Ingredients
- 3 handfuls ugba (ukpaka)
- Salt
- ½ cup red palm oil
- 1 habanero pepper (atarodo, ose oyibo)
- 1 handful crayfish or 2 tablespoons ground crayfish
- 10 medium crayfish
- 1 teaspoon powdered edible potash (alternative: baking soda)
- 1 big stock cube
- ½ teaspoon ogiri Igbo
- 2 big pieces of ponmo (cow skin)
- 1 big cut stockfish
Notes
Ugba is oil bean seed. It is cooked for long hours and shredded before use in Nigerian food. You will often see it utilized in getting ready Ugba the meal special in this page, in some components of Igboland it’s miles brought to Isi Ewu and it’s miles a first-rate aspect in Abacha (African Salad).
Powdered fit to be eaten potash is used to make the pink palm oil curdle. The recipe for Ugba calls for the pink palm oil to be in that kingdom. Baking soda, precise opportunity to edible potash.
Please be aware that the medium crayfish stated within the list of ingredients isn’t always oporo (large dried prawns). By medium crayfish I suggest while you buy crayfish, you have got a few which are quite huge but no longer as big as oporo. I typically pick these out and maintain them for preparing Ugba.
Ogiri Igbo is a totally conventional Igbo seasoning crafted from castor seeds. If you do now not have it, skip it.
Ponmo is cow skin. Raw cowskin is burnt to eliminate the hair to get the ponmo. If you do not have ponmo, use cow tripe (shaki).
Stockfish is dried cod fish. If you do now not have it, smoked mackerel (smoked fish) is the subsequent excellent element for this Ugba recipe.
Before you prepare Ugba
Rinse the ugba/ukpaka and region in a sieve to drain.
Cook the stockfish and ponmo with the inventory dice till performed. Take them off from the pot. If the inventory from cooking them is too much, preserve boiling until maximum of it has evaporated and you’ve got approximately a quarter cup of stock. If the use of smoked fish to replace stockfish, do no longer prepare dinner it, just destroy into small portions together with your fingers and upload in Step 4 inside the coaching guidelines.
When the stockfish and ponmo have cooled down, cut them into small pieces and set apart. If you need to serve the Ugba with a lump of stockfish, recall to cook that one with the first one but do no longer ruin it into pieces.
Dissolve the fit to be eaten potash or baking soda in half cup of cool water and set aside. If the use of fit to be eaten potash, stir thoroughly and bypass the mixture through a quality sieve and set the ensuing liquid aside.
Cut the habanero peppers (atarodo, ose oyibo) into tiny portions.
Break up the medium crayfish into small pieces along with your fingers.
Grind or pound the normal crayfish in case you do not have already floor ones.
Cut the crimson onion into rings and set apart. This is for garnish.
Rinse and slice the lawn egg leaves. This is also for garnish.
Directions
Pour the palm oil in a pot. This is accomplished off the range. But in case you need to melt the purple palm oil, you can soften it and take off the stove as soon as the palm oil melts.
Stir the safe to eat potash solution or the baking soda answer then slowly pour into the palm oil while stirring at the identical time. You will note the palm oil slowly flip yellow and curdle (end up thicker).
Add the ogiri Igbo to 1 nook of the pot/pan and dissolve it with your spatula.
Add the floor crayfish, the pieces of medium crayfish, the pieces of stockfish and ponmo then stir till the whole lot is blended. If the usage of smoked fish, upload it now earlier than stirring.
Transfer the pot/pan to a stove and set the heat to medium.
Add the ugba/ukpaka, sliced habanero pepper and the stock from cooking the stockfish and ponmo.
Continue stirring until everything is combined and once it heats up, upload salt to your flavor, stir once more and take it off the stove.
