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Salads

Expanding my cooking repertoire: Abacha and Ugba (Warm Oil Bean and shredded Cassava salad)

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I am very excited to be writing this. Very, very. I have never prepared Abacha before. To crown it all, I haven’t even eaten it before. I realised how much I had been missing yesterday. My friend Cynthia, her mum is around on holiday, and in true tradition of our Mummy’s, they always come with goodies from home. Mummy C came fully loaded, and of course, I got my own share of the booty. Benefit of being neighbours, Lol. Of the things she gave me were Egusi, Abacha, Ugba, ground Ehu spices and Pap. I have put 3 out of the list to good use, and I can’t wait to do something interesting and out of the box with Pap. My head has been churning for days, so be on the look out for a truly astonishing recipe with Pap.

Having these ingredients in my hand, was my first chance to prepare Abacha and I asked Mummy C for her recipe and instructions. I patiently wrote everything down and nervously started yesterday evening. Usually, I go into a new recipe with a lot of confidence, somehow this dish made me nervous. I guess it was due to the fact that I had told Mummy C, I will be bringing the finished product over, for her to appraise. Knowing someone will be judging your food can be quite unsettling, even for the best of cooks. I finally had a semblance of how contestants on cooking shows feel. Even shows like Masterchef The Professionals and Great British Menu who showcase the culinary skills of professional chefs highlight this nervousness, so who am I to feel over-confident. Lol

To a cook, your dish is like your baby and you don’t want anyone talking smack about it. Food is to a cook, as a piece of art is to an artist. We guard it jealously and we take it very personal. I also happen to have the temperament of an artist to boot, so imagine my delight, when Mummy C said I did well. Whoop, whoop. Trust me, she wasn’t just being nice because she critiqued my Nkwobi, and corrected me in one area. I will be posting my Nkwobi recipe tomorrow as my weekly Friday afternoon special. I am truly psyched about that, and it was my first time too. When I was done cooking, in my standard re-branding and packaging of Nigerian food, I have decided to call it a warm oil bean and cassava salad. Sounds posh eh? Lol. I can just imagine the look on a patron’s face when he/she looks at a menu and reads Warm Oil Bean and shredded Cassava salad with bewilderment. Yes, that is our well-known Abacha and Ugba, simply re-packaged for mainstream consumption. That day will come by His Grace, I just know it. If you have other interesting ideas for re-branding Abacha, please let me know.

So, come along with me and share in my journey to making Abacha and Ugba. If you’ve never tried it before too, come on, pick a leaf from my book, journey into uncharted waters. Trust me, you’ll really love this.

You will need

3 cups of Abacha – dried cassava flakes

1 1/2 cups of Ugba – oil bean

1/2 a tablespoon of Kaun – edible potash

Palm oil

1 – 2 pieces of Ata rodo – depending on how hot you want it

1 cup of Shredded stockfish or dried fish – optional

1 tablespoon of ground ehu spices – calabash nutmeg

1/2 of 1 red onion

Pomo – optional

For the grilled mackerel, you will need

roughly chopped onion

1 whole mackerel

1/2 teaspoon of curry powder

Salt

Seasoning cubes – knorr chicken cubes

Garlic

Fish sauce – optional

Pictures of the ingredients can be found on the Ingredientspaedia page HERE

How To

Prepare all your ingredients – chop or roughly grind the ata rodo, soak the abacha in warm water to allow it plump and soften, cut the fish into pieces and clean, mix the kaun with 1/2 a cup of water.

1. Start on the fish, so it can be grilling while you prepare the abacha. I prefer to grill rather than fry my fish. Way, more healthy. I do this for meat, chicken and turkey too. Season the fish with salt, 1 seasoning cube, curry powder, and fish sauce. The fish sauce already contains salt, same with the seasoning cube, so leave out the salt. If you are not using fish sauce, sprinkle in a little salt.

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Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: I love the flavour of grilled onion and garlic, so to introduce it to the fish, I stuff the spaces with onions and garlic, and also place bits of it over the pieces of the fish.

