Afang soup is a brightly flavoured soup made with an assortment of leafy vegetables. It’s the perfect soup that accommodates a variety of meats as it does with vegetables! A super-versatile soup popular amongst the Efik and Ibibio people of Nigeria . This is the Ultimate guide to making an Amazing Afang /Eru soup with Spinach

Do you know the crazy thing? A Cameroonian dish known as “Eru” popped up on my YouTube feed and I remembered that my Cameroon friends in college would hype it. As I watched the video, I had an epiphany! ” Eru” in Cameroon is “Afang” in Nigeria. IT IS CRAZY HOW MUCH WE HAVE IN COMMON!

I enjoy these little treasure hunts! How about you?

Eru/Afang Recipe

Afang soup is made from Afang leaves (otherwise known as wild spinach, Okazi, Koko, fumbua or eru) and Waterleaf. Of course, there are different versions across Africa and even in the diaspora. The waterleaf can be substituted for spinach since waterleaf is not readily available everywhere. This leafy , savoury soup is cooked with palm oil and served alongside Nigerian swallow such as eba, pounded yam and semovita

This recipe is the diaspora version and probably the cheapest version.

How to make Afang soup

This has to be one of the easiest soups to prepare. It starts with seasoning and cooking your meat. The savoury elements of the soup are buried in the stock. Feel free to add more orishirishi like dry fish or shrimp. Once that is done, season the stock, pour in a 1/2 cup of palm oil, blended okazi (Afang leaf) and your chopped spinach or waterleaf. Let it simmer for a 10 minutes and YOUR SOUP IS READY

Ingredients

Okazi or Afang leaf– this can be dry or fresh. This vegetable is slightly bitter but I promise you that you will love it.
Spinach or Water leaf– You do not need a lot of water from your stock because these vegetables release a lot of water. this gives your soup a nice balance which is not too watery and not too thick
Meats– You need an assortment of meats. I usually go for goat meat and tripe because of how flavourful they are but you can opt for beef, dryfish,shrimp, periwinkle. The MORE the MERRIER!
Palm oil– will this even be a West- African soup without our dear “ole” palm oil to give us the local flavour?
Scotch bonnet– For HEAT! ouch ouch
Crayfish– This is a fish seasoning made from actual dry fish! the flavour it gives this soup is impeccable. It is also optional so you can skip it if you are allergic

What can I eat Afang soup with?

This soup is commonly eaten with garri or eba in Nigeria. You can also eat it with pounded yam/poundo.

I am a Nigerian foodie and here I try to post what I enjoy eating as a nigerianfoodie. The best part is that I get to share it with you and hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do! Grab the recipe, go shopping and lets start cooking.

P.s if you try this recipe at home, remember to tag me @nigerianfoodiehub on instagram so that I get to see it and I add you to my cabinet of honourable foodies.

More Nigerian recipes

Craving more bold spices and Nigerian favourites? Here are some tasty recipes for you to try out…

Equipment

1 pot
1 cooking spoon
1 blender

Ingredients

1 lb Meat (goat meat &tripe)
2 lb spinach or waterleaf
5 cups Okazi leaf Dry or fresh
Dry or smoked fish deboned
1/4 cup Palm oil
1 medium sized onion
3 scotch bonnets 1 for garnish

Spices

Salt
Cameroon pepper
Paprika
Crayfish
Stock cubes

Instructions

Prepare meat

Wash goat meat and tripe (or meat of choice) and place it into a pot
In a blender add 1 onion and 2 scotch bonnets. Blend into a paste and pour into the pot of meat
Season the meat with salt, cameroon pepper, paprika and 2 stock cubes. Place on medium heat and boil for 30 minutes or till soft.
Soak dry fish in hot water for 5 minutes to soften it

Prep Vegetables

While meat is boiling, wash and soak your sliced okazi leaves in hot water for 2-3 minutes to soften it
Once soft, transfer the leaves to a blender and blend with a small amount of water to your desired consistency.
Wash and chopped your spinach

Prepare soup

In the pot of meat add dry fish, palm oil , crayfish, stock cubes and salt. Stir well
add the blended okazi and spinach or waterleaf and combine well. Let it cook for 8 minutes or until the vegetables begins to wilt. Then garnish with 1 scotch bonnet
taste and season to taste.Turn off the heat and let it simmer till it cools down
garnish with scotch bonnet serve and ENJOY!