Ofe Nsala ‘white soup’ is a native dish of the south-eastern part of Nigeria. It is called white soup because it doesn’t require the use of red oil. It is indigenously consumed with pounded yam. The ingredients used in preparing white soup include uziza leaves, utazi leaves, protein of choice (turkey, chicken, cow meat, bush meat ‘anu nchi’, snail), crayfish, fresh pepper, dried fish, head of stock fish ‘okporoko’ (literally translates as "that which produces sound in the pot" and refers to the sound the hard fish makes in the pot) pounded yam (as thickener), stock cubes, salt and pepper.
To prepare Ofe Nsala, parboil the protein with seasoning ingredients, cook for about 15 minutes. Blend the crayfish, cook and pound some yam. Typically, cocoa yam is the favorable thickener for most soups of this kind. Nsala soup is an exception, where pounded yam is used instead. Wash the dried fish and stock fish with hot water to soften the fish and remove dirt. Add more water to the meat on the boil, add the dried fish, stockfish, and crayfish, cook for about ten minutes before adding the pounded yam. Allow the pounded yam to dissolve before adding the, Uziza and Utazi leaves. Leave to simmer for 2 minutes. Serve with pounded yam, eba, fufu etc.