Abacha – Igbo salad

Some things are just interesting to eat when you are in a traditional setting , Abacha is one of such dishes. I have been experimenting with different food items to help emulsify the palm oil to form the dressing. I tried soda water, baking soda, potash and dried unripe plantain skin. The latter is the best option in terms of bringing a healthy dimension to this dish.
An Igbo friend tells me that her kids look forward to this dish at least one a week. I guess it just reminds them of noodles? The bitter garden eggs and Anghara leaves coupled with bites into tasty and spicy meats and the aromatic flavour of Uda is just so interesting .

How to make Abacha (Igbo Salad)

1 cup Ugba
1 cup Abacha
4 pieces Garden eggs( cubed)
1/2 cup Cow skin
1/4 cup smoked Prawns
1/4 pieces Stockfish
Pepper to taste
Seasoning to taste
2 tablespoons Anghara leaves( chopped)
Uda/Iwun/African Nutmeg
1 cooking spoon Palm oil
1 teaspoon soda water or dissolved baking soda or dissolved potash or dried plantain water.

Method
1, Season and steam the Pomo, Stockfish and prawns with pepper, seasoning and one ground Uda seeds for 5 minutes or until water almost dries up and the sauce thickens a bit.
2, Soak the abacha in hot water for about 5 minutes to soften, rinse ,strain and set aside.
3, Wash and slice the Anhara leaves.
4, Add  1 ground Uda to the oil and add the soda water stir vigorously  using a spoon to form a paste called Ncha. This is the dressing.
5, Mix all vegetables, meats and little stock,ugba and abacha together.
6, Using a fork, mix in the Ncha  and serve.

Cooking tip: to have a really thick and nice Ncha it is advisable to mix this in a small mortar using a pestle.. You may have to increase your oil so that you have enough to use as dressing as you will loose quite some quantity in trying to scrape out the last drops .