This dish is truly one for the gods. The amount of time, love, patience, not to talk of ingredients that go into it. Not for the faint hearted at all. The wrapping is something i struggled with when my friend Joy taught me how to, when i lived in Abuja. I have been told to stop saying dexterity is my weakness, so i will continue mastering the art of wrapping this Ekpang Nkukwo until I get it.
Ekpang Nkukwo is similar to the Ijebu Ikokore (recipe HERE), as they are both pottage dishes. While Ikokore is only made with water yam, Ekpang Nkukwo is made with water yam and cocoyam and then wrapped in leaves. Some do say you can make it just the cocoyam, but Joy taught me to use both, but heavier on the cocoyam, and just a little water yam to give it some fluidity. The reason why i haven’t made this dish is because, i never seemed to find all the ingredients i needed at once. If i found water yam, i won’t find coco yam. if i found cocoyam, i won’t find the proper leaves, until fate smiled down on me and i found all 3 in a shop in Upton Park, better yet, i had some periwinkles in their shells in my freezer. The stars aligned and I could finally make authentic Ekpang Nkukwo. Because of the trouble that it takes to make, it is the kind of dish you make for a special guest. Heaven knows, i won’t make ekpang nkukwo for just myself, no way. Not that i don’t love me enough, but cripes, if i didn’t have another mouth looking forward to eating this dish, i would just give up halfway.
Anne wanted me to take pictures to show that she was present for this sinfully delicious plate. hehehehehe
I made this dish for Ann. A reader who had been commenting here and on Facebook for a long time. She was visiting from Canada and she said Dunni, I must see you and I am coming hungry. On day 1 it was Banga with fresh fish and the rest with Pounded Yam. Day 2, I served a spectacular Omebe (black soup) with Semovita, and final day before she left, i got to make her Ekpang Nkukwo. Good thing she was there too, because when i started and wasn’t too happy with the way the wrapping was turning out, she was there as encouragement till the end. It turned out beautifully. One of the best Efik dishes i have ever cooked. Visibly hearing how much she loved it, she couldn’t even wait for me to photograph it well, so she could tuck in. So, here’s my recipe, pardon if it doesn’t look too well wrapped, but the taste and flavour is there, trust me.
Let’s Cook.
- Cocoyam leaves - you can also use vegetables with broad leaves like Spinach and Ugu
- Cocoyam - 70%
- Water Yam - 30%
- 1 tsp - 1 tbs of dry pepper - Cayenne Pepper or use fresh pepper
- Ground crayfish
- Mixed seafood - crabs, prawns, periwinkles etc
- Smoked fish
- Palm Oil
- Salt
- Seasoning cubes
- Ntong - efinrin, scent leaf. You can substitute with basil
- Here are pictures of the type of cocoyam to use. It isn't the Eddoes specie that is used for thickening soups. This is sometimes called red cocoyam. It is longer, darker and bigger
- Prepare the leaves. Here's a picture of cocoyam leaves. Cut it into strips as wide as your palm and as long
- Prepare the yam. Now, I will show you a trick Ann taught me. Peel yam and any tubers with a potato peeler. Trust me it works, it is much faster too..
- With your cocoyam peeled, peel the water yam too
- Please, I beg you, grate in a food processor. Use the grating slicing disc
- Depending on how dry both yams are, you may need to add a little water to loosen it up a bit, otherwise your dish would be dry and stodgy. Remember to season your grated yam. Very important.
- Before you start wrapping though, oil the bottom of a pot and cover it with perwinkles, still in their shell. This serves as a barrier to prevent the wrapped parcels from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Now you are ready to go. Using a tablespoon, scoop some of the grated yam unto the strip of cocoyam leaves on your palm. You may need to use less than a tablespoon, if the strip of leaf is not that wide, you don't want it to spill out too much
- Now, take the edge closest to you and fold over the grated yam
- Slowly roll away from you, until you form a cigar shape. It is expected that some of the yam should peek out from both ends, but not spill out, so as mentioned above, don't scoop too much. Don't worry if you don't get it right the first time. It took me a couple of tries myself, and i still have more practice to go.
- Place the wrapped leaves on the perwinkles and repeat the process until you run out of the grated yam mixture and leaves.
- Add the smoked fish on top, the fresh seafood,
- Add the ground crayfish
- This can be done in no particular order really, but i finished off with dry pepper, more seasoning and water. ust enough to cook the cocoyam parcels, it is supposed to steam really, so don't drown it.
- Cover the pot tightly, and let it cook on middle to low heat. I was in a hurry and used high heat, it burned a little. Don't make that mistake. lol
- As it cooks, shake it around a bit to distribute the heat. I used a spoon to gently check if the cocoyam parcels have cooked, and the water was drying up into a thick paste. Once you start to notice that, top it off with chopped ntong (scent leaf, efinrin). They say you can even use Uziza.
- and you are done.
. Cut it into strips as wide as your palm and as long
.
. Remember to season your grated yam. Very important.
. Don't worry if you don't get it right the first time. It took me a couple of tries myself, and i still have more practice to go.
ust enough to cook the cocoyam parcels, it is supposed to steam really, so don't drown it.
Ekpang nkukwo and ikokore are not the same o! It’s oto that’s the same as ikokore, same ingredients and recipe.
