African salad (Abacha food) is a delicious west African food that is native to the ndi Igbo (people of Igbo). I can prepare this delicacy within 15 minutes and it requires just cassava flakes, palm oil, crayfish, ugba and some other spices.
Abacha is very popular in the eastern part of Nigeria; it is one of the most Popular Igbo Foods; I don’t visit Eastern part of the country and come back without having a taste of this Nigerian delicacy.
African Salad is Igbo Food
Abacha – as the Igbos love to call it – is one of the most popular food in the eastern Nigeria, it serves best as kola to visitors.
There are villages in the eastern part of Nigeria that only offer ugba or abacha to visitors and even visitors love and desire the delicious delicacy.
How To Make Abacha From Cassava
The fresh Abacha (African salad is a by-product of cassava). There are a lot of processes involved with obtaining the fresh abacha that is used in preparing the African salad that we all know.
Most rural dwellers are very familiar with turning cassava tubers into dried abacha that is used for this recipe.
The first thing to do (if you live in the village or own a farm) is to get cassava tubers.
Wash thoroughly and boil along with water for twenty to thirty minutes then pill to remove the brown outer layer, and cut to tiny bits.
I then soaked the sliced cassava in water for 18 hours. The last thing to do would be to wash thoroughly with clean water then sun-dry and store in an airtight container.
Dried cassava chips can last more than a year if stored in an air tight dry environment.
That above is dried abacha.
But if you live in developed cities you probably wouldn’t need to go through this cumbersome process, just buy every ingredient in the market.
Here are the ingredients that are needed for preparing Abacha (African salad) whether you are within or outside Nigeria.
Ingredients for African Salads
6 to 8 cups of Abacha (African Salad) {image above}
Ehu 3 seeds (optional)
2 cups Of Ugba (Ukpaka)
half cup of crayfish
1 seasoning cube
150ml of palm oil
Edible powdered potash(1 teaspoon)
salt and pepper to taste.
3 garden eggs (optional)
Utazi leaves (optional)
Garden egg leaves (optional) (images below.)
Meat/dry fish or stock fish.(optional)
I told you I serve most Nigerian foods with either fish or meat. Even the African Salad (Abacha) is also served with either fish, meat or even stock fish (okporoko).
Although, I have not included meat, fish or okporoko in this recipe.
Ugba in one plate, ground crafish/ground ehu in another plate.
In the end, you spice up with this leaves, garden eggs and onions.
Preparation
I enjoy using the dried abacha (as you would find in the plate above) instead of the freshly made wet abacha the only reason is that the former gives you the advantage of heating at the beginning for a few minutes without getting overly wet.
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 half a cup of clean water; this is a trick I employ just filter out unwanted solid materials that are often embedded in potash.
How to Prepare African Salad – Abacha Food
Filter the dissolved potash into a mortar or pot, leaving out the residue.
Add about 100ml of palm oil and stir to form a yellowish paste (ncha, as addressed by the igbos),
This is the first part of making Abacha (African Salad), stir very well to get the yellowish paste. Then add the ground crayfish and pepper, stir, then add the ground ehu if you like.
Ugba is an important ingredient in making African salad, I consider it incomplete without the presence of this ingredient. Ugba is usually sold in most Nigerian markets or African shops (if you live outside Nigeria).
Add the ugba to the mixture and stir, and then add the abacha, salt. It is advisable to heat the abacha (using the method outlined above) just a few seconds before you use so it doesn’t get cold.
Most people in Nigeria like their Abacha to be a little warm.
Stir the whole combination and you are almost through with the preparation part.
The Toppings
The garden eggs, the leaves, and the onions are used to spice up or for decoration and not added during preparation but while dishing out.
They sliced and kept aside in different plates or bowls, then added while I dish individual plates out; this also goes for the meat or fish used.
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.