How to Cook Achu and Yellow Soup As Bafut Women Do
Growing up, I never used to like eating Achu but now that I'm older I tell myself 'see what you have been missing!'
Achu is the traditional meal of my village (you can guess from the title of this blog) and it is not only eaten but also highly respected and traditional. A lot of importance is attached to this meal and you won't find that Achu is lacking in certain occasions, especially during our weddings and funerals.
Though a lot of people enjoy this meal, they also dread its preparation which is caused by the ponding of the cocoyams. The soup is quite easy to make though the grinding of its ingredients can be quite difficult for those who are not used to grinding on the stone.
That said let's get into the recipe!
How to Cook Achu and Yellow Soup Like Bafut Women Do
First, select and wash the cocoyams and 'Achu banana' then put them in the pot. Put the cocoyams first then the banana on top. Add some water and put on the fire to cook till very soft.When the cocoyams are done, start by pounding the 'Achu banana'. Pound in small batches to make sure that the Acchu is smooth and free of large particles.
Pound the banana then the cocoyam and mix both gradually as the Achu increases.
When you are done pounding everything, mix it till smooth and add a little water to the mixture if necessary. The mixture should not be too soft and not too strong as well.
Harvest and warm plantain leaves on the fire. Clean them and cut it into smaller pieces. Wrap the Achu in them to make bundles of various sizes or as you prefer.
How to prepare the Achu soup (Yellow soup)
Prepare the ingredients by grinding them. This is usually done on a grinding stone. There are more ingredients you can use but here are the ingredients used for this soup. The round ones are called Follow in my mother tongue. The others I don't know what they are called. The names vary with villages or tribes.You can go to the market and ask to be sold a combination of ingredients for Achu soup and the seller will put these ingredients together for you.
Burn the fullow before grinding and you may need to add some water at some point to make the mixture quite smooth.
In the meantime put the meat on the fire and let it boil.
Wash the Canda (cow skin) thoroughly, rinse well and slice. Add it to the boiling meat and let it boil till ready.
Add some palm oil and let it boil for a bit.
Put the pot down then add 'Niki' or limestone to the soup. Melt the limestone in a little water before adding. You can use 'Niki' without melting.
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| 'Niki' is locally made by burning dry plantain peelings. |
Keep stirring till the soup's colour becomes homogenous and yellow.
Serve.
How to eat Achu
As seen in the pictures below.
How To Cook Khati-Khati
Chicken, vegetable and corn fufu - what a wonderful combination of flavours and tastes! This is the trio that makes up our meal for today.
Khati-khati is a meal originating from the North West Region of Cameroon and is eaten by a lot of Cameroonians these days.
Its preparation is simple yet technical as it is necessary to get the flavour of the Khat-khati right. That flavour is not easy to resist!
I will be showing you in this recipe what brings about that par-ti-cu-lar smell from Khati-khati and how to achieve it.
Let's start cooking!
Ingredients
You need:
- Chicken
- Tomatoes
- Onion
- Leeks
- Njama-njama (vegetable)
- Red oil/palm oil
- Seasoning
How To Prepare Your Khati-khati
Select, wash and boil the Njama-njama.
As it boils, kill the chicken and clean it by removing the feathers. Put over fire flames to burn the leftover feathers and enhance the smell of the chicken. It can get a little burnt here and there but don't roast it!
Slice the rest of the ingredients - tomatoes, onions and leeks.
When the vegetable is ready, squeeze the excess water from it add salt and Maggi to the vegetables then heat some red oil in a pot. Add some salt then the tomatoes, onions and leeks to the hot oil and let it fry. Add the vegetable when the tomatoes are done and stir the mixture till even.
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| Add Maggi to the vegetable and mix with your hands before putting into the pot. |
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| The chicken got a little over burnt! |
Let the chicken fry in the oil and cover the pot. This is the moment when the distinctive smell of Khati-khati is developed. Open the pot to stir from time to time and when you begin to perceive the smell of Khati-khati, it's ok to add the tomatoes.
Slice the tomatoes while the chicken is frying.
Add the tomatoes to the chicken and stir it.
Add some seasoning to your taste and take the pot off the fire when the chicken is ready.
Make some fufu to accompany our vegetable and Khati-khati and it is best served hot!