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Place in the oven, turn the knob to girl and set the temperature to 200. Gas mark 3

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2. Now to the abacha. Soak in warm water for 20 minutes to allow the cassava flakes to soften

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3. Mix the akawun/kaun and 3/4 cup of water. This will result in a grayish looking solution

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4. Pour palm oil into a deep saucepan and stir in the kaun solution. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: you only need the solution at the top, do not stir in the sediments below. Stir in the akawun/kaun solution and watch as the red palm oil changes to a shade of light orange and increases in volume. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: add the kaun solution in bits, and watch for the thickness of the palm oil mixture. If you add too much of it, you end up with a watery palm oil mixture.

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4. Add the ata rodo,  ground ehu spices, ugba and stir. This will mop up some of the liquid content of the palm oil mixture.

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Add the abacha

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Combine the abacha with the rest of mixture.

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If you are going to be using pomo and shredded stockfish, now is the time to add it and stir. Season with seasoning cube

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To truly make it a warm salad, put the pot on low heat for 2 minutes to truly warm through and cook the seasoning cube. The thought of eating a dish containing seasoning cubes that hasn’t been cooked with heat, gave me heebie jeebies. So, please warm it slightly.

get the fish out of the oven and plate

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see, no difference from frying is there? Taste the difference stuffing the fish with onions and garlic makes. Deeeelicious

………………………….and here’s my Abacha and Ugba, plated all pretty. Tell me if this was tagged Warm Oil Bean and shredded Cassava salad in a restaurant as a starter, you won’t eat it. Lol

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I crumbled dried utazi leaves with my fingers and sprinkled over for garnish

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How much do you think, this should go for on a restaurant menu?

When next you have a dinner party, consider serving this as a starter, or you can serve my Mosa and lemony palm oil sauce. Recipe HERE

A reader challenged me on the use of Kaun, which isn’t truly healthy to eat, and she’s asked that I find an alternative. I discussed this with Mummy C, and she said an alternative to Kaun is Ncha. Ncha is made from the ash of burnt palm kernel branches. So, great tip right there, people. Buy Ncha instead. I have definitely taken a note of that, as one of the things my mum will be bringing for me. For my readers who live outside Nigeria, this doesn’t help much, so back to high school chemistry and experimentation. I tried baking soda, cream of tartare (as it contains potassium), no luck with both. I then tried corn flour, as it is used to thicken sauces and gravy. I believe I got a winner with corn flour. Here’s my result below. It does have the look and consistency of the palm oil mixture with Kaun, doesnt it?

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I will be experimenting with it fully on Saturday. I have another interesting spin on Nkwobi. Something outside of the standard cow leg.


24 Comments

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FILED UNDER: Salads
TAGGED WITH: abacha, abacha and ugba, african salad, Nigerian Starter, ugba
Dooney

About Dooney

Dooney is the blogger, recipe developer and photographer for Dooney's Kitchen. I spend my days trying to figure out creative ways to redefine Nigerian food, either by creating a new dish itself using ingredients in ways that have never been used before, or changing the approach to Nigerian cooking using kitchen gadgets.

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Nkwobi – a novice’s experience »

Comments

  1. Avatarijei says

    July 25, 2013 at 4:23 pm

    dunni wonder as if u know wat i feel like eating. the water n kaun mixture is it d water dt is extracted from the soaked abacha u wud mix wt kaun? Second am pregnant hope i can still use kaun. Third, wen shd we expect nwobi receipe

    Reply
    • AvatarDunni says

      July 25, 2013 at 4:31 pm

      Aaaw, congratulations Ijei. I hope you are enjoying your pregnancy. You have just given me an idea for a pregnancy series. If you don’t mind, can you please give me ideas on recommended dietary meals for pregnant women and what you’ll like to eat if for example you could hire me as a personal chef. What would you like to be eating based on your condition.

      Now to your question, please ask your doctor if you can. If so, water from the tap is what you need to mix wit the kaun. Nkwobi recipe will be posted tomorrow afternoon.

      Reply
      • Avatarijei says

        July 25, 2013 at 5:02 pm

        yes why not. Ok in the hospital we were told to take more of vegetables, eggs, lots of protein, calcium, fruits n less of carbonhydrate, oily foods, and sugar

        Reply
        • AvatarDunni says

          July 25, 2013 at 7:01 pm

          Thanks Ijei

          Reply
      • AvatarUzo's Food Labs says

        May 12, 2014 at 6:11 pm

        No to eating Kaun when pregnant. It can cause miscarriages

        Reply
        • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

          May 13, 2014 at 10:10 am

          Thank you for the tip Uzo

          Reply
  2. AvatarAdanne says

    July 25, 2013 at 6:25 pm

    Sorry, my previous comment was warbled, here we go again:
    Great job on your first try 🙂 I have heard Abacha being referred to as African Salad, so that’s an alternative for your re-branding efforts.

