A slight change to the Traditional Liberian dish with affordability
Okra is a common dish in West Africa - actually perhaps all of Africa and even Asia. However I wanted to come to you with a recipe I've come to pick up on since beginning to date a Liberian. I first had this dish when I went over to meet my boyfriends mum over in Iowa - and boy was I in love! I love it so much I watched her create the dish and wrote out the recipe.
Growing up okra soup was a simple steamed pot of blended okra. This is usually eaten with a swallow or fufu. However this dish will liven up as a sort of gumbo as you can add mushrooms, peppers and more. She loves to use fresh okra chopped into bits of 4's. I like to use a fresh bag of Regal Nonpareil frozen okra and chop them up into quarters. Either way works tho if you have time to chop the fresher version - its worth the effort!
Liberian Okra soup is no different from alesepo, a Nigerian Okra dish. It really depends on your style and technique. Vegan Liberian Okra soup is also no different from meat stew. Mushrooms I feel gives a dish a nice depth of flavor to a dish, umami if you please.
Frozen okra is about $2.50 a pack and can last you a while.
PrintLiberian Okra Stew
- 2 lbs of Chopped Okra
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 5 oz of mushrooms, sliced
- 2 roma tomatoes, sliced
- 1 bell pepper sliced
- 2 habanero peppers
- 1 cup of oil
- 1 cup of water (adjust for consistency)
- Morton season salt (to taste)
- 1 Vegetarian maggie cube
- Cook onions, peppers, mushrooms and potatoes in a large pot with water with seasonings for 10 minutes.
- Remove veggies and stock into a separate bowl. Reheat the pot with the oil and let heat on low heat
- Add the okra and cook on high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add in veggies and stock, and bring to a boil. Adjust seasoning to taste
- Reduce heat to low and allow the okra to cook for another 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve your stew with swallow like eba or fufu. You can also enjoy it with rice. Let me know what you enjoy eating your swallow with below 🙂
Thank you so much for this. I am a Liberian, vegan, and trying this asap!
Yay! Let me know how it turns out <3
Please, dear, what sort of mushrooms did you use for this recipe. I am desperate! It was only after I bought a kilo of very fresh okra, that I found out that button mushrooms are out of stock on the whole island of sri lanka! Could I use oyster mushrooms instead?
Hi Sadatu!
You can certainly use oyster mushrooms. It's actually one of my favorite mushrooms to use. All the best.
Best,
Fatimat
OMG!! This recipe is amazing..I made it a few days ago just as a trial run. When I put the fork in m y mouth, all I could do was dance. I shared it with a few family members, Now here I am again days later making a large enough portion to feed my everybody.
Loved loved LOVED it!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing
!!! I'm smiling from ear to ear <3 I love seeing reviews like this! I'm so glad it turned out great for you and the family!
I look forward to making this.
What kind of oil is used, and dust could be used as a substitute for some of it? - cup seems like too much oil.
Hi Julie,
I used a light flavor oil, usually rotating between canola, vegetable or corn oil. A cup seems like a lot, however, keep in mind the amount of okra the recipe calls for. When you consider the serving size - the oil is reasonable.
Please let me know how it goes!