Vegan egusi
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
- 200 mL egusi seeds see note
- 2 tsp iru (fermented locust beans) or miso, or vegemite
- 100 g fresh spinach or other leafy green
- 150 g mushrooms, e.g. king oyster mushrooms
- ½-1 scotch bonnet or other chili optional
- 3 tbsp red palm oil or canola
- 100 g red onion
- 2 tsp vegetable stock, cube or powder
- 150 g red bell pepper ½ large
- 100 g tomato 1 medium
Instructions
- Slice the mushrooms into desired pieces. I sliced king oyster mushrooms lengthwise into 5 mm thick slices.
- Fry the mushrooms at high temperature to give them a nice browning. Set aside.
- Blend tomatoes and bell pepper to a puree. Set aside.
- Heat red palm oil in a large pot. Saute the onions until translucent.
- Add the whole fermented locust beans.
- Stir in the blended tomatoes and peppers and add the stock cube or powder.
- De-seed the scotch bonnet and add it to the pot.
- Bring to a simmer.
- Prepare the egusi seeds or their replacement. If not already done, grind the seeds to a coarse powder.
- Mix the seeds with enough water to create a white paste.
- Add the water and seed mixture to the pot, stir, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
- When the egusi soup has finished cooking, add the mushrooms.
- Coarsely chop the spinach and stir into the pot. Let the spinach wilt.
- Serve with beaten yams, fufu, boiled yam, boiled plantain, or rice.
Notes
I bought some ground egusi seeds online but if you can't find any, grinding melon seeds or pumpkin seeds would be a good replacement. Hazelnuts could be a good replacement flavour-wise but I think the texture would be different (haven't tried).