Food From the Rye: Okazi (Afang) Soup
As I stood at the butcher’s counter waiting for my goat meat to be diced, I could sense the man next to me staring intensely. A tap on my shoulder came next and I turned to face a big smile and twinkling eyes. “You are buying goat meat?” he enquired, “but usually it is only the West Indian people who buy goat meat!” The next thing I knew we were hugging and he’d told me all about his wedding (happening in January, in Trinidad), where there will be a whole roasted goat and a delicious soup made from the cooking juices. The butcher joined in with tales of his brown stewed goat, followed by a customer with their version and in a matter of moments we were well and truly united by common ground. I’m really feeling the love from the people here right now.
Goat secured, it was over the road for dried okazi vegetable (a Nigerian forest plant, also known as afang or ukazi), and salt fish. I will admit to deflating slightly under the weight of apprehension. I mean, goat and salt fish together? That just didn’t seem right. Add to the mix some dried crayfish and scary quantities of bright red palm oil and I was worried for my dining companions. Could it really work? Only one way to find out.
I started by cooking the goat, onions and a whole scotch bonnet (not chopped) in stock and immediately ran into the first of many areas of confusion. Most recipes advised cooking the meat for about 30 minutes, then for a mere 20 minutes once the other stuff goes in. Now anyone who has ever cooked goat knows that after 30 minutes cooking time, that meat is going to be about as tender as a piece of my shoe. I gave it an hour and turned my attention to the salt fish.
This time I used the boiling method, instead of soaking overnight in water as I did for the buljol. It worked an absolute treat; I’m never looking back. I boiled it three times (in fresh changes of water) for about five minutes per boil. The excess salt was removed in a fraction of the time, but even better than that, the fillets were much more tender and flaked apart like they loved it. That went into the mix, along with some dried crayfish (to thicken, apparently), chopped spinach (a substitute for ‘water leaf’) and of course, the okazi.
Next in the pot was the oil. After reading pretty much every recipe I could find, I reached the conclusion that the amount of oil added is a matter entirely of personal preference. Quantities ranged from 2 tablespoons to a cup. A whole cup! I decided to start with 2 tablespoons and work up from there, eventually adding about 50ml, which is quite a lot in my book, but it really did add a pleasing richness.
The end result then, as judged by me, Chris and our mate Joe, was a genuinely tasty, if rather unusual thick stew. Unusual in the sense that it was musty; it smelled rather like Peckham Rye actually. The flavour of the okazi is simply plant-like, but combined with the spinach to produce a satisfying earthiness. Surprisingly, the soup didn’t taste fishy at all; crayfish and salt fish just melted down to a thick, savoury base for the tender goat pieces to nestle in; each bony nugget was picked out and nibbled clean. It was also spicy. Really quite spicy indeed. We sucked air through our teeth and reached for the tissues.
If I were to make okazi soup again, I would definitely soak the vegetable in water first, and then blend to a paste before using; it was slightly reminiscent of that stuff you use to pad out packages for the post. Or, even better, I would try and lay my hands on some of the fresh leaves, which apparently are usually in stock but are significantly more expensive (my two dried bags set me back £2). The soup also traditionally contains snails, although unsurprisingly I couldn’t find any, and I bombed one final time by forgetting the essential accompaniment of pounded boiled yam; a major oversight.
These details aside, I’m going to declare the soup a success. Actually, I’m going to declare it a minor miracle. The fact that those ingredients can combine to produce something that everyone wants a second helping of, and then somehow totally disappears once you’ve gone to bed, is to be celebrated in my opinion. I also scored a triple whammy by using three ingredients that are entirely new to me (okazi, dried crayfish and palm oil). Bring on the next contender!
Okazi Soup
2 fillets of salt fish – I would say mine were about 10 x 5 cms each
2 x 25g bags of dried okazi, soaked overnight and blended to a paste with a little water
Stock (I used vegetable) – you need enough to cover the goat and top up with
50ml palm oil or to taste
700g goat meat, diced (you can also use a mixture of stewing meat and offal)
A handful of prepared snails (I could find any)
1 ounce of dried crayfish, pounded to a powder
A bunch of spinach, chopped (probably equivalent in size to one of those bags you get in the supermarket)
1 whole scotch bonnet
1 large onion, finely chopped
Put the meat in a large, heavy based pan with the onion and chilli (leave it whole) and cover with stock. Bring to the boil then turn down low and simmer gently for an hour or until tender.
At the same time, boil the salt fish in several changes of water, boiling for around 5 minutes each time. Taste the water for saltiness and if it doesn’t make your face pucker, you’re done. Skin and de-bone and flake the salt fish, then add it to the soup. You might need a bit more stock at this point.
