I soaked the stock fish in a bowl of hot water and salt overnight. Place a big saucepan/pot over medium-high heat and add the soaked stock fish add water with garlic, onion, seasoning powder/cube and salt then bring it to a boil.

Remove the garlic, add the dried fish (cleaned), ponmo. I used dried ponmo but if you're using fresh you can add it to the soup later. Continue to cook the mixture.

Clean the rodo/habanero remove the stalk and chop it and set aside, in the seed is where the spicy lives you can discard the seeds if you wish, I used the seeds with mine. You can also blend the pepper.

Add the iru (locust beans), chopped pepper and mix. If you’re using meat just make sure you add the toughest meats then add others when you’re satisfied with the softness of the meat and bring to a boil as I did with the stock fish.

Add the crayfish, palm oil to the grinded ogbono (you can half of the oil then add the rest to the meat or just add all the oil into the ogbono) and combine then add the mixed ogbono to the boiled meat and continue to cook uncovered. Season with seasoning powder/cube and salt. The more you cook the soup the more it thickens if you need to add liquid do small quantity at a time.

When the soup is fully cooked, add the shrimp and the vegetable (if you’re using) and combine stir as you go. Check the seasoning and readjust as necessary. You don’t want to overcook the shrimp make sure you add the shrimp and vegetable at the last 1 or 2 minutes you want to take it off the heat. So, if you need to add more liquid add it and allow the soup boil before adding the shrimps and vegetables.

The soup thickens when it is cold so you will need to add more liquid to loosen it up if/when it happens. The more you warm the soup the better the taste.

Serve

Enjoy!