    Is the plate on the left with the fish the Ugba dish?

    Reply
    • AvatarDunni says

      July 25, 2013 at 7:02 pm

      No, the plate on the left is just the fish. I mixed the ugba with the abacha

      Reply
  3. Avatarijei says

    July 25, 2013 at 8:55 pm

    dunni if am using conflour do i mix it in water like the kaun n leave out the sediments like the kaun and water mixture or i will jus add conflour to my palm oil.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • AvatarDunni says

      July 25, 2013 at 11:57 pm

      I combined corn flour with water to make a thick paste and I mixed with the palm oil. Corn flour will give no sediments at all, because it is flour. I think you should please wait till after I post an updated recipe using the cornflour. I only tried it out to see if it will combine well with the palm oil and give the yellow colour too. I did not take it further from there, and I don’t know yet how it will turn out.

      Reply
      • Avataradanne says

        July 26, 2013 at 2:03 am

        Thanks for the clarification dear. I know you will say what is this chick on about lol. I was confused because Ugba is an actual dish as well, so when you wrote Abacha and Ugba I was expecting two separate dishes. But Ugba is used to make Abacha so I can see why you mentioned it. Great great job!

        Reply
        • AvatarDunni says

          July 26, 2013 at 2:17 am

          Thanks Adanne. Yeah, I know Ugba is a dish as well. Mummy C said I could combine both of them, and I am glad I did. I got the full on Abacha experience. lol

          Reply
  4. Avatarijei says

    July 27, 2013 at 8:20 pm

    dunni goodevening i ve not seen your update on abacha like u promised this saturday

    Reply
  5. AvatarCrystal says

    August 21, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    in place of the kaun u can use unripe plantain peels,roast it and use the ashes

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      August 21, 2013 at 1:49 pm

      Wow, thanks Crystal. Niiiiiiice.

      Reply
  6. Avatarchezura says

    September 24, 2013 at 3:04 am

    Hi Dunnie, I stumbled on ur blog a couple of days ago… Although I jst got the chance to read thru now. I must say, ur doing an awesome job and u put a very interesting/ refreshing spin on our very own naija foods. Ur abacha recipe is on point but for me, like when I’m making it, there r things I add that I ddnt c in urs. @ this point, I’ll add that I live in Enugu state wc is like d home of abacha, so dese ingredients r peculiar to their own style( I think). Here goes: crayfish, ogiri abacha – its different frm d ogiri for bitterleaf soup, dry pepper(they have ds roasted one they use), garden egg leaves instead of utazi and garden eggs. If d ugba will b made separately, ogiri isn’t added to d sauce.
    Sorry for d lengthy comment and please keep up d good work

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      September 24, 2013 at 7:02 pm

      Oh Chezura. Bless you. Thanks for the tips

      Reply
  7. AvatarMercy says

    February 10, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    Hi Dunni,

    Great job you are doing on your blog!!I have been a ” Nicodemus”
    going through almost every recipe you have here. I just wanted to say the food purist in me love the authenticity of the recipes and appreciates your honesty when you have to modify.Keep up the wonderful job!

    Please send me your email. I need to place an ad on your website.

    On @ Ijei’s question about the safety of Kaun in pregnancy

    On @ Ijei’s question about the safety of

    On to

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      February 10, 2014 at 12:19 pm

      aaaaaaaaw, thanks Mercy. [email protected]

      Reply
  8. Avataridomagirl says

    April 13, 2014 at 3:42 pm

    love your blog! I always learn something new…really excited to learn that corn flour can be used in place of potash. nice!

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      April 13, 2014 at 7:00 pm

      You are welcome Idomagirl. Please let me know how it goes

      Reply
  9. Avatary2y says

    September 19, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    Do you need to cook the ugba b4 mixting

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      September 20, 2015 at 4:15 am

      Yes, boil for a few minutes

      Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      September 21, 2015 at 12:23 pm

      yes you do. for a few minutes, with a little salt.

      Reply

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