasoning.
Egusi Soup is arguably Nigeria's most beloved soup, eaten across all regions and ethnic groups — Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa — each with their own variation. The star ingredient is egusi: the dried, ground seeds of the melon plant (Citrullus lanatus). When fried in palm oil, they develop a rich, nutty depth that forms the backbone of the soup.
There are two main schools of cooking egusi: the frying method (roasting the egusi in oil first, which gives a firmer, more granular texture) and the boiling method (adding egusi directly to liquid, which creates a creamier consistency). Most Nigerian cooks strongly prefer their family's method and will defend it passionately. The soup is always enriched with protein — stockfish, smoked fish, goat meat, cow skin (ponmo), and tripe are common additions.
Egusi Soup is always served as a swallow accompaniment — eaten alongside pounded yam, eba (garri), semovita, or fufu. The eating technique involves pinching off a small ball of the swallow, making an indentation with the thumb, and using it to scoop the soup. Cutlery is rarely used.