Menu Ideas - How to Make Amala, eat with Ogbono

I've blogged about how I prepare my ogbono soup with Okro and this is a continuation. Most Nigerian soups are eaten with a variety of foo-foo, from poundo yam, cassava, amala, and eba. Some have added blended oatmeal to the list as well as mash potatoes. Today's menu idea is using amala, which is dried yam flour, also called Elubo by Atala. The preparation is simple;

Ingredients

Elubo
Water

Directions

1. In a medium sized pot, bring the water to a slow boil. Also heat some water in an electric kettle, or set aside some of the boiling water in a cup.
2. Add the Elubo flour to the water in the pot, and stir.
3. If it is thick, add some boiled water from the kettle. If too soft, add some more elubo.
4. Continue to stir until you get your desired consistency, it should ideally be smooth in texture without lumps.

How I Cook Ogbono Soup with Okro

Ogbono is a taboo for Asaba people, according to my dad. My dad was a traditional man, though a Christian, and I loved that he kept us grounded to our culture. The story goes that back in the days, Asaba people could eat whatever they liked including Ogbono. Most of them followed traditional religion, and were worshippers of Onishe, a river goddess.

Onishe treasured purity, and her color was white, which meant that all her followers only came to her shrine wearing akwa ocha. On a certain day, a man ate Ogbono, unknowningly stained his clothes and still came to worship. Onishe was not happy, and banned the drawy soup ingredient since it made her worshippers sloppy and dirty. Since then, a lot of people discarded it from the menu.

We grew up in Enugu, but my parents, from their own parents, were used to not cooking or eating Ogbono. My mum made her okro soup with enough okro and vegetable to thicken the sauce. So ogbono was not something I was used to until I went to boarding house, where without it, our soups would have become rivers of water with oil floating on top. Of course I exaggerate, but you get the idea.