Add the okazi, spinach, snails (if using) and crayfish. Bring to the boil, then turn low, add the oil, and simmer for 20 minutes. Check the seasoning and serve.
Category: Fish, Food From The Rye, Main Dishes, Meat, Peckham, Soups, Stews, Vegetables | Tags: afang soup, dried crayfish, goat stew, Nigerian food, Nigerian soup, okazi, okazi soup, palm oil, Salt Fish, ukazi soup 17 comments »
December 6th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Brilliant.
Just saw this sail by on Twitter (“Food from the Rye, have to check that out…”) and after reading this then caught up on the salt fish post.
Fantastic idea! Living just around the corner from Peckham Rye I will make sure to keep a close eye on your blog from here on.
// Manne
December 6th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Sounds good! Did you serve anything in place of the pounded yam?
December 6th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Brilliant! I can’t say I’ve ever heard of okazi, so this has made it an interesting read. What did the palm oil taste of?
December 6th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
What a beautiful story! I love the goat love fest in the butcher.
This is why food can heal the world.
Beautiful Helen, thanks for making me smile!
December 6th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
What an interesting soup!
I’ve got a question about this boiling salt fish to remove the saltiness technique. Did you find that the fillets were still whole afterwards or were they already starting to break down?
December 7th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Hi Helen
Sounds great. I’m in Dalston – do you think all this sort of stuff would be available there? I’ve always thought it might do and have bought Goat before. Thanks for the inspiration, looks like something fun for my next dinner party!
December 7th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Sounds really interesting! I am glad that you are experimenting with all these unique (to me) foods!
December 7th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I was sure you’d at least get an invite to the wedding in Trinidad!
December 7th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
They sound dead friendly round your way. This is a cuisine I know absolutely nothing about, what a brilliant post.
December 7th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Manne – Brilliant! Another local. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Kake – No! The fact that it was called soup kind of fooled me into thinking it was a soup when in fact it is more of a stew. Very filling anyway though.
Lizzie – Not much really, it just added richness. I will taste some au naturel and report back.
Sarah Moore – Very glad to hear I made you smile.
Su-Lin – They were most definitely still whole! I think that if you kept boiling them then they would start to break down but you wouldn’t want to do that anyway as there would be no salt left at all and they would taste bland. I think the boiling does help to soften them quite significantly though. Like I said, I’ll never go back!
Oliver – Thanks for your comment. Well, there’s only one way to find out! If not, come on down to Peckham, it’s not that bad, I promise
Jenn – They are new to me too, trust me!
LexEat – I KNOW! HOW RUDE!
Gastrogeek – They do seem to be a friendly bunch I must say. I am really enjoying the whole adventure so far. Food wise and people wise. Peckham ROOLZ!
December 8th, 2009 at 12:08 am
helen this looks AMAZING. i lived in Lagos, Nigeria as a kid, but never had it. As a child, the thought of having salt fish made me ill, kids are picky eaters. Now i really regret it. I saw people having this soup with fufu or ugali, hope you try that at some point. it is lovely, fufu i had a lot when we lived there.
lovely post and gorgeous emerald forest green photo.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:11 am
It looks weird but I would love to try some! Nice one. How’s tricks Helen?
Cheers David x
December 8th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Cool, I made it last night, got all the stuff in Dalston apart from the Okazi so I subbed in a load of spinach instead. Was less green than yours looks, will try and do a pic. Goat pretty bony but great overall flavour of minerally green / meaty stock / salty & sour fish/shrimps. I think this would also be nice with salt-fish and okra.
December 8th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Weird and wonderful. Brilliant stuff. It brings back memories of eating in Ghana. You never knew quite what you were going to eat next. But every now and again a dish would pop up that was incredible. This reminds me of eating palaver stew which was full of bones and okra.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:45 am
That sound like one interesting ingredient hunt! Not to mentioin soul-satisfying!
The salted fish with the goat reminded me of adding fish sauce in South Asian cooking, so I didn’t find the combo surprising. Maybe also because my husband is going through this crazy streak at the moment where he puts anchovy sauce into nearly everything, and the food doesn’t taste fishy. It simply has an extra layer of richness.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Shayma – Thanks! I have heard of fufu actually when I was researching the recipe and I really want to try it.
David – it was weird! Very unusual. I’m good thanks, really digging the Peckham thing at the moment as you can see. Hope all is good with you x
Oliver – I’m really glad you tried it! The goat is very bony but I kind of like that – the way you can suck on the bits of bone. I like your okra idea too.
Jonathan – Palaver stew is now on my hitlist – thanks!
Maninas – Of course! Why didn’t I think of that before?
December 17th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Very interesting and lovely pix.
“Goat secured”…I imagined you’d literally untethered a goat and was leading it down Peckham high street….