AFRICAN SALAD AND ITS NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS

AFRICAN SALAD AND ITS NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS

African Salad is a delicacy that got its origin from Nigeria, among the Igbos in the eastern part of Nigeria. It has become popular in many parts of Africa as a result of its richness and great taste. It is indeed a dish that is gradually becoming popular among foreigners. In some parts of Igboland, their main ingredients are Abacha and Ugba. It can be prepared as a main course meal or a fast food. Abacha can be bought from various markets in Nigeria and it is processed from Cassava, while Ugba, also known as Ukpaka is processed from Oil Beans Seeds.

African Salad is a highly nutritional diet as it contains rich minerals like potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorous and zinc. As a result of the other ingredients added to the salad, such as crayfish or meat, chili pepper and garden egg, it is rich in protein and crude fibre.

MAKING AFRICAN SALAD

Ingredients

1.       6-8 cups of Abacha (African Salad)

2.       Ehu- 3 seeds

3.       1-2 cups of Ugba

4.       Half cup of crayfish

5.       1-2 cubes of Maggi or Knorr

6.       10cl of palm oil

7.       Edible powdered potash- 1 teaspoon

8.       Utazi leaves

9.       Garden egg leaves

10.   Kanda/pomo

11.   Grounded pepper

12.   1 big bulb of onions

13.   I teaspoon of ogiri

14.   Dry fish/stock fish/meat

BEFORE TO MAKE YOUR AFRICAN SALAD

1.       Prepare the ehu seeds by roasting, dehauling and grinding them with a dry mill.

2.       If you will use kanda (cow skin), cook till done and cut into small pieces.

3.       Depending on your choice of fish (you can also use all of them), fry or roast the mackerel, soak the stockfish in water and debone the dry fish.

4.       Wash and cut the vegetables into tiny pieces. Cut the big bulb of onion into tiny pieces and cut the medium one in circles. Wash the garden eggs and set aside, no need to cut these.

5.       Grind the crayfish and pepper

6.       Soak the Abacha in cold water and rinse the Ugba with lukewarm water.

7.       Once the Abacha has softened, put in a sieve to drain.

8.       Put the powdered potash in a cup or bowl and pour about 1 cup of cold water. Stir well and you are ready to start making the African Salad.

MAKING THE AFRICAN SALAD

1.       The key to making a good African Salad is to make sure that all the ingredients are well incorporated. As you will see below, there's a lot of add this, stir, add that, stir. You may wonder why you can't just add everything and stir but if you do that, it will be very difficult for you to get a good blend of all the ingredients.

2.       Pour the palm oil into a sizeable pot. Yes you need all that oil so that your Abacha will not have a dry feel in the mouth when done. Pour the water from the potash mixture, making sure not to pour the sediments.

3.       Stir very well and you'll see the oil turn into a yellow paste.

4.       Add the ground pepper, ground ehu, crushed stock cubes, crayfish, diced onions and ugba (ukpaka), then stir very well. Please note that we are doing everything off the stove.

5.       Add the iru/ogiri and make sure it is mixed very well. Add the diced kanda/pomo and stir very well.

6.       Now add the soaked and drained Abacha and stir till it is well-incorporated in the palm oil paste.

7.       Add the sliced Utazi and salt to taste and stir well. You can also use dry Utazi if the fresh one is not available where you live. It is important that you add salt last because after adding all that seasoning, your Abacha may not even need salt anymore.

8.       It can also be served with fried beef or chicken.

References

1.       Allnigerianrecipes.com

2.       Punch online

3.       Allnigerianfoods.com

4.       Viviannesblog.wordpress.com