Efo Shoko a.k.a Efo riro (yoruba style vegetable soup using shokoyokoto)

Recently, i went for a little field work on a clients farm located somewhere in the heart of Badagry. As a food blogger, i get to do lots of freelance field jobs like this once in a while. He owns this very large farm on acres of land where he breeds lots of stuff such as pigs, cows, goats and grows other edibles like maize, tomatoes, pawpaw, pepper, okra, beans, vegetables e.t.c. As an authentic son of the soil, the most abundant type of leafy vegetable on the farm was shokoyokoto.
This didn’t come as a surprise..i mean, who doesn’t love the taste of hot spicy Efo riro. My colleagues and i spent practically the whole day on the farm and when we were done we were asked to take as much shoko as we wanted since the market women who usually come to harvest in order to sell in the market hadn’t come yet. The farm workers excitedly harvested the vegetable with the stems and all and handed it over to us. In my previous efo riro recipe, i made use of green( tete eleegun) so i decided to remake the recipe but with shokoyokoto instead. The only difference between the previous recipe and this recipe is the leafy vegetables used.
Shoko yokoto (Celosia Argentia) also known as Lagos spinach is a leafy vegetable which is very popular in the western part of Nigeria. It’s actually the main vegetable used in the preparation of the iconic “Efo riro” Vegetable soup. It’s rich in Beta-carotene, Folic acid, Ascorbic acid, protein, calcium, iron. Here’s how it’s prepared. 

Efo Shoko a.k.a Efo riro recipe

• Region:      Western Nigeria