Hi, thanks for dropping a comment. I believe this is what I wrote in the post. “Ekpang Nkukwo is similar to the Ijebu Ikokore (recipe HERE), as they are both pottage dishes.” “While Ikokore is only made with water yam, Ekpang Nkukwo is made with water yam and cocoyam and then wrapped in leaves.”
Hi, dooney please am confused as to wether to remove the cocoyam leaves used in wrapping the grated cocoyam when is done and mix it the the other ingredients of serve it that way. Thanks. Really looks delicious and I need to cook it like tomorrow in other to taste it. Lol. Am hoping to receive your. Reply.
Hi, no you don’t remove the cocoyam leaves. it is served as is, with the rest of the ingredients
Kudos to you Dooney. The stars indeed must have aligned that day – you even had periwinkles in yours! As much as I love Ekpang Nkwukwo, the wrapping puts me off but I doff my cap for you – You made it to the end and it looks so inviting.
This used to be our saturday lunch when I was growing up. We would spend the entire morning prepping (dont blame us the dish was such a hit, my mum resulted to using humongous pots). My mum always used the biggest pot – the iron pot you use for party rice so you can imagine the quantity. The prepping would start at about 7am and we prepped with glee without any complaints whatsoever. Manually grating the cocoyam and wateryam, cutting the bottom and top off the periwinkle shell, cutting the ponmo into extremely tiny gazillion pieces so there would be ponmo in every scoop (spoon) of Ekpang that went to our mouths and finally wrapping the Ekpang mix and placing it in the pot. Each individual had their work cut out and it was executed happily with perfection
Finally, the meal would be ready about 3pm – 4pm and she would dish it into huge metal trays and we would all tuck in with out hands. This is one food that is extremely nice for communal eating. We would mark our territories on the tray and tuck in, counting the number of ponmo we were eating along the way. I remember someone had a record of eating about 250 ponmo pieces in one meal. Yes – we cut them that tiny! LOL!!
Did I mention we would have Ekpang for saturday lunch, go for seconds, have Ekpang for saturday dinner, sunday breakfast, lunch and dinner without complaining? My mum would now be the one begging us to eat something else for a change. Oh the good old days…..
Aaaaaaaw, i loooove your story. Loved every word. I hope i get the wrapping right someday soon, because i would so love to recreate that experience when i have a large family. It reminds me of a favourite. Ikokore
Dunni dear, well done. Pls wen did the palm oil go in? and how long did this cook for? Thank you
Oops, i missed that out. The oil goes in when you add the seafood. i will go update the post now. thanks for pointing it out
I’ve been following your blog faithfully for a while now. But this is my first time of getting the chance to comment.
Awesome!
You’re doing a wonderful and exceptional job of bringing us all together in redefining traditional dishes.
Thanks a lot Lady Dunni. God Bless You!
Ooohhhh I cant wait to try this next weekend. I have so missed getting new recipes alert since you started fitfam. Good for your health bad for me as I had come to depend on your posts for interesting meal times in my house. Christmas in June. Ekpang Nkukwo going down. I tried the ikodo I didn’t quite get it. Could you please revisit it
Hi, tell me what went wrong, then i may be able to help
I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove ekpang.
Oh wait, I forgot to say: I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Ekpang.
Chai!
Muaaah. I love to eat this but d timing is something else i cant really say.The dish is interesting, you must be patience infact the food is for gods. Tnx for bringing this will make b4 month of june runs out.
Last year I visited Calabar and that was the first time I tasted this dish. It was so delicious I had started singing “Ekpang Kukwo” all over the place, like it was a magic phrase that would open all doors! Lol…the best part is all the seafood orishirishi for a yoruba girl like me that loves seafood, oluwa o!
Thanks for this recipe Dunni!! Getting my food processor asap and this is the first thing I’m going to mess my kitchen around with! Amen!
Very good lecture but you were folding your ekpang nkukwu with the wrong side of the leave @ no 9
dooney
There are some images you should not be posting without disclaimer or a little caution.
Please when next you are posting this, first post the disclaimer that don’t look if at work, it is suicidal to click if you are hungry.
You did none of that
and now my stomach is rumbling
i am salivating
almost eating my desktop raw
i just hope i wont steal food today
🙂
Umm, my lovie lovie. This food still puts a smile on my face anytime I think about it. My taste buds cant thank you enough, my tommy still sings songs of praise.You are the real MVP.
Am now feeling very special with myself , ahn ahn so na me chop this whole plate. No wonder I could not walk home that day.
Btw day 2 was not just black soup oh, remember I had 3 soups in my plate. Okra with all the sea food, black soup and ogbono.
As someone who grew up on this dish, I commend your efforts at making it.Also good to know where to find the leaves in London, as I didn’t want to use spinach leaves. You have inspired me to make a dish which I last made 20 years ago. My method is slightly different in that I oil the pan first before putting in the wrapped leaves, and sprinkle chopped pumpkin leaves all over the pan between wraps. Don’t worry too much about your wrapping technique. One day you will get it right.
Girl! Girl! Girl! Dexterity might be your weakness but Determination is definitely your strength. You really inspire me with your dishes and I just wanted to say a big thank you.
I also have a couple of questions about this. I have never had periwinkle before and I was wondering if i cook this dish with the periwinkle in the shell, How will the periwinkle come out.
Second question, What should be used to season the grated yam.
Thank you
aaaaaaw, thanks. to cook perwinkle in the shell, you what off the tip with a large knife, as that is how you suck out the periwinkles, then give a good rinse. you can season the grated yam with salt and seasoning cubes