How to Cook Edikaikong Soup

The Nigerian edikaikong soup has over the years topped the list of Nigerian popular soups because of its nutritional value and ease of preparation.This soup is native to the efiks, people from cross river state. The name edikaikong simply translates to “vegetable soup”


I make more of this soup than every other Nigerian soup simply because it is likely the best source of vitamins known to me.

The only downside to this soup is that it loses its nutritional value when refrigerated over a long period of time. It is advisable to make what would be enough for few days, one week at most. (but that is if you care about its nutritional value, some folks don’t remember that part)

Here are all the ingredients for making Nigerian edikaikong soup, you can reduce or increase depending on the number of people you are looking to feed.
Ingredients For Ten serving

Serving 6×2
Stock fish head (medium size)
500g Dried fish or roasted fish
1 cup of ground or pounded crayfish
Waterleaf (10-12 cups)
Fluted pumpkin (ugwu leaf) (6-7 cups)
1 cup of palm oil
Meat of choice (preferably assorted meat)
Salt and pepper to taste
Maggi or knorr cube (3-4)
1 cup of Periwinkles (optional)
2 spoons of ofor or achi
Half cup of onions

Below are the images of some of the ingredients used for edikaikong soup, I like to pound my pepper/crayfish whenever I am making this delicious soup.

You would find sliced water leaves in one bowl, sliced ugu leaves, 1.5kg of meat (goat meat and cow liver), pounded crafish/pepper and periwinkles.

Have you seen or eaten periwinkles before, I like them so much. You can purchase already-cleaned periwinkle from most Nigerian market, although it is entirely up to you to decide if you want them or not. You will learn more from the video below
The preparation

Parboil meat with necessary ingredients, 2 cubes of maggi, half cup of onions, salt and other spice of choice. (I like to also add kitchen glory (beef seasoning) while parboiling meats but I am not sure if this spice is available in other countries)

Cook for 10 minutes then add water and cook till meat is 70% softer for consumption, wash the dry fish and stock fish with hot water to remove sand and impurities then add to the cooking meat on fire. (You can add this at the beginning if you have very dry (strong) fish

Slice the ugwu leaves and Water leaves to bits (this is normally done by the traders in the market (in Nigeria) but you can slice at home with the help of a very sharp knife and a chopping board.
Pour the leaves separately in bowls and soak in water, wash to remove sand.

It is advisable to wash the leaves thoroughly before slicing or slice before washing, this is actually the major reason why I chose to slice my leaves myself. You can wash the fluted pumpkin before slicing but you will need to slice the water leaves before washing.

To the boiling meat on fire; 1 cup of Palm oil (250ml), it takes lots of oil to prepare this soup. I used about 300ml to make the soup in the video below.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5-10 minutes, be sure the whole combination is boiling with very little trace of water

Stir, taste for salt and pepper before adding the water leaves, stir and allow for about 3 minutes then add the ugwu leaves (fluted pumpkin), stir, add the pounded crayfish/pepper, periwinkles, 1-2 cubes of maggi, stir, taste for salt, add one tablespoon of ground ofor or achi (optional), sprinkle a spoon or a little more, stir. cover half-way and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes.

You just made delicious edikaiakong soup, you can serve with Nigerian fufu, semo, wheat, eba, or pounded yam. What you find below is a plate of edikaikong soup plus a combination of prepared wheat and semo.