This Nigerian delish Soup, is native to the Efik people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria. It is also very nutritious as the soup consists mainly of vegetables. Afang Soup is prepared with a generous quantity of Water leaves and the Okazi leaves.
400g sliced Okazi/Afang leaves | about 4 handfuls
250g Water leaves
20 to 25 cl red palm oil (about 1 drink glass)
Beef, Kanda, Dry fish (stockfish optional) any animal of your choice is just fine.
2 tablespoons ground crayfish
Pepper and salt (to taste)
2 stock cubes
A handful of unshelled periwinkles.
Before you cook the Nigerian Afang Soup
Slice, wash and drain the water leaves into tiny pieces. Grind or pound the sliced Okazi leaves.
Cooking Directions
Wash the unshelled periwinkle thoroughly to remove sand and dirt. Boil with salt for about 5miniute and set aside.
Boil the beef and Kanda with the diced onions, salt and stock cubes in a very small quantity of water. When done, add the dry fish, crayfish, pepper, and periwinkle and cook for about 5 more minutes.
Now add the water leaves and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Stir and add the okazi leaves. Stir, add the palm oil in generous quantity, check for salt and to taste. Allow to cook for 5 minutes or till the okazi is tender.
Voila!! You have your delightful pot of Afang soup.
Serve with fufu, Eba, semo, amala, wheat, pounded yam.
Enjoy, don't forget to savour the sweetness of sucking out the periwinkle from its shell.
Bon appetite!!
Health benefits of Afang soup
Well first, Afang soup is a good source of unsaturated fatty acids. Unsaturated fatty acids make up the HDLs (i.e High-Density Lipoproteins). HDL is known as good cholesterol because it helps to remove other forms of cholesterol from the bloodstream.
It is rich in essential dietary fibre. Dietary fibre is essential for weight loss and also helps prevent constipation.
The Okazi leaves used in its preparation are rich in iodine. Iodine helps in preventing goitre.
The waterleaf mix of Afang soup helps to slow down the digestion and conversion of starch to simple sugars. This makes Afang soup useful in managing diabetes.
It also contains a lot of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are important in repelling free radicals and preventing oxidation.
It is also a rich source of Vitamin C. Vitamin C increases the body’s resistance to disease.
I bet you didn't know that Afang had this much benefits. Now that you know, you should definitely eat more of it.
