Soups & Stews

Afang Soup

Name: Afang Soup
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 85 min
Total time: 115 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Nigerian
Ingredients: 600 g stewing beef (cubed); 150 g smoked fish (deboned); 250 g fresh afang leaves (washed, very finely sliced and pounded); 500 g waterleaf (washed and chopped); 120 ml red palm oil; 3 tbsp ground dried crayfish; 150 g cleaned cooked periwinkle meat (optional); 1 Scotch bonnet pepper (chopped); 1 stock cube (optional); 800 ml water (plus a little extra if needed); to taste salt

Pounded afang leaves and juicy waterleaf in a palm-oil broth with meat and smoked fish. Nky Lily Lete recalls encountering afang at a food kiosk in Akwa Ibom and learning the recipe as a reminder of her stay. In Efik and Ibibio cooking, finely worked afang leaves meet softer waterleaf. The shared leaf connects this soup to other regional dishes without making their methods interchangeable. Cultural context: Afang and Igbo okazi use the same leaf but represent distinct preparations. This afang is thickened by its vegetables, without achi or egusi.

Afang leafy soup with meat and fish, served with pounded yam

Afang_soup_and_pounded_yam_01.jpg by Joan Onanyo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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30 minPreparation

85 minCooking

6Servings

What you’ll need

6 servings

Let’s get cooking

1
Cook beef in the water with the stock cube for 50–65 minutes until tender. Reduce its broth to approximately 250 ml.
2
Pound the sliced afang in a mortar, or pulse in a food processor with just enough water to move the blades. It should be fine rather than long and stringy.
3
Add smoked fish, crayfish, oil, pepper and cooked periwinkle to the beef. Simmer 8 minutes.
4
Fold in waterleaf and cook 4 minutes. Add the prepared afang and simmer 8–10 minutes, stirring gently, until the leaves soften and the mixture thickens.
5
Add salt to taste and a small splash of water only if needed. Serve hot with swallow.

A little kitchen wisdom

Sources vary the order of adding leaves; sufficiently softened afang and controlled liquid matter more than a rigid sequence. Spinach is a practical waterleaf substitute but changes the finished dish. Timing: active preparation 30 min; cooking 85 min; additional passive time 0 min; conservative planning allowance 115 min. Some stages may overlap. Recipe status: Research draft; not kitchen-tested. Allergens and checks: Fish; Crustaceans (crayfish); Molluscs if using periwinkle; Check stock cube label

Recipe notes & sources

Research draft; not kitchen-tested

Also known as: Afang

Afang and Igbo okazi use the same leaf but represent distinct preparations. This afang is thickened by its vegetables, without achi or egusi.

Allergens: Fish, Crustaceans (crayfish), Molluscs if using periwinkle, Check stock cube label