YOU DONT NEED TO BE EKAETE TO COOK AFANG SOUP, LEARN IT HERE ( HOW TO PREPARE AFANG SOUP)

INGREDIENTS
– Ukazi leaf
– Spinach
– Smoked Turkey (meat)
– Oxtail (meat)
– Dry Stockfish (fish)
– Smoked Fish
– Shrimp
– Periwinkle (where available)
– Dry, Ground Crayfish
– Bell Pepper
– *Spicy* Hot pepper (Scotch bonnet or Jamaican Pepper)
– Palm oil
– Onions
– Bouillon cubes

PROCESS FROM START TO FINISH
1. Thoroughly clean, season and boil your meats by placing in pot with little or no water. Liquids from the washed meats should be enough to get a good boil going.

You want to ensure that you have enough broth from this assortment of meats to prevent from using ordinary water however, do so sparingly.  Why is this? Over-watering meats strips meats of added seasoning and the broth which emerges are less concentrated.
Per meats: You may use alternatives. We chose smoked turkey, oxtail, stock fish and smoked fish for a wide variety.

Note: Clean & shred Smoked Fish (we used catfish), remove the shell, clean and boil your shrimp and if you plan on using Stockfish, ensure that it sits in water overnight to enable it expand and soften. You might need to boil to further soften and remove the pungent smell PRIOR to adding to the meats.

Smoked catfish: Before and After shredding

2. Next, clean and thoroughly prep 5 bell peppers, 1-2 hot pepper and 1/2 small onion. Add and blend on pulse setting to get the peppers in a semi-chopped texture which isn’t quite pureed.

3. Next, prep the leaves. Start by cleaning. You need a strainer to prevent waste ( you don’t want half of your vegetables running down the drain). Spinach is easy. Just add your spinach into a bowl of water, grab an handful at a time and swish it in and out of the water a few times and place the cleaned spinach into a separate bowl, then do the process again until the bowl is empty.


For this specific recipe, preparing and cleaning Ukazi leaves require a different method which includes first washing your ukazi leaves then blending the leaves before setting aside.

Store-bought Ukazi leaf

Then this is where it really starts to get interesting. Pay close attention, its going to go by very fast!

Let’s safely assume that you now have set aside, a bowl of mixed ground peppers & spinach and Ukazi leaves prepared as instructed. And the boiled meats are tender and ready-to eat? Yes? Awesome! Now we can advance to mix everything up and do some real cooking.

4. Here’s where you add the pepper to the boiled meats. Also add boiled shrimps, softened stock fish and shredded smoked fish. Where available periwinkle also goes in at this point.

5. Add dry crayfish seasoning, bouillon cubes and allow the pepper to cook for a minimum of 15 minutes. Add some meat stock to ensure that the added pepper doesn’t form a paste. If it does, a slow burn might start at the bottom of the pot – we don’t want that!


6. After the peppers have properly cooked into the meat and nothing looks weird, add the vegetables – Spinach should be strained or hand squeezed to remove excess water and Ukazi leaves should be thick blended if you followed the above directions. You did right?

Freshly-added spinach

Adding Ukazi leaves

7. Allow the vegetable to boil for around 10 minutes or so on medium heat to soften the vegetables.
If crunchier vegetables are preferred, don’t cook beyond the allotted time – bear in mind that spinach easily gets soft when immersed in heat.

8. Add a cup of Palm oil.
Where available, home made palm oil from palm kernel (where available) is the best option. Store bought palm oil will do just fine.

9. Taste for salt and add some if necessary. Allow all to boil together for another few minutes while you gently mix from all contents from top to bottom and around.

Afang – Ready to serve