Hello everyone!
I had the most delicious pounded yam and ofe onugbu, and I just couldn’t contain my self - had to share! In my culture and traditional language (Igbo), ofe onugbu means bitterleaf soup. A little lesson: “Igbo” doubles both as an ethnic group primarily in southeastern Nigeria and the language spoken in said region. So one can say “I am Igbo” as well as “I speak Igbo”.
The word “ofe” means soup while “onugbu” means bitterleaf in Igbo. While I’m not usually a fan of bitterleaf soup (as the leaves cooked with it are quite bitter for me), this one was quite tasty!
Our soup here is thick and garnished with a variety of proteins. The soup pictured was garnished with stockfish, goat meat, and pieces of ponmo (cow skin). While we have a range of swallow you eat with soup, I decided to go with pounded yam (my favourite!). Pounded yam can either be made by pounding yam or cassava until it has a soft texture then molding it to form a ball (though some restaurants get creative with the shape)!
Isn’t it interesting how what seems like a simple meal can have so many options?!
So to simplify, if you wanted to eat swallow (which we say but it is assumed that it comes with soup), you would have to think about which you want:
- The type of soup (e.g. egusi, ogbono, vegetable, ewedu, gbegiri, fisherman, etc.).
- The type of swallow (e.g. fufu, amala, garri, semo, wheat, tuwo, etc.).
- Which protein to have with it (e.g. chicken, fish, periwinkle, goat meat, cow feet, stockfish, snail, etc.)
- Sometimes, even how it’s made! Some soups (like egusi) are made either by cooking or by frying the ingredient first.
Many of the soup are region-specific, but the list goes on! Try to create your best combo below based on the little or much you now know! 
Cheers, Chinonso
