How to Prepare Ishapa Soup: The Typical Nigerian South Western Roselle Soup
Servings Prep Time
4people 30minutes
Cook Time
30minutes
Servings Prep Time
4people 30minutes
Cook Time
30minutes
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. On low heat, parboil fresh roselle or dried Ishapa in hot water and salt for about 15minutes till the ishapa is soft.
  2. While parboiling, blend pepper and locust beans. Also, get your egusi paste ready and set aside. Egusi paste is what you get from blending melon in water or blending the melon dry and mixing with water afterward.
  3. After boiling, discard hot water, add another cold water to the roselle in a bowl and add some ashes to it.
  4. Leave the roselle in the ash water for about 10minutes and then, properly rinse out the ash from the roselle, leaving no element of ash.
  5. Set the properly cleaned roselle aside, set up a pot on the cooker, get the pot heated and add palm oil to warm up well.
  6. Scoop spoonfuls of egusi paste into hot oil and allow to fry. After frying, carefully, remove the egusi from the oil, put in a dish and set aside.
  7. Pour blended pepper and locust beans into the oil, allow to fry for about 5minutes and pour back the fried egusi. Stir the mixture and season with salt, stock cubes, cray fish, ponmo, meat and any other additive you desire.
  8. Stir well, add about 1 cup of water to allow the soup to cook. Cover and leave for 5minutes.
  9. Add the parboiled roselle into the soup, stir the roselle into the egusi soup and leave to further cook.
  10. After cooking for about 10- 15minutes and the ishapa soup is well thickened, turn off the cooker and serve with any desired food.
Recipe Notes

The addition of ashes is a tradition of this soup that many Nigerian South Western mothers do not skip. The essence of adding ashes is to remove all or some of the tangy taste of the hibiscus. You really won’t like the taste of ishapa soup if the roselle tastes tangy. The typical woman from Kwara state would parboil as I described in step 1. However, if you travel to Ekiti state, women like my mom will often boil water, pour ashes over the roselles in a bowl. After boiling the water, they’d pour it over the roselle and ashes, cover it and allow to sit and steam for some minutes, usually till the water becomes cold.
The difference between the Ekiti and Kwara method is that when ishapa is parboiled over fire as is done in Kwara, it has the chance to get as soft as possible. Whereas, sitting the ishapa in hot water doesn’t provide it with the maximum heat that will soften it. Hence, the ishapa will usually not turn out so soft. But, in the process of carrying out step 9 of this recipe, the ishapa becomes further cooked and softened to taste regardless of the method used in step 1.

Although, I’ve never skipped this part of the recipe step, a few other cooks out there have tried it. I cannot guarantee you a fabulous taste but if you feel awkward adding ashes to a vegetable to be consumed, you can skip the whole process.