Culinary Delights: Vegetables & Afang Soup

Photo credit:  Nigerianfoodtv

Vegetables is one food, style lovers and health nuts agree is great and needful to the human body.  Rich in minerals, amino acids both essential and nonessential, vitamins, protein, carbohydrates and phytochemicals.

You may be wondering, what foods are vegetable?  Based on their nutrient value, vegetable can be classified into five groups, namely dark green vegetables, starchy vegetables, red/orange vegetables, beans and peas.  Vegetables may be eaten cooked, raw, frozen, mashed, canned, dehydrated or dried. There are many vegetables including broccoli, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, watercress, turnip greens, cassava, corn, green banana, plantains, carrots, pumpkin, red peppers. Sweet potatoes, tomatoes et al.

The Nigerian Afang Soup, is a veggie delight, popular to the Efiks people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states. The Afang soup consists mainly of two vegetables namely the water leaf and Afang leaf, which is very rich in mineral salts, amino acids/anti-scorbutic properties in protein, carbohydrates.  Here is how to prepare this culinary and style delight.

Afang Soup Recipe

The size and weight of your stock, ingredients and water depends on how many people you want to feed.

·         500g Sliced Okazi also known as Afang  (Gnetum Africanum)

·         Water leaves  (Talinum Triangulare) or Lamb's Lettuce 250g

·         30 cl Palm oil (about 1 drinking glass)

·         Chicken, Beef, Dry fish, Stock fish,  smoked fish and cow skin

·         Periwinkle  157ml

·         3 tablespoons Crayfish

·         Cameroon Pepper,

·         Grounded Crayfish

·         2 Knorr cubes

·         Water. 3 glass cup.

·         1 Tsp ofsalt

HOW TO:

·         Slice the water leaves and Okazi into tiny pieces.

·         Wash /rinse the sliced water leave with warm water with salt in order to kill any lingering bacteria

·         Blend or pound the sliced Okazi leaves with mortal or blender.  In most Nigerian markets, the sellers have a machine for grinding okazi leaves. I recommend you grind and pound it yourself for health reasons.

·         Dice your pepper and onion, mix with the grinded crayfish and add it to your already washed stock, set to boil. Add your Knor Cubes, and a very small quantity of water and leave to boil for 15 to 20mins depending on the quantity of stock.  When your meat has reached the desired soft state, add your Palm oil and water-leaves and leave to boil for about 6mins.  Add your periwinkle, salt to taste and wait another 2minutes before adding the Afang leaves. Leave to simmer for another five minutes and Voila!

Afang soup can be served with Eba, Amala, Semovita, Fufu, Pounded Yam and Ekor.