Okra soup recipe or Soupou kandia : a west african recipe

Today I suggest you the recipe of soupou kandja, one of the favorite dishes of the Senegalese …. after the thiep bou dien, in my opinion.

Unlike what many think, it is not a complicated recipe. I even think it is easier to cook than the thieboudienne. The secret of a successful soupou kandja relies just on the choice of the ingredients. Starting with the tiir (palm oil). You should choose it when it’s red. If you don’t have quality palm oil, renounce preparing the soupou kandia because it won’t be successful.

Then comes the choice of the okra. The big okras will be often hard, thus dry, and those who are very small are very sticky. So, choose the medium okras.

And then, the necessary ingredient is obviously the netetou (click here to have explanations about what’s netetou). In Africa, we buy netetou mostly as grains that we must clean by rubbing very well. Then you have to turn it into paste by using a small masher. When I was young I hated that task because it’s tedious and long !

The packed nététou that is bought in Europe is mostly in powder, which avoids that not-so-passionate task. That said, it is also sold in Africa, since that’s where it comes from.

After the nététou, comes the yet. And the guedj which also gives lot of taste. But I have to admit I recently prepared a soupou kandja without guedj, and it was still excellent (ask my friends!).

Don’t forget the fish. It is important to choose it very well in order to succeed this recipe. Avoid fish that are a bit bland, without taste. Take fish that don’t have so much ridges. I avoid thus using seabream (not enough flesh, and so much ridges!). I sometimes use mullet. But I prefer by far the bar, much tastier.

Here are the basics : palm oil, okras, nététou, fish, yet and guedj

Then some use various shellfishes: crabs and shrimps, etc.

As for me, I love simple stuffs, so I just use shrimps.

You can find the detailed recipe below. It is also available as a video on my YouTube channel to which I invite you to subscribe by clicking here.

The recipe

For 5 people

Preparation and cooking time : about 1h15

Cost: expensive

Difficulty: medium

Ingredients:

1 kg of rice, 1 fish (bar for example.), 200g of shrimps, 900g of okras,  1 diakhatou, 2 fresh spice, 1 slice of guedji, 1 slice of yët, 2 onions, 3 cloves of garlic, two soupspoons of nététou, powder spice, salt, pepper, 3 bricks of broth,  40cl palm oil.

Preparation:

Prepare the rice (click here to see how).

While the rice is being cooked, follow the steps below for the preparation of the sauce: start by cleaning the fish: empty, flake and remove the head. Heat up 1.25 L of water in a jar. Add the yët and the guedj, well washed. Add the fish. Let it cook for 20 min.

Wash the okras. Remove the two edges then cut them in slices. Put in a bol. Add a lot of water. Rub very gently then rinse. Repeat the task twice in order to diminish the gluey. Drain with a strainer.

Remove the cooked fish and put in a bol.

 

Add the okras in the jar. Let it cook for 10 min.

Cut the onions. Mince the garlic. Mix all with a little bit of powder spice, a little bit of pepper, the broth (bouillon) and the netetou powder.

Add this mixture (called nokoss). Mingle. Add a little salt. Let it cook for 10 min.

Shell the shrimps and cut them in small bits.

Add the diakhatou and the bits of shrimps. Let it cook for 10 min.

Meanwhile, retrieve the flesh of the fish, by ensuring to pull off the ridges. Take one half of the fish bits, crumble them, and add in the jar. Keep the other half.

Add palm oil. Most of the time, the oil is pasty. You need to warm it a little in order to liquefy it. For that, you can melt it by sun if you live in a sunny place (bunch of lucky folks!). If you belong to those who live in the cold countries and not sunny like me, put your well-closed bottle on a plate, and warm by microwave for 2 min.

Mix and let it cook for 10 min.

Then add the other half of fish : leave the big bits as they are, it’s nice to fall on them when you eat soupou kandja 🙂 . Add also the fresh spices.

Gently mix and cook for 10 min on medium fire, then 10 min on small fire.

Then you will see that the oil has completely risen up to the surface.

The soupou kandja is ready.

Serve with rice.

After this recipe, let nobody come tell me he (or she) does not know how to make soupou kandja !

Another picture, of a soupou kandja recipe that I made some years ago.

If you liked this recipe, you sure would like my recipe of “c’est bon” available here.
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Bye and see you soon for a new recipe.