Unripe Plantain in Abak Atama Soup

Abak Atama is the Efik version of the popular Banga soup from Edo/Delta areas of Nigeria. I am yet to find a Nigerian soup that does this well with frequent reheating , the soup just seems to improve with ‘age’ 🙂
I tend to buy a lot of palm fruit each time I am shopping . It does get a bit tiring haggling prices in the market…I don’t who feels same way as I do. Anyway to store the palm fruit for future use, I parboil for about 10 minutes , cool and freeze in batches. When palm fruit is frozen uncooked the oil in the sauce seems to have this sticky unpleasant feel on the tongue when used in cooking soups. Atama leaves is another characteristic ingredient for this soup. You will find this with Calabar women in the market.I am not sure if you can find it easily in African stores in UK or North America. The best alternative could be beletete which is used for Banga soup. The taste and flavor  is not the same though.
Growing up  I remember mum will drop some unripe plantain in Abak Atama to cook so that we have something to eat before the soup was ready to be eaten with pounded yam. It was like some form of starter …a little piece of plantain and some soup. Looking back now I wonder if the purpose was to have something to eat quickly or was it  to use the plantain to further thicken the soup ?What ever the reason was, the outcome was quite pleasant. She also will add Egusi balls to the soup bringing some excitement to the soup. I never did understand this egusi twist, but suspect it was to increase quantity of something to chew in the soup …like meat I guess. What ever the motive was the experience was memorable,  biting into the well seasoned Egusi balls as I took  a bite from the plantain.
The plantain is best eaten right after the soup is cooked . The beauty about this dish is that you get your plantain dish and a soup for eating your regular swallow or rice. Enjoy.

Recipe for Plantain in Abak Atama

Ingredients
1 big derica cup Palm fruit
1 medium bunch Atama( shredded very finely)
10 pieces Beef
10 pieces Pomo
1 cup Periwinkle (in shell)
1 stock fish head
1 medium size smoked fish
10 pieces fresh Shrimp
1/2 piece Uyayak( Adian fruit)
1table spoon dry Pepper
2tablets crayfish seasoning
1 beef seasoning( to boil meat)
2 fingers Plantain ( cut into 4 pieces each)
Salt to taste

Method
1, Boil the Eyop (palm fruit)  for about 30minutes
2, Pound to separate the flesh from the nut. This takes some experience else you might end up breaking up all the nuts. You don’t hit the fruit too hard
3, Pour about 11/2 bottles of water( 1.5 liters) into the palm fruit and using your hand squeeze out the juice from the pulp
4, Sieve the  juice  into a pot and set aside
5,Season the beef with seasoning, salt, and some dry pepper and steam till half cooked. The rest of the cooking will be completed when cooking the soup
6, Pour beef into pot of palm fruit sauce and bring to boil
7, Add the stock fish head, Pomo(cow skin), periwinkle , smoked prawn smoked fish and PLANTAIN
8, Add the Atama,Uyayak, dry pepper ground crayfish, seasoning and salt to taste
9, Drop small balls of the Egusi into the soup and cook for about 3 minutes. Do not stir as Egusi could break. Shake the pot until the Egusi sets
10, Further correct seasoning and cook until soup thickens to the desired consistency( just like Afia Efere or ofe nasala)
11, Plantain should be cooked at this point also
12, Serve plantain with some Abak Atama Soup

Method for Egusi balls
1, Wash, sun, and dry roast 1 cup  Egusi and grind into powder.
2, Pound the Egusi with 2 pieces of Scotch Bonnet pepper and 1/2 of very small onion. Pounding may take up to 15 minutes
3, Add 1 egg and continue pounding until oil starts to appear in the paste.
4, Mold Egusi into small balls