How To Make African Salad

African Salad (Abacha & Ugba)

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My igbo girlfriend lol# always told me that Abacha is not a meal. Though it can be as filling as any other main course meal, African Salad is usually eaten as an in-between meal.

I remember vividly how my grandma prepared Abacha as soon as she came back from the Eke or Afor market, garnished with a generous serving of garden eggs and the leaves, with some dry fish. Oh, I will never forget the long vacations spent at grandma's place.

Abacha is prepared with cassava. The cassava tubers are cooked till done then sliced with a special cutter. The sliced cassava is then soaked in cold water overnight, washed thoroughly and dried under the sun.

Your African Salad will not be complete without Ugba. Ugba, also known as Ukpaka, is made from oil bean seeds. These seeds are cooked for several hours then sliced, washed and fermented for a few days.

Ingredients for Abacha

The following are the complete ingredients you need to make a delicious African Salad. I will group the ingredients for ease. I did not use all these in the video because they are not available where I live.

For African Salad, the more ingredients you use, the tastier and more "complete" it will be. Some people may regard Ugba as optional but for me, it is a must :)

Minimum ingredients for making Abacha (African Salad)

• Abacha | 3 handfuls
• Ugba | 2 cups
• Palm Oil | 30 cl
• Powdered Potash (food tenderizer) | 2 tablespoons
• Fish | Mackerel/Dry Fish/Stockfish
• 1 large Onion
• Salt and dry pepper (to taste)
• Crayfish | 2 handfuls
• 2 Stock cubes (Maggi/Knorr)
• 1 teaspoon ground Ehu se ed s (Calabash Nutmeg)

Other seasoning you can add to the Abacha

• 1 teaspoon Ogiri / Iru (traditional Nigerian seasoning that smells like you-know-what lol)

Other meat and vegetables for the Abacha

• 3 Fresh Utazi leaves (Gongronema latifolium)
• Pomo /kanda (cow skin)
• Garden Eggs | As much as you can eat
• Garden Egg leaves | 1 medium bunch
• 1 medium Onion (for serving)

Before to Make Your African Salad

1. Prepare the ehu seeds by roasting, dehauling and grinding them with a dry mill. 
2. If you will use kanda (cow skin), cook till done and cut into small pieces.
3. Depending on your choice of fish (you can also use all of them), fry or roast the mackerel, soak the stockfish in water and debone the dry fish.
4. Wash and cut the vegetables into tiny pieces. Cut the big bulb of onion into tiny pieces and cut the medium one in circles. Wash the garden egges and set aside, no need to cut these.
5. Grind the crayfish and pepper
6. Soak the Abacha in cold water and rinse the Ugba with lukewarm water.
7. Once the Abacha has softened, put in a sieve to drain.
8. Put the powdered potash in a cup or bowl and pour about 1 cup of cold water. Stir well and you are ready to start making the African Salad. We JuStarting Out Watch Out For Our Best Whatsapp 08138592905