Egusi Soup

Egusi soup is a thick West African soup made by grinding the protein and oil rich seeds of certain melon and gourd varieties, collectively called egusi, into a paste that is fried and simmered with palm oil, leafy greens, meat or fish, and pepper into a hearty stew. It is especially associated with Nigeria and Ghana and is eaten across much of West Africa, typically served with a pounded starch such as fufu, pounded yam or eba used to scoop the soup rather than a spoon. The dish is old and thoroughly traditional, passed down through generations of West African home cooking rather than tied to a single documented point of invention, and its exact regional origin within West Africa is not settled in the historical record.