How to cook Ofe Nsala

Ofe Nsala or Afia Efere are some of Nigerian soups that offer a break from palm oil. Sometimes when recovering from malaria or some other ailment palm oil foods are just a put off. You will also find these white soups at serious ceremonial events where the soup is served to the seniors citizens or elders . If you as a young are lucky you may get some.
The main time consuming part of cooking Ofe Nsala is the cooking of the chicken or goat meat. The next thing is the time it takes for the pounded yam to thicken the soup sufficiently. My confession is that I actually started with using the pounded yam to thicken the soup, but had to use ‘poundo yam’ as well. I have also seen some people thicken with ground oats, for those looking for low glycemic index carbohydrates.
paste to quicken the thickening process. Did I get the result , yes I did.So for me I will skip the process of using pounded yam for thickening, particularly for new yams. Older yam does the job better at thickening the soup for you.
The other key item is the quality of smoked fish. Using smoked mackerel or such similar smoked iced fish will not give you good result for this soup, it has to be the real thing.
Ofe Nsala and pounded for Sunday lunch is just the real deal. Cook up a storm , get the family to table and enjoy. As I like peppery meals, my nose was dripping on this one but I enjoyed it.

Recipe for cooking Ofe Nsala

8 pieces Chicken
1 medium size smoked Fish
Dried Pepper ( Cameroun type preferable)
1 teaspoon Uziza seeds( ground)
2 pieces Uda ( crushed)
1 tablespoon Crayfish ( ground)
Few slices Uziza leaves ( as herb)
1-2 table spoons  Yam flour or 2 palm size flattened pounded yam( to thicken soup)
Water ( enough to serve 4 people’s soup)
Seasoning to taste
Salt to taste

Method
1, Wash, season and steam chicken with pepper, salt. Add pieces of yam and cook , take out when cooked and pound for the thickener.
2, Wash fish and add to pot with the spices and crayfish when chicken is almost cooked. Check the seasoning and pepper at this point.
3, Add more water to the the pot , bring to boil and add the pounded yam and cook till the soup thickens to the desired consistency. If you are using yam flour , dissolve in cold water into a paste and stir  quickly into the soup water . Stir well to prevent the paste forming a big lump in the pot. Then leave to boil until the soup thickens.
4, Lastly add the sliced Uziza  leaves . Cook for 2-3 minutes and soup is ready.
5, Serve with pounded yam.