Have you wonder how come the Akwa-ibom people are good cook? it all boil down to the kind of soup made, one of such soup is Afang Soup, like the Edikang Ikong soup, is native to the Efiks, people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria but over time every Nigerians enjoyed it. It is also very nutritious as the soup consists mainly of vegetables.The soup is prepared with a generous quantity of Water leaves and the wild herbal Okazi leaves and lot of meat, fish and snail, below are the
Ingredients for Afang delicate Soup
20 to 25 cl red palm oil (about 1 drink glass)
Beef, Kanda and Dry fish
2 tablespoons ground crayfish
Pepper and salt (to taste)
2 stock cubes
400g sliced Okazi/Afang leaves | about 4 handfuls
250g Water leaves
Notes on the ingredients
Great alternative to water leaves is Lamb's Lettuce, known as Canonigos in Spanish. Yes, you need that much palm oil. :)
Before you cook the Nigerian Afang Soup Wash, drain and slice the water leaves into tiny pieces. Grind or pound the sliced Okazi leaves. In Nigerian markets, the sellers of these sliced Okazi leaves have a machine for grinding it. You can also grind it with your blender with a small quantity of water. Take a look at the ground Okazi leaves. Grind your pepper and crayfish and cut the onions into tiny pieces.
Cooking Directions
Boil the beef and Kanda with the diced onions and stock cubes in a very small quantity of water. When done, add the dry fish and cook for about 5 more minutes.
Now add the palm oil, crayfish and pepper. Once it starts boiling, add the afang (okazi) leaves, water leaves and periwinkle. When the okazi leaves have softened and the water has dried up a bit, add salt to taste and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes. The Afang soup is ready!
Serve with Garri (Eba), Semolina Fufu, Amala, Cassava Fufu or Pounded Yam.