EFO RIRO-made with spinach (Worldlytreat)

This flavorful Efo riro soup is perfect for a weekend lunch or dinner. You can serve this spinach stew with rice or with fufu.

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This vegetable stew is for the motherland and all the adventurous foodies that love to delve into continental dishes. Warning! It's addictive.

What is the meaning of Efo Riro?

As the native name implies, it is a green vegetable soup or stew. This recipe is well known with the Yoruba from the southwestern part of Nigeria. Although they use a different type of green leaf for this soup, spinach and kale will do just fine.

This soup's distinctive taste is the use of Irú (a.k.a Fermented locust beans). Even though this seed's scent might be unpleasant to some, it doesn't take away from its health benefits, like helping to control cholesterol levels, diabetes, and weight loss.

A bowl of Efo riro soup with fufu on a white plate

My love for this dish

A little backstory: my love for this native leafy soup dates back to 2006 while we resided in Switzerland. Finding some of our local Nigerian ingredients in the African grocery stores wasn't easy, as they usually run out or take several months to stock up.

My family was obsessed with Afang soup, a different type of leafy soup, but not having the complete ingredients to prepare it often left us helpless. One day, my mom suggested we go a different route that is really healthier than our favorite soup. It was easy to find spinach, Kale, and greens at the big chain grocery stores, so why not make something that we could easily get our hands on when we feel like having swallow (what we generally use to eat this efo soup)?

Once in a while, we ask a friend visiting Nigeria to buy the locust bean to freeze for future use. Problem solved right there! No more starved taste buds. We could make our favorite soup in a snap without waiting for the overly-priced African grocery store.

This soup has become a staple in my household for its flavorful taste and ease of making it.

Ingredients list

Here are some of the ingredients you'll need to make this soup

Greens: I used a combination of frozen spinach and kale. You can use either. Also, reduce the amount of liquid if you decide to use fresh leaves.

Tomato paste: This acts as the base for the stew combined with the peppers.

Peppers: I used a combination of red bell peppers (tatashe), habanero (or scotch bonnet), and sweet peppers. You can sub the sweet peppers for cayenne a.k.a sombo, this will pack more heat.

Onion: Preferably red/purple onion

Fermented locust bean (Iru): This secret ingredient gives this stew its memorable aroma and taste. it's best when soaked in water to remove any greyish tint from the fermentation process.

Crayfish: these are ground-dried shrimps that are mostly found in African grocers. You can also find it at specialty Asian stores or online. They add an umami flavor to the sauce.

onion: I prefer using red/purple onions because of their flavor. Yellow or white onion is equally fine.

How to make the spinach stew

Like I said earlier, the soup is pretty easy to put together. In short, all you need to do is;

First, you start by cooking the animal protein. Cook the toughest ones first, like goat, cow, pomo, e.t.c, Then add the likes of shaky (Tripes) much later.
Next, roughly pulse the pepper, ginger, onion, and garlic in the food processor.
Then, saute or cook the tomato puree or paste. If you are using fresh tomatoes, it's best to cook them first until it has reduced in volume; this way, it takes less time to put the dish together. This is also the point where you add the Iru (locust bean.
While the tomato base is cooking, start adding the animal protein from earlier and the stock, a little at a time, depending on the consistency you like. Add the seasonings.
Finally, stir in the vegetables and cook for a few minutes. The soup is ready to be devoured.

Substitution

Although I used tomato paste, you can make it with fresh tomatoes, adding more cooking time.

Feel free to use beef, chicken, shrimp, or fish. If you are vegan, you can use mushrooms as a substitute to make this dish vegetarian Efo riro.

For the vegetables, you can use fresh leaves. I mostly use frozen spinach and kale because they are readily available year-round.

Also, you can cut down on the amount of meat in this dish by using less fatty fish, shrimp, snails, or meaty mushrooms like cremini, shiitake, and portabello. Better yet, leave it out. You might not be guaranteed the same great taste, but it'll be close.

What to serve with it

Efor can be enjoyed with pounded yam, eba, fufu, lafun, asaro, rice, or other native dough balls.

Storage

Store in the refrigerator covered for up to 3 days

The best part of making the sauce is that it freezes well. Usually, I prepare twice as much as I need and store it in an airtight, freezer-safe container. It freezes well for up to a month plus. The taste is even better when it's eaten on the second day because all the ingredients are still marinating.

Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or defrost in the microwave.

In my personal opinion, it tastes much better after sitting in the refrigerator overnight. Lest I forget, you can find the fermented locust bean at most African grocery stores and online.

You might be wondering,

Is Efo Riro Healthy?

I am no nutritionist, but any dish with an abundance of vegetables sounds pretty healthy to me. To make it even healthier, use less palm oil or sieve oil from the top of a tomato-based stew and use it as a substitute for palm oil.

I have turned a whole community into believers in this delicious dish, and I hope that you are, too. Please, don't forget to share, pin and leave me a comment below if you tried it.