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Traditional Nigerian Soups

The Bitter leaf version of Afang Soup

I am sure, you must be thinking, Dunni huh? which soup is that? Lol. Well, let me me tell you how I got to that conclusion. My mum has friends from many parts of Nigeria and by consequence, I have “Aunties” all over the place. This is her recipe, modified. For non Nigerians reading this, culturally in Nigeria, the term Aunty is not only meant for your mum or dad’s sister. Any female friend or family member of your mum or Dad is called Aunty. The same applies to men, you refer to them as Uncle so so. It is a way of showing respect, as we do not call women or men who are way older than us by their first name. Serious abomination. It took some getting used to, when I started schooling in Plymouth. Having to call my lecturers John, Kevin, Laura, Mindy was very strange. I started out with calling them Mr this or Mrs/Miss that and they kept correcting me by saying ooooh Dunni don’t, Mr Carlton is my father, call me John or no Dunni Mrs Raymond makes me sound like an old grandmother, call me Mindy please. I am fine with it now, but I would definitely not allow my friends little children call me Dunni. Ah, nooooo, I am not that much Westernised. Lol

Back to food. Okay, there is a soup native to the South South region of Nigeria called Editan Soup. I had this at an Aunty’s house a long time ago and I remember very well because it was bitter and I did not really enjoy it. My Aunty wrote me a recipe, stating that I should wash out the Editan leaves properly to get rid of the bitterness. Because of the medicinal properties of the leaf, she said she did not wash the leaves for too long, hence the bitter taste, but for we modern city girls, I can wash for as long as I want to. I came across her recipe while I was preparing a shopping list for my mum and I wrote down bitter leaf, because I simply assumed that Editan was the Efik native name for bitter leaf. Ha!!! Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I asked a question on the group So You Think You Can Cook and I was told that Editan leaves are different from Bitter leaf. It is also bitter, but it is not the same. See why I keep saying that group is the place to be for any cook? If you haven’t joined yet, I recommend that you do. Even if you hardly use Facebook, you will find it useful. I was also corrected in my assumption that it is an Efik dish. Editan soup is an Ibibio dish. It gets better. Some women kept saying the leaves can only be sourced in Akwa Ibom State, but someone else disproved that saying, Editan leaves can be sourced in Oyingbo market in Lagos. Still in doubt about joining the group? If you need to know where to buy any ingredient in any part of the world that you are, just ask. Trust me, someone will know. It is a global group of over 12,000 members. One big happy family of cooks and chefs. Since I did not use Editan leaves, but substituted with Bitter leaf (which is a very good substitue) it will be wrong to still call it Editan soup, hence the term the Bitter leaf version of Afang Soup. Here’s how I made it

You will need

Water leaf and Bitter leaf – in a 3:1 ratio

500 – 700g of Assorted Meats

3/4 cup of beef stock

2 pieces of Ata rodo – scotch bonnet or habanero pepper

1 cooking spoon of Palm oil

1/2 cup of Smoked red prawns

1 handful of shredded stockfish

1/4 cup of ground crayfish

Salt – if you need to

Seasoning cube – if you need to

How To

1. Boil your meats till tender and the stock is thick and rich. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: remember to use my tip of adding a strong smoked fishy additon to the pot shortly before the meats have cooked through. I used stockfish. Other options are eja sawa, smoked red prawns or whole crayfish.

2. While the meats are boiling, give the water leaves a good rinse and shred roughly. (personal preference – i don’t like water leaves shred finely). Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: always shred water leaf shortly before you cook with it. Never shred and keep lying around, except you are trying to dry out it’s water content by leavng it on the window sill, for example, otherwise it will disintegrate very fast and become slimy.

SAM_9234

a bowl of clean, roughly shredded water leaves

 Proceed to washing the bitter leaves, after which you pound in a small mortar and pestle, till the bitter leaves break down and flatten, or you roughly blend. Careful though, you are not trying to turn the bitter leaves to a paste.

SAM_9227

Thanks to Mummy’s trip, I now have the local wooden mortar and pestle. Whoop, whoop

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: to wash bitter leaves, pick the leaves from the stalk and place in a bowl of warm water. You wash bitter leaves by rubbing the leaves in both palms to release the dark green juices, which are in essence the bitter part of the leaves. You keep rubbing in both palms, creating a friction between your palms and the leaves, mimicking the motions of washing a piece of cloth. Dunk the leaves back in the bowl of warm water and the colour should be really dark green. Squeeze the leaves in your plams to let out more of the dark juice, then decant the water, fill the bowl with fresh warm water and repeat the process again. You will have to do this several times, otherwise the soup will be inedible, unless you have a high tolerance for bitter tasting food. With each time you decant the water, take a small bite out of the leaves, to taste for the potency of the bitterness. You will likely spit out the leaves on your first 2 or 3 trials, till you will get to a point where the water is less dark and the bitterness is palatable with a sweet-ish after taste in your mouth.

