Nigerian Soups

How to make Afia Efere Recipe – White Soup

Traditional Efik events are not complete without Afia Efere. Some Nigerian soups are consumed daily and some have been reserved for ceremonial occasions or weekends when families are together and can share this light soup cooked without palm oil ,called Afia Efere (white soup). There are different variants of this soup depending on your tribe. Some tribes in Igbo land call this Ofe Nsala which is cooked with slightly different spice combinations.  Cooked with fresh fish ,chicken, goat meat this soup is just a delight .

Aroma of roasted spices, aroma of goat or chicken fills the air and women slamming away on mortars filled with yams  and delivering mounds of pounded yam.This was the sight and sound of the kitchen at the traditional event of my father’s recent coronation as Paramount ruler. You can imagine that my inspiration for Afia Efere is of course from that ceremony.
I particularly find this soup interesting when you want to take a break from palm oil. Adding some chunks of okromakes  this soup even more interesting for me but you can skip this. I also added pieces of smoked fish to provide something to ‘escort’ the pounded yam to the mouth.
The spices for this soup, African nutmeg(iwun) and Aidan fruit (uyayak) and of course dried chili pepper makes this simple soup a treat.

Recipe for Afia Efere

Whole broiler chicken ( cut into pieces)
Hand full Smoked fish( shredded)ofe nsala ibo soup spices
6 fingers okro( optional)
2 tablespoons Crayfish( ground)
1 tablespoon dried pepper( adjust to your tolerance level)
2 pieces blended African nutmeg( iwun)
2 pieces  Aidan fruit( size of your little finger)
1 crayfish seasoning tablet
1 beef seasoning cube
Salt to taste

Method
Season the chicken with pepper, salt ,beef seasoning  and  1 uyayak and allow to marinate for about 30minutes
Meanwhile boil the yam and pound till very resilient. Do not pound with water. and set aside
Steam  the chicken until water dries up.
Add some water and steam the chicken for about 20 minutes or until chicken is half cooked
Add about 4 cups of water, crayfish, fish, remaining pepper, spices and crayfish seasoning and bring to boil
Flatten out the pounded yam into about 3-4 pieces and add to the soup and boil till  it dissolve completely .
Add the pieces of Okro.
Cook for 5 minutes
Serve with pounded yam

afia efere naija soup

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