Plant-Based Ghana: Okra Soup Recipe (2024)

By Jane Nshuti

Growing up, Okra was not a thing in our household, I remember visiting other homes and seeing them eat okra, that made my heart sink right there and then.

I just couldn’t understand why anyone would eat or add such a mucilaginous ingredient into their meals, I didn’t like how it looked while being eaten, it’s gel and slimy texture simply threw me off. I was always hesitant to try it in the fear that I wouldn’t be able to swallow it.

One day, in my adult years, I walked past a lady who used to sell vegetables on the street. By then I had started my food adventures and for the sake of recipe development and food tasting, I decided to buy some okra from her and try to recreate something with it (things we do for the sake of recipe creation ahahah).

Once I found the courage to use it, let’s just say that, I was pleasantly surprised. as a food, it had a hard to believe nice and almost fatty taste to it. It added texture to any dish and took on flavour quite well.

If that was not enough, I also then discovered that this African vegetable is not only delicious, it was healthy too. This beautiful green hairy and white seed pod from the melon family, happens to be an excellent source of vitamins C and K1.

From there and then, I learned that we should not count out any ingredient before trying it. As long as it is plant-based.

Ingredients

200g Oyster mushrooms

1 tbsp Olive oil

1 tsp Smoked paprika

1 tsp Cumin

1tsp Soy sauce

300 g Okra

1 Scotch bonnet pepper

1 cup vegetable stock ( I use 1 ina paarman chicken stock powder in a cup of water, it’s vegan)

1 Large red pepper

2 Medium tomatoes

2 Cloves of garlic

Salt to taste

Method

Place a small saucepan on the heated stove, add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil. Once oil is heated add shredded oyster mushrooms together with smoked paprika, soy sauce and cumin. Stir Fry until mushrooms have absorbed all the flavour, well caramelized and all the water has evaporated. Take mushrooms off the heat and place aside for later.

In a different saucepan add, African red palm oil (or any other vegetable oil of your choice)

Stir Fry sliced okra for 5 minutes and add salt to season (remove a few okra from the pot which you will use for garnishing later) add onion, garlic and peppers.

Stir Fry for 5 more minutes then add tomatoes, stir for 1 minutes then add vegetable stock and place the lid on the saucepan to allow it to cook for 5 to 10 minutes.

After that open the lid and add stir fried mushrooms. Stir for a bit then cover for at least 3 more minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste

African land cultivates and offers an abundance of unique fruits, vegetables, herbs, legumes, nuts and seeds. Many of Africa’s signature dishes are made from these plant sources. Find more plant-based African recipes from our talented recipe developers

Chef Cola prepares an African bush feast