Ibaba soup is a superb delicacy that is mainly cooked by the Efiks, Ibibios and also the Igbo tribe in Nigeria. It is not that common in the eastern part of Nigeria.

”Efere Ibaba” “Efere” in Efik/Ibibio means soup and Ibaba is the seed from the Ibaba plant

The botanical name of this seed is mucuna urens. On research, the English name of ukpo or abachi seed is known as Hamburger seed/bean, Mucuna Bean, Deer-eye, Donkey-eye, Ox-eye.

An Ibaba seed is called ukpo or abachi by the Igbos. Orumba/Aguata local government people of Anambra state call it ibaa while some parts of Anambra State know the seed as oruru. Some Yoruba’s also call the ibaba seed ipe,

Ibaba seed is similar to ogbono seeds, open the hard, woody exocarp and the edible dicotyledous endocarp will be revealed.

It is a black round looking thickener that must be cooked and ground into powder before being used to prepare a homemade delicacy that can be enjoyed with any swallow.

It’s very hard and takes time to cook; you must break it open, cook the whitish seed within, blend or pound it before you can use it to cook your soup.

To achieve an additional flavor and taste, different vegetables like etinkirin leaves / uziza, oha, ugu, curry leaf or even ukazi are extra addition to this soup to make it totally delicious.

Fun Facts about Ibaba Soup

It gets hot when rubbed on the wall. Kids like playing with it because they chase each other after rubbing it on the wall.

The soup changes color to black easily and can go bad if not well cooked or warmed after taking from it.

You can use it as a soup thickener like achi, although it is sweeter than Achi.

Ibaba Soup Recipe

Ingredients

½ kg medley of meats (beef, oxtail, tripe, ponmo, bokoto and bush meat)

2 snails (washed with lemon)

225 g stock fish

225 g dry fish

50 g ground ibaba seeds.

½ medium onion

225 g shredded etinkirin /uziza leaves

100 ml of palm oil

112 g ground crayfish

112 g of ground pepper

salt to taste

Cooking Instructions