After which you pound. You will go from this

SAM_9224

to this. Notice the difference in texture?

SAM_9228

SAM_9237

3. In a clean pot, add stock fish, assorted meats, and half of the amount of stock I listed above, then add roughly ground ata rodo and smoked smoked red prawns. Stir and let the pepper cook for a minute or two.

SAM_9240

then add the water leaves. Shake the pot with you hands, turn the heat to low and leave to simmer for 3 – 5 minutes. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: i stated to use half of the stock i listed because water leaves have a very high water content. At the beginning, use stock sparingly so you don’t end up with a watery mess. When I cook veggies, I always cook on low heat from start to finish, to retain some of its nutrients, and to also prevent the stock from drying up faster than the water leaves can leach out their water content.SAM_9244

4. Once the water leaves have wilted down and you can see more liquid in the pot, add the palm oil, stir and cover the pot. This is to let the palm oil steam for 1 – 2 minutes with the contents of the pot, also adding its flavour.

SAM_9248

Open the pot and taste the stock. You should not feel a curdling taste on your tongue. If you do, let it cook for another minute or so. The stock should not have a slight orange tint to it, so with the white meat like Shaki (tripe) and cow leg.

SAM_9250

5. Add the bitter leaves to the pot, the other half of the stock and stir. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: i added the rest of the stock now, as bitter leaves have a rich fibre content, which will absorb the liquid in the pot, so adding the other half of the stock counteracts that. Pounding the bitter leaves, will break down the toughness a little and allow it to cook faster (3 minutes tops).

SAM_9256

6. Add the crayfish, stir, wait for 1 minute or so and then taste for salt and seasoning. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: i always end my soup with the addition of crayfish because it introduces an ooomph to your soup that hits your taste buds immediately. Crayfish is also naturally salty, which means you may not need to re-season with salt or seasoning cube. If you feel you need to, add crayfish first before you add more salt or seasoning cube before you over salt your soup and get pissed. Lol

……………………and there you have it.

SAM_9276

I was told this is a Calabar dish called Ukwogho Etidot. Tongue twisting, I find it funnier to call it the Bitter leaf version of Afang Soup. Lol. If anyone knows where Editan leaves can be sourced in London, please hit a sister up.

Update: I was just informed by someone on the group, that you can also get Editan leaves to buy in Mile 12 from Calabar women. It looks like Afang leaves i.e. Okazi but bolder and softer. Editan is the Ibibio name but Igbos call it Nkanka. So, my people if you know where I can source Nkanka in London, supply the information please. If you can find Nkanka, please cook it and send me your pictures. Thanks


23 Comments

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FILED UNDER: Traditional Nigerian Soups
TAGGED WITH: Afang Soup, bitter leaf and afang, bitter leaf soup, ukwogho etidot
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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Comments

  1. Avatartraycee says

    October 17, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    Nice one Dooney. The plate is full on lol. Looking at the pics, you get full up already. The main leaves are water leaf and ukazi. I will do a post on it and send you a pic 🙂

    http://www.traycees.info

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 18, 2013 at 8:25 am

      Thanks Traycee, please do

      Reply
  2. Avatarjola says

    October 18, 2013 at 12:06 pm

    Hello Dooney, i actually tried this but i think i made an error but squeezing the water leaf which made it to be really soft, but i will try it again without squeezing the water leaf

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 18, 2013 at 5:50 pm

      Oh, you did. Thanks. If you squeeze the water leaf too hard, it will make it slimy. The soft part, I am not very sure of. It was soft because you probably left it cooking for too long. Squeezing water leaf is actually okay to get rid of some of its natural water content. Sorry about that. I do hope you will try it again and let me know how it goes. Thanks

      Reply
  3. AvatarLyrics says

    October 18, 2013 at 4:16 pm

    Hey Dunni,
    I’ve been a silent follower of urs for a while now and I love ur passion for food and ur diligence in food presentation. I’m from Akwa Ibom and I love editan soup. In fact, most people mistake it for afang soup but the plus is that editan soup is more healthy as it cools the body unlike afang which is a “hot” leaf and the bitterness in it helps in healthy bile secretion. In fact, the demand for editan soup down in Akwa Ibom now is higher as more ppl are becoming aware of its richness and as such, the market women have hiked the price now.
    Ur ukwuoho edidot is perfect. This is how we cook it at home. I used to dread washing it however as it takes a long time and my mum knowing I hated washing it, always made me do it till I came to love it as after that, my job would be done.
    Keep doing what u do best, much love!

