Soups & Stews

Atama Soup with Waterleaf

Name: Atama Soup with Waterleaf
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 100 min
Total time: 135 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Nigerian
Ingredients: 500 g stewing beef (cubed); 100 g ready-softened stockfish (Deboned, drained weight. Buy ready-softened or prepare ahead according to the product instructions; variable advance softening time is excluded from this recipe timing.); 150 g smoked fish (deboned); 180 g fresh atama leaves (food-market leaves, very finely sliced and pounded); 350 g waterleaf (washed, drained and chopped); 100 g cooked shelled periwinkles (commercially prepared; thaw in refrigerator if frozen); 120 ml red palm oil; 30 g ground dried crayfish; 100 g onion (finely chopped); 1 whole Scotch bonnet pepper (chopped); 1 small stock cube; 900 ml water; 0.75 tsp salt

Pounded atama and tender waterleaf in a concentrated meat-and-fish soup enriched with palm oil. Atama has more than one place in southern Nigerian cooking. It can perfume palm-fruit soup, but Ganiru of The Pretend Chef also documents a vegetable-rich pot with waterleaf and palm oil. Her account places the leaf in Ibibio and Efik food traditions and describes an early encounter with the soup in Uyo. This version follows that vegetable pairing. Giving it its own name preserves the difference between changing the main cooking base and merely shortening Abak Atama to Atama in conversation. Cultural context: A documented vegetable-soup preparation using palm oil and waterleaf, kept separate from palm-fruit-concentrate Abak Atama.

35 minPreparation

100 minCooking

6Servings

What you’ll need

6 servings

Let’s get cooking

1
Put beef and stockfish in a heavy pot with stock cube, half the salt and 600 ml water. Simmer covered for 55–75 minutes, until tender, using the remaining water only to prevent drying.
2
Check the atama: remove tough stalks, wash well and pound the finely cut leaves. Wash waterleaf separately and drain well.
3
Add smoked fish, crayfish, pepper and palm oil to the meat. Simmer 5–8 minutes, keeping the liquid fairly concentrated because waterleaf releases moisture.
4
Add waterleaf, onion, atama and cooked periwinkles. Stir and simmer 7–10 minutes, until the leaves are cooked and the periwinkles are thoroughly hot. Stir the base regularly.
5
Adjust salt and serve with a separately prepared swallow. If using a frozen periwinkle product, its reheating instructions take precedence.

A little kitchen wisdom

Atama and afang are different leaves; do not substitute by name alone. This version uses palm oil, not canned palm-fruit concentrate. Start with ready-softened stockfish. If yours is sold dry, arrange the product-specific preparation in advance; the stated time starts after that step. Timing estimate: active preparation 35 min; cooking 100 min; additional passive time 0 min; conservative planning allowance 135 min. Some stages may overlap. Recipe status: Research formulation; not kitchen-tested. Allergen checks: Fish; Crustaceans; Molluscs; Check stock cube label

Recipe notes & sources

Research formulation; not kitchen-tested

A documented vegetable-soup preparation using palm oil and waterleaf, kept separate from palm-fruit-concentrate Abak Atama.

Allergens: Fish, Crustaceans, Molluscs, Check stock cube label

Around the table 0

Be the first to start the conversation.

More recipes to try

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

Soups & Stews

Afang Soup

115 min

Fatima Cooks

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

Image details

None by this package; original downloaded file bytes preserved. Source-file adaptations, if any, are credited separately.

Full source and image record

Soups & Stews

Loading your kitchen…

Ini’s Family Pot@ini_kitchen

Soups & Stews

Atama Soup with Waterleaf

35 minPreparation

100 minCooking

6Servings

What you’ll need

6 servings

Let’s get cooking

1
Put beef and stockfish in a heavy pot with stock cube, half the salt and 600 ml water. Simmer covered for 55–75 minutes, until tender, using the remaining water only to prevent drying.
2
Check the atama: remove tough stalks, wash well and pound the finely cut leaves. Wash waterleaf separately and drain well.
3
Add smoked fish, crayfish, pepper and palm oil to the meat. Simmer 5–8 minutes, keeping the liquid fairly concentrated because waterleaf releases moisture.
4
Add waterleaf, onion, atama and cooked periwinkles. Stir and simmer 7–10 minutes, until the leaves are cooked and the periwinkles are thoroughly hot. Stir the base regularly.
5
Adjust salt and serve with a separately prepared swallow. If using a frozen periwinkle product, its reheating instructions take precedence.