Ila Alasepo is a very popular Nigerian dish that you may know under its other name, Nigerian Stewed Okra soup. It’s a hearty and thick soup that is often served together with stews.
An Ila Alasepo recipe is a true nutritional powerhouse thanks to all of the healthy ingredients that are used in the preparation process. Find out how to cook Ila Alasepo right now!
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1. Ingredients for Okro Alasepo recipe
Before you finally learn how to cook Ila Asepo, let’s see which ingredients you’ll need:
- Assorted meat – 800g
- Smoked fish – 2
- Fresh and smoked prawns – to taste
- Stockfish – to taste
- Fresh okra – 25-30 pieces
- Scotch bonnet peppers – 2
- Bell pepper – 1
- Onion – 1
- Garlic – 4 cloves
- Crayfish – 1tbsp
- Palm oil – 1tbsp
- Locust beans – 1/2tbsp
- Cayenne pepper – 1/2tbsp
- Knorr chicken cubes – 2
- Salt – to taste
2. How to make Ila Alasepo
Follow these steps to make a pot of delicious and filling Ila Alasepo soup:
- One of the most desirable qualities of Ila Alasepo is the thickness of the soup. You can achieve the perfect level of thickness by turning 1/3 of okra into paste with the help of a blender and just chopping the rest.
- Put your assorted meats into the pot. Add the chopped onion, crushed garlic, salt and Knorr cubes. Cover with water and put on medium heat. The secret here is to not only cook the meat to tenderness, but also to season it very well, since the stock will be the base for your soup and you don’t want it to taste bland.
- Cook the meat until tender, adding the stockfish near the end of the meat cooking process.
- Remove the meat, add the palm oil to the stock and leave to cook for another 6-7 minutes. Make sure there is plenty of stock left – for Ila Alasepo you’ll need at least 5 cups.
- Gradually add the remaining ingredients: locust beans, cayenne pepper, ground crayfish and chopped peppers. Simmer the soup for another 3 minutes.
- Add the blended okra and stir thoroughly to combine all of the ingredients.
- Now add the cooked assorted meats, smoked prawns and smoked fish to the pot. Stir well and add the chopped okra, giving the soup another big stir.
- Finally, put the raw prawns into the pot, cook the soup for another 5 minutes and turn the heat off.
That’s it – your pot of scrumptious and extremely filling Ila Alasepo soup is ready! You can serve your soup with garri, semolina, fufu, pounded yam, or any other garnish of your choice.
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