Seafood Okra Soup without palm nut oil
I grew up around beautiful, successful, professional, and business Togolese women from Aneho and Atakpame! Let me tell you that these women are amazing cooks and great mothers. I owe them a lot of my African food cooking heritage. The family house is always full of visitors. Of course the Togolese hospitality is exceptional. The food is always, flavorful, delicious and so well presented that you cannot resist.
The key to having this beautiful green color is not to overcook your okra soup. Add “akam” or a pinch of sodium bicarbonate at the beginning of cooking. This will help speed up the tenderness of your grated okra. My kids love okra soup slimy as it helps swallowing the banku or akume easily. It is all about personal preference.
Of course if you do not like your okra soup slimy, then let it cook longer. Cooking okra soup on the stove until it becomes light brown will help remove the slimy texture. Also if you cover your okra soup during cooking it will help reduce the slime.
I also love using “Lanhouin” in some of my soup as it gives it that original homey flavor. Lanhouin is salted fermented dried fish that is produced in west coastal of Africa. It is used as bouillon cube in some Togolese soup.
I love making this okra soup with lanhouin to my kids, as it always takes down beautiful memory lane.
Ingredients
Instructions
The key to having this beautiful green color is to “Akam” or sodium bicarbonate as it speeds up the cooking process by quickly softening the grated okra.
Finely grating your okra is important as it will help it cook quickly.
Also do not cover your pot during cooking.
If you are using frozen okra, chop it finely but make sure it doesn’t become a paste.
Also the choice of seasoning is important as seasoning will give color to your soup, so opt for light seasoning mix.
Most importantly, do not overcook your okra unless you are trying to remove the slimy texture. I personally like this soup slimy.
You can add more water in ode to obtain your desired consistency..
No palm-nut oil is needed especially if you are on a clean diet like myself. Of course using palm-nut oil will defeat the purpose of green okra soup.
When using bouillon cube, go for the MSG-free one, or your own home made bouillon seasoning. MSG (Monosodium Of Glutamate ) is controversial. It may be harmful to some in the long run…Of course we all have different bodies and our digestive system works differently.
