What it is
A rich seafood soup built on fresh fish, prawns, periwinkle and crab in a peppered broth thickened lightly with palm oil or ground crayfish. Everything goes in with the shells on, so the broth carries the whole catch.
Key ingredients
- Fresh fish
- Prawns
- Periwinkle
- Crab
- Palm oil
- Ground crayfish
- Ground pepper
- Uziza or scent leaf
- Onions
A list of what goes in, not a recipe. Quantities and method vary by household.
How it is eaten
Eaten with a swallow such as garri or starch, or spooned as a broth with the shellfish picked out by hand.
Cultural significance
Fisherman soup belongs to the riverine communities of the Niger Delta, among the Ijaw and the peoples of Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, where the ingredients are whatever the day on the water produced. It is a soup defined by access to fresh water and sea catch, and is now a marker of Port Harcourt and Yenagoa cooking on restaurant menus.
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