Pounded Yam and Ogbono Soup: An Easy Step-by-Step Recipe

Ogbono soup is the silky, glossy Nigerian soup that "draws." Ogbono are the seeds of the wild mango, and once they are ground and cooked in palm oil and stock they turn thick, smooth and stretchy, which makes the soup slide so pleasantly around a ball of soft pounded yam. Here it is loaded with stockfish, assorted meat, smoked fish and crayfish, and it is a classic in Nigerian cooking. The seeds themselves have a mild, nutty taste, so most of the savory flavor comes from the stockfish, smoked fish, crayfish and palm oil.

This recipe serves six and takes about 45 minutes, if you start the meat first and prepare everything else while it simmers. The technique is a little different from other soups: the ground ogbono goes into gently warmed palm oil first, forms a paste, and is then loosened with hot stock a little at a time. Keep the heat low and stir often, and the soup will be smooth. Tougher cuts such as tripe and cow skin need extra time, so precook them or use a pressure cooker. Ogbono is sold whole or ready-ground, and either works; whole seeds just need a quick grind in a dry blender or spice grinder.

You will also need one 2 lb bag of pounded yam flour, which makes about 7 servings, so a single bag is plenty for six with a little left over. Pounded yam flour cooks in about 2 minutes on the stove, with no pounding. If you are new to it, our guide to how to make pounded yam with flour explains the method in more detail.

Method, step by step

1. Put the meat, stockfish, quartered onion, 1 seasoning cube, 1 teaspoon salt and 4 cups water in a large pot, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until everything is tender. Small pieces of beef and softened stockfish take about 30 minutes; tripe and cow skin take longer, so precook them or use a pressure cooker.
2. While the meat cooks, grind whole ogbono seeds to a fine powder in a dry blender or spice grinder (skip this if yours is already ground), and break up any lumps. Pick over the smoked fish to remove skin and bones, and rinse and chop the greens if you are using them.
3. When the meat is tender, lift it and the stockfish out with a slotted spoon into a bowl, and measure out 3 cups of the hot stock, topping up with hot water if you are short. Keep the stock hot.
4. Warm the palm oil in a large, wide pot over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, just until it is liquid and warm; it should not smoke.
5. Add the ground ogbono and stir constantly for 2 to 3 minutes, until it forms a thick, glossy paste that has absorbed the oil. Take care not to let it brown or catch on the bottom of the pot.
6. Pour in the hot stock ½ cup at a time, stirring or whisking hard after each addition until smooth. When all 3 cups are in, simmer over low to medium-low heat, partly covered and stirring often, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the soup is thick, glossy and stretchy.
7. Add the meat, stockfish, smoked fish, crayfish, pepper and second seasoning cube, with up to a cup more hot stock or water if the soup seems too thick. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring, then taste and add salt as needed.
8. If you are using greens, stir them in and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until just wilted, then turn off the heat. The soup thickens as it stands, so loosen it with a spoonful of hot water before serving if you need to.
9. About 10 minutes before you want to eat, bring 7½ cups of water to a rolling boil in a large, heavy pot and lower the heat. This is the lower end of the ratio (1¼ cups water per cup of flour), with hot water on hand to adjust.
10. Add the 6 cups of pounded yam flour gradually, stirring with a wooden spatula. Turn and fold the dough against the side of the pot for about a minute until smooth and stretchy, adding a splash of hot water if it feels too stiff.
11. Shape the pounded yam into 6 smooth balls (a damp bowl or wet hands help) and serve at once, hot, with the ogbono soup alongside.

Tips for a better pot

• Keep the heat low once the ogbono is in. It is thick and can scorch on the bottom of the pot, so stir often, scraping the base, and never leave it unattended.
• Add the stock gradually, and stir hard after each addition. Pouring it all in at once is the most common way to get lumps.
• Thick ogbono can bubble and spit. Use a deep, wide pot, partly cover it and stir with a long-handled spoon.
• If your stockfish is very hard, soak it in hot water for several hours, or overnight, then cook it until you can pull it apart easily; it should be fully tender before it goes into the soup.
• Ogbono soup keeps thickening as it sits, so cook it a little thinner than you want it. You can always add a spoonful of hot water at the table.
• Cook the pounded yam last, when the soup is ready. It takes about 2 minutes and is best hot from the pot.

