African Salad

Most Nigerian foods are served with either fish or meat, Even the African Salad (Abacha) is also served with either fish, meat or even stock fish (okporoko)


Ingredients for African Salads
6 to 8 cups of Abacha (African Salad)
Ehu 3 seeds (optional)
1 to 2 cups Of Ugba (Ukpaka)
half cup of crayfish
1 to 2 cubes of maggi or knorr
About 10cl of palm oil
Edible powdered potash(1 teaspoon)
salt and pepper to taste.
3 to 5 garden eggs (optional)
Utazi leaves (optional)
Garden egg leaves (optional)
Meat/dry fish or stock fish.(optional)

Here is how to prepare African salad.

You can either heat or soak the dry Abacha in boiled water for about three minutes, then sieve and keep on a separate bowl.
Blend your crayfish and also slice the onions, garden egg leaves. It is advisable to dissolve the powdered potash in about 5 cl of clean water.Filter the dissolved potash into a mortar or pot leaving out the residue.

Add about 10cl of palm oil and stir to form a yellowish paste (cha, as addressed by the Igbos), This is the first part to making Abacha (African Salad), add the ground crayfish and pepper, stir, then add the ground ehu if you like.

Ugba is an important ingredient in the process of making African salad, it is considered incomplete without the present of this ingredient. Add the ugba to the mixture and stir, and then add the Abacha, salt. It is advisable to heat the Abacha just few second before you use so it doesn't get cold, as most people in Nigeria like their Abacha to be a little bit warm. Stir the whole combination and you are almost through with the preparation part.

The garden eggs, the leaves and the onions are used mostly to spice up or for decoration purposes and not added during preparation but while dishing out. They are often sliced and kept aside in different plates or bowls, then added while individual plates are dished out; this also goes for the meat or fish used. Taste the combination in the mortar or pot, if it is as tasty as you desire, you may also want to turn on the cooker and heat for few minutes if it is not as warm as you desire.

Serve with the meat and also add the garden eggs (sliced) and leaves to individual plate, most people in the rural centers like to take African salad with palm wine. So get a bottle of palm wine or your favorite soft drink