NB: There are other ways of making the vegetable which is usualy referred to as 'contry style' whereby the vegetable is not fried but oil and seasoning are just added to it and it is cooked without it being fried.
How To Fry Crunchy Cameroonian Unripe Plantain Chips
Plantain chips are a common snack in Cameroon and it's sold in shops and by the roadside. Its price ranges from 100frs to 1000frs CFA depending on the size of the packet sold.
While buying plantain chips is good, it's even better to make yours at home because:
- It's cheaper and the quantity will be more.
- It's safer and more hygienic.
Method
To make really crunchy Cameroonian plantain chips, you will need:
- Plantain
- Frying oil
- Salt
- Peel, wash and slice the plantains into very thin sheets or slices. There are knives or blades specially made to slice it to be very thin as the one in the picture below.
- Add a little salt to the slices and mix well.
- Heat the oil and start frying the plantain slices into chips.
- To make them crunchy let them fry till it's quite dry. When the chips are sizzling then it's ready to be taken out of the oil.
- Let the oil drain and transfer it into a pan.
- To keep your chips crunchy, cover them in a pan or seal them in a plastic bag after they cool.
It Doesn't Take Much To Look Classy - OOTD
There's this myth that classy must be expensive and a lot of us Cameroonians and Africans, in general, believe it.
While expensive things are made to have more class and quality, not all of them actually look classy on us. This message goes, especially to ladies. It's how the clothes or accessories fit you that make your look classy.
Designers and expensive stuff have their role in an outfit but the simple things can also take your look to another level of class.
Designers and expensive stuff have their role in an outfit but the simple things can also take your look to another level of class.
Spend more time and energy on styling your outfits according to your morphology and fashion style and you will look very classy even without expensive items.
I love how creative I got with this look because I wore this top front-back. Yes, I wore the back of the top in front and the front behind. It's a wool neat top with paillettes and it feels so soft and comfortable (I lost most of the pictures from this shoot so sorry I can't show you the back look of this outfit).
I paired it with a three-quarter black palazzo and I love that it is stretchy and soft.
I went for different shades of brown for my accessories. This mini Louis Vuitton bag just completed the look and made it chicer.
The whole look is from Okirika (thrifts) and that includes the bag. If the bag were new, it would be quite expensive but if you take away the bag, my look is still very chic.
You see, you can still look chic or classy in low-cost outfits.
*Bonus point: Do your nails and hair and add some makeup to achieve a chicer look.
Look Details
Tourist's Guide To Urban Transportation In Cameroon
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| Taxi In Cameroon |
In Cameroon, there are four main ways that people transport themselves within a town.
By Taxi
By Bus
By Motorbike
On Foot
By Taxi
The official taxi/cab colour is YELLOW. But there are other cab services like GREY cab which have taxis with the colour grey. Some private cars park in front of hotels ready to transport visitors to their destinations and these cars are not necessarily yellow or grey in colour. A taxi ride with the yellow taxi is 250Frs CFA when you don't propose a price for your destination. But some distances are quite long or short so you can pay as small as 100Frs CFA for short distances and up to a thousand for long distances. You can ask people around you how much you can pay to a destination from where you are before proposing to a taxi driver.
By Bus
The bus service is provided by the Urban council or individuals who transport many people across the town along a common itinerary. The bus prices start at 150Frs CFA. Always make sure you remind the driver when you are almost at your destination.
Motorbikes
Motorbikes are quite dangerous but it's the fastest means of transport. They run on really bad roads and that's why they are mostly stationed at the entrance of most neighbourhoods to help people who live far inside to go in and out faster. They are not allowed to drive within the centre of the town in towns like Yaounde and Douala. Their prices are a little bit like that of the taxi but a bit more expensive. They do the same distance that the taxi does but at an extra price of 50 or 100Frs CFA.
Views from Cameroon #6
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| Roasting and selling corn at the roadside |
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| Roadside business |
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| Busy road |
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| Street in Cameroon |
Views from Cameroon #5
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| Ndolé - Traditional meal of the Duala people (Sawa) |
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| Local roofing sheets made from palm leaves |
Views from Cameroon #4
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| At the butcher's shop |
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| African plums |
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| Frying plantain chips on a wood fire |
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