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 18, 2013 at 5:45 pm

      If I told you that I have been quite nervous since I posted this, would you believe. I said to myself, someone from Akwa Ibom can go all gangster on me now and accuse me of runing their native dish. Your comment ctually made me shout whoop, whoop. THANKS A LOT. Oh my grandma made me learn how to wsh bitter leaves to. Bless that woman’s soul because I would be useless with some kitchen things by now. Thanks for the kind words. It is really appreciated. I am making Ukang Ikom abi iit called ubobok ukom tomorrow morning.

      Reply
      • AvatarEkanem Iboro says

        December 14, 2015 at 9:36 am

        Hello there. I looked at the first process of your washing the leaves( bitter leaf) and pounding it. You don’t have to do that. Have the leaves washed, cut ( as if you are cutting Ugu) and then you can continue washing and squeezing until you reduce the bitter taste. For advice, you can sieve the water and bottle it for drinking. Its good for high blood sugar, diabetes and high blood pressure persons. The water leave just needs to be washed and cut into little bits. It will dissolve in the pot.

        Reply
  4. AvatarOmolade says

    October 21, 2013 at 12:31 pm

    Well done Dunni, so many great soup ideas to try out. Sometimes I get bored with making the same set of 4 or 5 soups, it’s good to get fresh ideas from here.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 21, 2013 at 6:59 pm

      Ah, yes o. I am in the business of expanding the repertoire of the recipes you can make. Please let me know how it turns out

      Reply
  5. AvatarYel says

    October 21, 2013 at 4:27 pm

    Dooney, ow else do I wash my bitter leaf without using a mortar and pestle. I don’t have one and don’t want to buy the over washed leaf from the market.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 21, 2013 at 6:55 pm

      The mortar and pestle is used after you wash the bitter leaf, and not before. I wrote down instructions on how to wash bitter leaf, it is right below Step 2. If you are having any problems, please let me know

      Reply
      • AvatarYel says

        October 25, 2013 at 1:26 pm

        Ok Dunni, I look forward to preparing this soup tomorrow and will wash the bitter leaf myself*sobs*thanks a lot for sharing this recipe. Cheers

        Reply
        • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

          October 25, 2013 at 2:13 pm

          Niiiiice. Don’t worry, the soup is worth all the bitter leaf washing trouble. Please let me know how it goes

          Reply
  6. Avataradanne says

    October 21, 2013 at 9:08 pm

    Well done Dunni! You’re always outdoing yourself and don’t mind some of us, the keyboard critics….at the end of the day we appreciate what you do.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 22, 2013 at 6:58 pm

      Thank you very much Adanne

      Reply
  7. AvatarShola says

    October 23, 2013 at 9:21 am

    Hi Dunni….I really love this. n i op to make it this weekend..God bless u

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 23, 2013 at 9:35 am

      Please do and let me know how it goes

      Reply
  8. AvatarYel says

    October 28, 2013 at 2:29 pm

    Dooney, I made ukwogho etidot with just 1k and babe, I still have leftover meat stored up in the refrigerator. The soup was delicious and I so washed the bitter leaves myself. It left me with shreky (greenish) fingers but was worth every bit of it. Mom totally liked it and I also took a picture, put it up on my dp which of course brought friends to your blog *straight face*; this means that when you finally open that restaurant,I will/should be your largest ‘share eater”. I also made the banana pudding which would most likely remain in the freezer till I finally decide to move it to the dustbin*covers face* I did it d oyinbo way, added cornstarch to it and also blended d bananas into it. The cornstarch makes it taste more floury than creamy hence my hesitation to dig in. It is yet to feel like blue bunny and I don’t want my ice cream sensory nerves to be forever tainted. In all of this, can I again say thank you for these fun filled recipes. Cheers babes

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 28, 2013 at 8:04 pm

      Oh girl, I was just beaming reading this comment. Pot of soup with 1K, now that is a smart cook. Good job. Well done with washing the bitter leaves by yourself. It is a skill that once you get right, the next few times you try it, it won’t be so bad. Thank you so much for the referrals. I would really like to see the picture too. Please send an email to [email protected]. You are always welcome to be the largest eater. Everyone is welcome. You guys have been so supportive. Nice tip about the banana pudding. I have a banana bread recipe that I will put up this week. With a recipe, you have to keep trying and trying and tweaking till you get it right. Thank you again for visiting the blog and always coming back with glowing feedback. big hugs

      Reply
  9. AvatarMaureen says

    March 20, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    Hello Dooney.
    Can you use dry bitter leaf ?

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 21, 2014 at 2:21 pm

      I wouldn’t recommend it, because dried bitter leaves haven’t been washed to get rid of their bitterness, so when you blend it and add to the soup, it might be unbearable.

      Reply
  10. AvatarMercy Francis Marcus says

    August 11, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    which one should be more in quantity, the bitter leaf or waterleaf? pls reply soon cos am making dis soup today today

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      August 14, 2014 at 11:07 am

      orry for the late reply Mercy. Water leaf should be more

      Reply

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