If you’ve ever visited the South-eastern part of Nigeria, especially Anambra state, you’ll not miss this awesome meal because almost every food vendors and local restaurants have it. You meet it on occasions like traditional weddings, child naming ceremonies, and the like. It’s not missing in an average South-eastern cuisine for lunch. Talk about Sunday afternoons. You know it: Ofeakwu is popularly accompanied by white rice. Other accomplices can be yam, plantain, and edible cocoyam.
It’s a dish that beckons you to have a taste because of its enchanting aroma that comes from a mixture of scent leaves, the right kind of meats & palm (akwu/banga) fruit. Since palm fruit is used for this meal, you can be sure the health benefits from palm oil are effective here. It’s been said to be beneficial to the brain and heart. It is also loaded with vitamin A which is good for retina health.
Get yourself ready because we are getting our hands oily today! Continue to view the recipe.
Ingredients
Palm fruit – 1 small custard cup, heaped
Meat - 1kg (you can use assorted, offals are always nice)
Dry fish - 1 medium-sized (optional)
Stockfish – 3p pieces of the ear part
Crayfish - 1/3cup grounded
Fresh pepper - 1/8 cup grounded
Okpei - 1tsp grounded
Seasoning cubes (knorr preferably) - 5 cubes
Scent leaves (nchanwu) – 2 cups of picked leaves
Ugu leaf- 1 small custard cup heaped and finely cut
Onions – 2 medium-sized
Salt - to taste
Now let’s cook…
Wash the meat and add into the pot, season with one of the onions, salt, and two knorr cubes.
Add 3 cups of water, put on medium heat, and bring to boil for 20 minutes.
Wash the dry fish and stockfish and add to the meat on fire. Cook till the meat is well done.
Wash the palm fruit into another pot, add some water and cook till well done.
Sieve the cooked palm fruit from water and pound in a mortar.
When the pulp is well separated from the seed, transfer to a bowl and add about 3cups of water. Use your hands to mix it well with the water to bring out the puree, and sieve it into a neat pot. Add another 2cups of water or thereabout, mix and sieve again. TIP: The consistency should not be too thick not too thin.
Put on fire. Once it brings up the first bubble, add the remaining onions and knorr cubes and leave to continue boiling.
If it boils to a point where even the littlest of oil appears at the top, add in the previously boiled meat mixture, crayfish, pepper, okpei, and salt. Taste to check that the salt is okay.
Allow to cook till it starts to thicken, cut your already washed scent leaves and add.
Allow to cook to a thick consistency of soup nature and add the ugu leaves.
Let it boil for a minute and bring down.
Voila, ofeakwu is ready!
Tips that will help you in the process of making Ofeakwu
Boil the meat till the meat stock is little and concentrated and almost non-existent but not burnt. This will help make the soup tastier and reduce the amount of extra water that will go into it.
During the period of boiling the palm nut puree to that of the point of putting the meat, there will be bubbles coming up which usually overflows, to avoid this, make sure the heat is not too high and keep the pot fully or half open.
Do not cut the scent leaves until it reaches the point it will be added.
I can see the beauty of this soup already with my mind’s eye, the beautiful red oil covering, the orishirishi popping their heads u here and there, the green vegetables and oh you can’t just miss the aroma that fills everywhere. Don’t worry, your neighbours will soon start coming around to ask you what the aroma is all about; like I told you, it’s enchanting and should I say captivating? Hmm…
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