Efo Riro Soup

Efo Riro is a very popular Yoruba soup in Nigeria, it is one of my favorite Nigerian soups because of its health benefits. The name ‘efo’ means vegetables, hence it is a Yoruba rich vegetable soup.

Top Yoruba Soup

Believe me when I tell you that this is one of the most delicious Yoruba soups that I have made.

If you scroll down a little, you will find a deliciously made plate of efo riro, as served with fufu – it was delicious 😉

It is a little bit similar to the popular edikaikong soup, the difference is the use of tatashe, spinach and few other Yoruba local ingredients, although some people choose to use tomatoes for personal reason but I think tatashe does a perfect job.

This recipe shows you how to make efo riro, a yoruba popular soup.

Here are the required ingredients, I think it would take a little over 30 mins for preparing the ingredients and then the actual cooking takes about 60 minutes. As usual, the ingredients below can serve 6 people with a little left over.

Efo Riro Soup Ingredients

Serving: 6 Persons

Preparation time: 60 minutes.

Sliced Spinach leaves (7-10 cups)
7-10 pieces stock fish ear
assorted meat (1KG)
1 cup of sliced/ground tatashe
quarter cup of sliced pepper
half cup of sliced onions
Half Cup of Ground Crayfish
2-3 spoons of iru (locust beans)
smoked fish (2-3 medium)
Palm oil (200ml)
3 Seasoning cubes

Here are some ingredients for making efo riro, top left is smoked fish, followed by sliced onion at top middle, then 3 spoons of iru in a plate. Below is sliced spinach and pepper/tashe at left and right, respectively.

Preparation:

You need about 5 medium-sized tatashe (not red bell pepper) remove the seeds and blend alongside the fresh red pepper and transfer in a bowl.

You could slize the tatashe like I did initially but when you blend it, you will end up with a better looking soup by the end of the day.

Wash meat thoroughly with lots of water and salt to remove sand then be sure to also wash the smoked fish.

Here is my delicious efo riro, served with fufu

How To Cook Efo Riro

If you follow the steps outlined below cautiously, you will end up with a very delicious pot of obe efo riro, {obe} is the yoruba name for soup in case you are wondering. 😀

Step 1
Place the washed meat in a pot, add a little of water, season with salt, sliced onions, 2 seasoning cubes and allow to boil for 10-15 minutes, add 1-2 cups of water and cook till tender and the water is almost dried.

Step 2

Add the smoked fish, stockfish, add a cup of water and cook for another 10-15 minutes depending on the hardness of your stockfish, I love them when they are very soft. The water should be almost dried, don’t allow to burn.

Frying

Step 3
Remove the pot from heat, place another pot on heat and pour in some palm oil, 200ml. Allow to heat before adding the sliced onions, ground pepper/tatashe, stir and allow to fry for another ten minutes while stirring occasionally to avoid burning.

Step 4
Add the cooked meat/stock fish/smoked fish, stir and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, add the crayfish, iru, stir and allow another 3 minutes.

Step 5

Add a seasoning cube, salt to taste, stir and add the spinach leaves. Stir all together and allow to simmer for another 3-5 minutes and you just made a delicious pot of efo riro.

Step 6
This is how to make efo riro soup in Nigeria, please serve with Eba, Pounded yam, rice, beans, Semolina, Amala or any other similar Nigerian Food of choice, I enjoy pairing with fufu the way it appears below.

You can see the video for preparing efo riro below! You can also read up other articles about Yoruba foods. this soup is just one of them, you can also learn how to prepare gbegiri (the popular beans soup), we also have a Yoruba version of Bitter leaf Soup