Akwa- Ibomites Most Favourite Traditional Soup (Afang Soup)

Hi everyone I was elated when I saw this contest so I took out time to prepare Afang soup which is one of the traditional soups we eat in Akwa Ibom state

Ingredients Used are

1. Afang leaf
2. Water leaf
3. Periwinkle
4. Crayfish
5. Pepper
6. Seasoning cube(maggi star)
7. Salt
8. Meat
9. Fish
   10.Palm oil

Procedure:
Wash the meat and the fish.

You can decide to cook them together or separately but for this particular soup I decided to cook them together to save time and resources used.
After washing them properly I put them into a pot and then added salt (using your discretion depending on the quantity of meat and fish) next I added seasoning cube for this meal I used Maggi Star of course we have other seasoning cubes like Knor, Royco etc.
Immediately I added pepper, it does not matter if it is fresh pepper or dried pepper for this meal I decided to use dried pepper. Leave the meat and fish to steam for some minutes.

While that was cooking I went ahead to wash the water leaf so that I can shred it to small sizes.

After which I washed the periwinkle. The periwinkle used comes with the shell so when washing I added a pinch of salt to wash it clean. '

The major leaf used for this soup is the Afang leaf. I had to buy the one that was shredded already in the market what was left to do was to grind it, yes you can grind it or use your mortar and pestle to pound it to the desired state. Buying the one that was shredded already gave me ample time to do other things.

Check on your meat and fish from time to time to ensure that the water you use in steaming the meat and fish does not dry up otherwise it will get burnt and unfit for use. The water will reduce so what you need to do is to add a little water.
At this point the meat and fish is ready and all the things needed to cook this delicious meal are in place.

Now to the cooking proper:
Pour the meat and fish stock into a clean pot. Allow it to steem for some minutes. Next add the shredded water leaf, put the crayfish, then add the your periwinkle. Put the desired quantity of palm oil leave to cook for few minutes and stir after which you can add the grinded Afang leaf. For it to be fresh once you add the grinded Afang you bring down the soup from either your stove or gas cooker. You food is ready.

For us here the soup can be eaten using amala, fufu(cassava starch), garri, semovita etc.

This is one of the soups eaten during traditional events in Akwa Ibom state.