How to make the perfect Efo Riro

12:09 - 28 October 2013

Efo riro is a delightful vegetable sauce indigenous to the Yorubas and it can be eaten with a variety of side dishes.

It's that time of the day when we whet your appetites.

Having taken a trip to the east earlier with the steamy ofe nsala, we come back down south today with efo riro.

Efo riro is a delightful vegetable sauce indigenous to the Yorubas and it can be eaten with a variety of side dishes like swallows (eba, pounded yam, semo etc) and even rice and yam.

So as we always say, dig out your notepads as we prepare to take your taste buds for a jolly ride.

Bon apetit!

Ingredients

Ugwu (pumpkin leaves)
Water leaf
Iru (also known as dawa dawa in Hausa, ogiri in Igbo and locust beans in English)
Palm Oil (olive oil can be used in its place for the adventurous with food and health enthusiats)
Red Pepper
Tomatoes
Onions
Seasoning cube (optional)
Tin tomato (optional)
Salt
Dry fish/Roasted fish (there are several options including eja gbigbe, eja kika etc depending on what you like)
Meat (including kpomo, shaki etc)
Crabs (optional)
Periwinkle (optional)
Snail (optional)

Procedure

Wash your vegetables thoroughly in salt water to get rid of sand, chop them and keep in a bowl. Note that you can either steam your vegetables at this point and add it to your sauce later on or if you like your vegetables fresh, you may add them towards the end of your cooking.
Clean and wash your fish/snail/crab/periwinkle in hot, salt water and keep in a separate bowl
Boil all the meat you want to use with onions, seasoning cube of your choice and ginger till its tender.
Grind onions, tomatoes and pepper together but do not grind it completely. Its preferable that you grate it so that way you still have visible particles as opposed to it being completely watery or pasty.
Heat some palm oil (or olive oil) in a saucepan, then add iru, salt, seasoning cube (optional), crayfish and onions to the heating oil and stir as you do.
When it starts to fry (you'll notice the bubbles to indicate that its frying), add your already ground tomatoes, pepper and onions to the pot. You may also add a little of your leftover meat stock to make it even tastier. However it should not be too much as it is not a watery soup. Turn and cook for a few minutes then add your meat/fish/snail/crab and cook for about 15 minutes.
Turn down the heat and add your chopped vegetables. Simmer for about 5 minutes and bring down the pot.
Serve with either swallow, rice or yam.