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.
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