How to make okpa and love it! Plus it's more nutritious

 

I am not a foodie when it comes to cooking up delicacies. But I can cook, (like I can drive) I really can and a few people who have tasted and commented on my food have liked it. I had okpa for lunch, this afternoon. 

It was really delicious and home made. My younger sister made it from scratch (how else would you make it?). I went online to see what other people have written or put up on how to make okpa.

I want this to be a short post. Technically, what you need to prepare okpa pudding/cake include:

Okpa flour (made from the ground beans),

palm oil (gives it its unique colour)

pepper (somebody said hanabero pepper, but we use any spicy pepper),

seasoning (Royco, Knorr, Maggi, maybe not Onga) and salt to taste.

Okpa is a local food made with Bambara beans. I'd to look up this Bambara beans because all I called the legume was okpa. I didn't even know it was known elsewhere except in Enugu State of Nigeria.Our mother introduced us to okpa some years ago. It was delicious and a good substitute for moi moi (bean pudding). Okpa was a favourite of school children and labourers because a little can satiate one's hunger for a long time. I loved it for its unique taste.

For how to prepare (cook) okpa please read here.  Okpa tends to be hard if enough water is not added to the flour while mixing. Experience is the best teacher here. People say all sorts of things about the myths surrounding cooking okpa but I disagree that adding ingredients like tomatoes, onion, or dry fish to one's okpa mixture is counter productive. Try it new, experiment and see what you'll innovate :). In my house, we add diced onions and tomatoes to our okpa and some people add scent leaf to their recipes. What unique ingredients have survived your okpa preparation without robbing the food of its unique taste?