What Is Okazi? The West African Soup Leaf Explained

There is something about the steam rising off a pot of okazi soup that carries a whole home with it, the dark green ribbons folding into red palm oil, the smell of crayfish and smoked fish filling the kitchen while the soup thickens on a low flame. Across south eastern Nigeria and into Cameroon this leaf has fed families and marked celebrations for generations, a green woven quietly into everyday meals and Sunday pots alike.

Cooking it far from home is a way of keeping that thread unbroken. To shred the leaf, or to tip a frozen pack into the pot, and then to gather round a bowl scooped up with pounded yam or fufu, is to pass on a taste that grandparents and parents knew by heart. The soup asks for a little patience and good company, and in return it gives back something deeply familiar.

What Okazi Actually Is

Okazi is the leaf of a woody climbing forest vine that grows across the rainforests of West and Central Africa, and it is one of the classic leafy greens behind the region's thick, hearty soups. The leaves are dark green, glossy and noticeably firm, closer to a tough evergreen leaf than to a soft salad green, which is exactly why cooks treat them the way they do. Rather than being torn or roughly chopped, okazi is sliced into fine, hair thin shreds so that its firm texture can soften and blend smoothly into a pot. It is a leaf built for slow, savoury cooking rather than for eating raw.

The same leaf travels under several names, which can be confusing at first. In much of Nigeria it is called okazi or ukazi, in the Efik and Ibibio kitchens of the south east it is the leaf behind afang soup, and in Cameroon and neighbouring countries the very same green is known as eru or eru leaf. Whatever it is called, it belongs firmly to the world of Nigerian food and the wider West African table, where it has long been prized as a nourishing green that turns a simple pot into a proper, filling meal.

What Okazi Is Used For

Okazi is used above all as the star green in soup, and two dishes carry its name and reputation. Okazi soup is a rich, thick south eastern Nigerian pot built around the finely sliced leaf, usually cooked down with palm oil, assorted meats, dried fish, crayfish and periwinkles into something deep and satisfying. Afang soup, a treasured Efik and Ibibio dish, pairs okazi with a generous amount of soft waterleaf, so the tender waterleaf melts down while the firmer okazi holds its shape and gives the soup its character. In Cameroon the same leaf is the base of eru, cooked with waterleaf or spinach, palm oil and often smoked meats and stockfish.

Beyond these signature soups, okazi is valued as a hearty, mineral rich leafy green that adds body, colour and a mild, earthy flavour to a dish. It stands up well to long simmering and to bold partners like palm oil, hot peppers, crayfish and smoked fish, soaking up their richness without turning to mush. Cooks reach for it when they want a soup that eats like a meal, thick enough to scoop up with pounded yam, fufu, garri or rice. It is a leaf that gives a pot substance as much as flavour.

How Okazi Is Prepared

The whole art of preparing okazi comes down to slicing it finely, because the leaf is simply too firm to cook well any other way. Traditionally the washed leaves are stacked, rolled up tightly and shredded with a sharp knife into very thin strips, almost like fine ribbons, and many cooks slice it twice to be sure it is fine enough. Where the leaf is especially tough, it may be pounded lightly in a mortar or given a brief squeeze and rub to help it soften, so that it yields once it hits the hot pot rather than staying chewy.

In the soup itself, okazi is usually added earlier than softer greens because it needs longer to become tender, giving it time to relax into the palm oil and stock. In afang and eru it is partnered with quick cooking waterleaf or spinach that goes in later, a pairing that balances the firm shredded okazi against a soft, melting green. If you buy it ready sliced fresh or frozen, much of the hard work is already done, and frozen shredded okazi can usually go straight into the pot from the freezer. Handled this way, a leathery forest leaf becomes a smooth, tender, deeply savoury bowl of soup.

Where to Buy Okazi in the UK

In Britain, okazi is a specialist green rather than a supermarket staple, so African food shops are the reliable place to find it. It is often sold sliced fresh or frozen, which is a real convenience given how much fine slicing the whole leaf would otherwise need, and the frozen shredded packs are especially popular because they keep well and go straight into the pot. Depending on the shop and the community it serves, you may see it labelled okazi, ukazi, afang or eru, so it is worth asking by whichever name comes to mind if you cannot spot it at first.

The same shops tend to carry everything else an okazi or afang soup needs, from waterleaf and palm oil to crayfish, dried and smoked fish, periwinkles and stockfish, so you can gather the whole pot in one visit. You can find African food stores near you that stock okazi and the ingredients around it, and the staff are often glad to point you to the fresh or frozen form and suggest how best to slice and cook it. With a pack of shredded okazi in the freezer, a rich pot of okazi or afang soup is never far away.