Egusi Soup
Egusi soup is an outstandingly delicious, quick, and easy soup with ground egusi seeds, similar to pumpkin seeds. This meaty, nutty, spicy soup is protein-packed and full of tasty greens. And it’s also the ultimate West African comfort food.
You should have seen my excitement the other day when I stumbled upon egusi at an Indian market with the name charmagaz. I could have sworn that we Africans were the only ones who ate them. Now I know where to find some when the craving hits and I don’t want to make the long drive to my favorite African market.
Egusi stew is not so well known by Westerners, unlike our other famous peanut or tomato stews. That’s probably because the star ingredient, egusi, is not readily available and is somewhat pricy. But once you get a taste, you’ll fall in love with it.
What Is Egusi Soup?
One of my first posts was about egusi soup—an authentic West African classic. People in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon, to name a few, enjoy this delicacy with slight differences in preparation from country to country and even between villages.
Egusi seeds are a wild melon and similar to pumpkin seeds. We use them to make pudding and thicken soups. Well, technically, it’s not a soup. We Africans have become so complacent, or some would say lazy, that we call every sauce or stew a soup. Besides, you can adjust the thickness with broth to make it as soupy as you want.
How to Make Egusi Soup
- Broth – In a medium-sized saucepan, boil the beef seasoned with salt (garlic salt), pepper, smoked paprika, and onions until tender – make sure you add plenty of water, so you have about 3-4 cups of beef stock for the soup. Remove the beef and reserve the stock. (Photo 1)
- Sauté – Heat the canola and palm oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions. Sauté the onion until translucent or about 5 minutes. Then add your choice of meat and crayfish, and continue cooking. (Photos 2-4)
- Soup – Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, garlic, and 1-2 cups of beef stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for another 5 minutes. (Photo 5)
- Add ground egusi and simmer on medium heat for approximately ten more minutes. Then add red palm oil and beef stock as needed to get the desired consistency or prevent burning. (Photos 6-8)
- Spinach – Finally, throw in the spinach and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste. (Photos 9-10)
- Serve hot with fried plantains, fufu, yams, or your favorite starchy side dish.
Recipe Variation
- If you want lumpy egusi, I’ve got you covered.
- You can use smoked fish or any meat for this versatile egusi soup recipe.
- A plant-based version is super easy; omit the meat, replace the beef broth with vegetable broth, and the crawfish with half a cup of pureed sweet potatoes.
Tips and Tricks
- Bitter greens are good for you, but not everyone enjoys them. Adding a little sugar will balance the bitterness.
- You don’t want watery broth, so add just enough water to barely cover the meat. You can add more water if you need to later, but you can’t take it out.
- Searing the boiled meat for a few minutes really enhances the deliciousness.
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
Most soups and stews with tomatoes taste even better the next day. So go for it, and make it the day before for a stress-free dinner. You can reheat it in a saucepan over low heat until it starts to bubble.
Store dried, shelled egusi in the refrigerator for more than a year and in the freezer indefinitely. It makes great pudding and cabbage egusi soup.
The soup keeps well in the fridge for 3-4 days and 3-4 months in the freezer.
FAQs
You bet! This exotic seed is a nutritional POWERHOUSE! Its high protein content and mineral-rich health benefits may lure you in, but the taste will keep you coming back for more. Think toasted pumpkin seeds.
African and Indian markets (charmagaz) and online stores, like Amazon, have them. But in West Africa, they’re available in most markets. If you can’t find them, pumpkin seeds will work, even though the flavor will be a little different.
That is totally up to you! Beef, lamb, goat, and dried fish are all traditional ingredients. Tripe and other offal also make a mouthwatering soup. Even chicken and smoked turkey sneak in there on occasion.
What Goes With Egusi Soup
Fufu, fried sweet plantains, and pounded yams are traditional sides. Jollof rice may not be as usual, but it shows up sometimes, and we don’t complain. I also like to have a stack of injera for a stress-free starchy side. If you have teff flour, you can make gluten-free injera.
More Fabulous African Recipes to Try
Watch How to Make It
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This blog post was first published in October 2014 and has been updated with new tips, pictures, and a video.
Egusi Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound (450g) meat (I used beef, but smoked turkey, smoked fish, and your meat of your choice work fine)
- 1 teaspoon (6g) salt (or garlic salt)
- 1 teaspoon (2-3g) black pepper
- 1 teaspoon (3g) smoked paprika
- ½ medium onion, chopped (half for the broth and the other half for the soup)
- 3 cups (700ml) water (plus more as needed)
- ¼ cup (60ml) canola oil (see note #2)
- ¼ cup (60ml) red palm oil (see note #3)
- ⅓ cup (18-20g) crayfish (ground or smashed)
- 2-3 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic (2 teaspoons or 10g minced garlic)
- 1 cup (120g) ground egusi seeds
- 1 cup (30-60g) spinach or more (I used half a 10-ounce package of frozen spinach)
Instructions
- In a medium-sized saucepan, boil beef seasoned with salt (garlic salt), pepper, smoked paprika, and half of the onions until tender. Make sure to add enough water to have 3-4 cups of beef stock for making the soup. Remove the beef and reserve the stock.
- Heat the canola and palm oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the rest of the onions and sauté until they are translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add back the beef and choice of meat and crayfish, and continue cooking.
- Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, garlic, and 1-2 cups of the reserved beef broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the ground egusi and simmer on medium heat for approximately 10 more minutes. Then add more beef broth if needed for the desired consistency or to prevent burning.
- Finally, toss in the spinach and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Serve hot with fried plantains, fufu, yams, or your favorite starchy side dish.
Tips & Notes:
- Tougher cuts of meat may take 3 hours to become tender, but you can speed up the cooking time with a pressure cooker.
- This recipe uses a lot of oil, and some people may think it’s too much. Feel free to reduce the amount to a couple of tablespoons if you’re worried about the fat content.
- Red palm oil is NOT the same as the commercially produced palm oil that causes so much controversy. Plus, it offers several health benefits when used wisely.
- Searing the meat you remove from the pot for a few minutes improves flavor.
- Please keep in mind that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on your choice of ingredients.
