Cameroon – Plain Okra Soup and Garri

by Nghonazie Annabel

Okra soup is a slimming soup which is very delicious and easy to prepare and it’s loved by many people. Even though many people love eating okro soup, some condemn this soup because of its slimming nature. Some people can eat okra prepared by them but can’t eat okro soup prepared by someone else or in their absence. So okra soup is a conditioned meal to some people while it is a delicacy to others. Here in Cameroon there are restaurants specialized just in cooking okra soup with either garri, water fufu or fufu corn. Okra soup is very delicious and nutritive and it’s good for convalescence and pregnant women. It is also a meal that can be given to toddlers after they have been weaned from breast milk. Garri is a good accompaniment to okra soup as it takes just like 10 minutes to get it ready. When women just put to birth, one of the meals they should eat frequently is okro soup and most at times with fufu corn since it is believed to increase the production of breast milk. Make garri and okro soup a menu in your home as it is good for all age groups.

Cooking method

Cooking ingredients

• 10-15 fingers of green okro
• 5 cups of garri
• Half kilogram of red meat
• 1 cup of groundnut oil
• A hand full of Cray fish
• 1 large onions
• 3 cloves of garlics
• A small quantity of white pepper, grain de riz, Alice verte, pouvrion etc.
• 1 small sized green pepper and green spices
• 6 grains of njansang
• Maggi and salt to taste

Cooking process of okro soup

1. Blend all the spices and put aside
2. Wash meat and cut into desired sizes and boil
3. Chop the okro and blend or pound in a wooden mortar
4. When the meat is almost ready, add all the blended spices into the meat and allow to boil for like 5 minutes
5. Add the blended okra into the content of the pot and stir well to make sure there are no lumps of okro left
6. Add half a liter of water to the soup
7. Put Cray fish and stir
8. Add maggi and salt and cover the pot
9. Allow the soup to cook for another 30 minutes
10. At 15 minutes into the 30 minutes, add the groundnut oil and stir well
11. After this time the soup is now ready and it is removed from the fire

Cooking process of garri

1. Put 4 liters of water in a pot and allow to reach boiling point
2. Remove some of the water and put aside
3. Pour the garri into the remaining water in the pot and mix well using a wooden spoon
4. If the garri is still strong, add small quantity of water and turn well
5. Make sure it’s not too soft
6. Remove and wrap in plastic rappens and put in a flask

Serve okro soup in a plate and garri in another plate or the two can as well be served in the same plate. Enjoy your meal