Cassava : The Beauty of African Salad

Tribes all over the world are distinguished by things that are peculiar to them. These things could be their way of life, dressing, food etc.

Abacha is a kind of food peculiar to the Igbo tribe in Africa. It is also called African salad.It is not only popular among the Igbos because almost everyone who has had a taste of it regardless of tribe always ask for more. In some Igbo villages, abacha is the major delicacy they offer to visitors before any other thing. It is easy to make and takes at most 15 to 20 minutes when the ingredients are ready.

Abacha is processed from cassava mostly in the rural areas. The harvested cassava is peeled and boiled in a pot for 20 to 30 minutes. It is then grated or shredded to slim strands, washed with cold water and sundried to flakes. If properly dried and stored in an air tight container, raw abacha can last for as long as a year and even more. There are few variation to how the delicious meal is prepared but there's also a constant that the more the ingredients, the tastier the meal.

Ingredients;

For a tasty abacha, the following ingredients are needed:

• Dry Abacha

• ugba/ukpaka (African oil bean seed)- optional

• potash/ngu (for thickening)- optional

• palm oil

• pepper, salt and seasoning cubes

• ogiri (locust bean)

• Ehuru seeds (African nutmeg)

• kpomo/ canda (cow skin)- optional

• stock fish - optional

• fresh fish/ dried fish/meat -optional

• crayfish

• garden egg

• garden egg leaves

• onions

Procedures

1. season and boil the fish/meat, kpomo and stock fish. Fry the fish

2. wash the dry abacha with cold water. Remove from the water into a seive. Avoid pouring both the water and abacha directly into the sieve inorder to get rid of sand

3. soak the washed abacha in hot water (not too hot) for a minute and drain in a sieve. I also like to blanch my onions at this point just to get rid of the rawness a bit

4. dissolve potash in water ( enough to give the desired thickness)

5. pour a desirable quantity of palm oil inside a pot, bowl or mortar

6. pour the potash water into the palm oil and mix until the mixture thickens and becomes yellow in color

7. Add pepper, salt, seasoning cubes, ogiri, blanched onions, ground ehuru seed and crayfish to taste and mix very well.

I also like to add a bit of my fish or meat stock here just to enhance the taste and moistness

8. Pour the soaked abacha into the mixture and mix very well either with a cooking spatula or hands.

The ugba can be added at this point

9. garnish with garden egg ,garden egg leaf, fish, meat, canda etc.

10. serve with any soft drink of your choice