Serving. Ogbono soup thickens as it stands, so bring it to the table hot and thin it with a spoonful of hot water if it has tightened up. Serve it in deep bowls next to a warm ball of pounded yam. Many people eat it with their fingers: pinch off a small piece of yam, press a hollow into it with your thumb, scoop up some of the soup with a piece of meat or stockfish, and swallow it without much chewing. Ogbono is rich, so a modest ladle goes a long way, and the meal is easy to stretch for a crowd by making a little extra pounded yam. Keep the yam covered so it stays soft and hot.

Leftovers and make-ahead. A few notes on planning ahead:

• Cool the soup quickly, refrigerate it in a covered container and eat it within three to four days.
• The soup will be much thicker when cold, so reheat it slowly with a generous splash of hot water, stirring all the time.
• You can freeze it in portions; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
• Make the pounded yam fresh, just before serving.

The pounded yam flour. This recipe uses one 2 lb bag of pounded yam flour, which costs $9.99 and works out to about $1.40 a plate. Our flour is made only from Benue yams: peeled, parboiled, dried, milled fine and sifted, with no preservatives, food coloring or chemicals added. The bags are resealable and moisture-resistant, with the best-before date printed on every one. Many instant "poundo" flours are blends of yam with other starches, so it is worth checking the label, and remember that pounded yam flour is not elubo, the flour used for amala. If soup night happens often in your house, the 5 × 2 lb bundle ships free within the continental US, and a 10 lb bag does too. Orders ship within 24 to 48 hours and usually arrive in 2 to 5 business days. Subscribe and save 10% with a reminder every 4 weeks to reorder in one click, and skip or cancel any time. Restaurants, caterers and stores can ask for trade pricing on the 40 lb case through the wholesale form.

Where to get the ingredients. The soup ingredients are coming to Afri Foods Basket soon, including ogbono, stockfish, palm oil, crayfish, dried pepper, smoked fish such as bonga fish, ugu leaf for finishing the pot, and seasoning such as Maggi cubes and Onga. Ogbono, stockfish and crayfish are the three that are hard to replace in this soup, so it is worth planning ahead. Until they arrive, many of them can be found at African grocery stores. You can follow the full list, with a Notify me option, in the coming soon section, and browse what is available now in the shop.

More soups to try. If ogbono becomes a favorite, try pounded yam and egusi soup for a thick, seed-rich pot, pounded yam and efo riro for a spinach stew, or pounded yam and okra soup when you want dinner in a hurry. All of them go beautifully with the same pounded yam.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my ogbono soup not drawing?

Draw varies from one batch of ogbono to another, and old or coarsely ground seeds draw less. Grinding the seeds fine, mixing them into warm palm oil first, adding the stock gradually and simmering over low heat all help. Adding too much liquid at once can also leave the soup thin.

Can I make ogbono soup without stockfish?

Yes. Stockfish adds a deep savory flavor, but you can use extra smoked fish or more assorted meat, and a little more crayfish, to make up for it. The soup will taste a little different, but the method stays the same, and it will still draw properly.

Do I have to add greens to ogbono soup?

No. Many cooks serve ogbono soup plain, and it is delicious that way. Others stir in chopped ugu leaves or spinach at the very end, cooking them for only a couple of minutes so they stay green. If you add greens, use fresh spinach or thawed frozen spinach squeezed dry.

How much pounded yam flour do I need for six people?

Plan on about 125 g, roughly 1 cup, of flour per person, so 6 cups (about 1 lb 11 oz) for six. One 2 lb bag covers about 7 servings. Use 1¼ to 1½ cups of boiling water for every cup of flour, and add the flour gradually while stirring.