Mama’s Okra Soup

Name: Mama’s Okra Soup
Total time: 1200 s
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Sliced okra (medium cereal bowl full); 1 packet baby spinach (small); 2 large tomatoes (roughly chopped); 1 tsp bicarbonate soda; Salt to taste

Bianca Mwale @bianca_eatsy

Zomba, Malawi

Okra is one on Malawi’s delicacies and fortunately for me, my mum’s favorite local dish so it only made sense that I learn how to make it. #KeepRecipesAlive

The beauty of it all is that it can be made several different ways and just by means of eyeballing the ingredient quantities (but for your sake I had to try with the measurements 😂) - and it was hard.

Traditionally, pumpkin leaves are used instead of spinach. This goes to show how diverse this recipe is, you can use any preferred vegetable but I find pumpkin leaves, moringa leaves and baby spinach to make a lot more sense. The wilting power of each vegetable basically instructs you on how much vegetable to use.

Okra can be fried or made as this recipe but without the spinach, with just okra, tomato and soda bicarbonate. The latter method requires cooking the tomato first (for about 5minutes) before adding the okra. However you decide to make it, best believe you’ll enjoy okra in any form.

Okra is one on Malawi’s delicacies and fortunately for me, my mum’s favorite local dish so it only made sense that I learn how to make it. #KeepRecipesAlive

Bianca Mwale @bianca_eatsy

Zomba, Malawi

Okra is one on Malawi’s delicacies and fortunately for me, my mum’s favorite local dish so it only made sense that I learn how to make it. #KeepRecipesAlive

Saved

Ingredients

20 minutes

4 servings

Sliced okra (medium cereal bowl full)
1 packetbaby spinach (small)
2large tomatoes (roughly chopped)
1 tspbicarbonate soda
Salt to taste

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Steps

20 minutes

1

Over medium heat, bring a little water (barely enough to reach the first joint of your index finger) to boil, add salt and bicarbonate soda. DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH WATER AS THE VEGETABLES WITH RELEASE MORE WATER WHILE THEY COOK
2

Now to the boiling water, layer the vegetables, starting with the okra then spinach and finally tomatoes
3

Let cook down without stirring. Stir vegetables together once it wilts down but being watchful as the mixture foams, that it does not overflow (this is a natural reaction to bicarbonate soda)
4

Gentle stir by lifting contents with a wooden spoon. Do not over-stir as you do not want to breakup the okra too much
5

Okra soup is ready when foam no longer tries to escape the pot (no longer comes all the way to the brim)
6

Enjoy with nsima (nshima, ugali in other languages)