Have you heard of the popular Ibibio soup? Atama soup is a special delicacy for the Ibibio people, Atama is usually planted at the backyards of many Ibibios and efiks, the soup is prepared with atama leaf, the fresh leafs can be thinly sliced and dried in the sun. People like to talk about their local delicacies and Ibibios and efik people talk about their native soup.
Methods of cooking Atama soup
- Atama with waterleaf (talinum triangulare)– This method of preparing atama soup is similar to the way afang soup is being prepared, after which the fresh atama leaves are added last.
- Atama leaves with egusi (Ikon or melon paste) If you are familiar with the way egusi soup is being prepared, you would have an idea of how atama leaves are being prepared with water leaves. In this method, the fresh or the dried atama leaves can be used but mostly it is the sun dried leaves that are used for egusi atama.
- Okro/Okra with atama– This method is usually termed the simplest method of atama soup because it is just straightforward. You can make this just the way you would have cooked okra andogbono with ugwu leaves.
- Abak atama , which is sometimes called atama abak (palm fruit with atama leaves)– This method seems to be the most preferred, even though the three methods of preparing atama soup are distinct and delicious especially when they are prepared with some generous amount of ingredients, abak atama is tastier and juicy to look on. You should just experiment with any of the four methods to find out your favorite method of making atama soup
Ingredients for reparingof abak atama soup
- 1 medium bunch fresh atama leaf (dried atama leaf could be substituted)
- Palm fruits( eyop), 3 cups (tin milk cup or 1/2 mudu)
- Beef or goat meat,1/2 kilogram
- Shelled periwinkles, 2 cups
- Snails orcrabs, any amount
- Kpomo(cowhide),1 piece
- Stockfish,1head or any part
- Smoked fish, 1 big size
- Uyayak (Aidan fruit or local spice of your choice) 1/2 piece
- Crayfish (ground)1 cup
- Fresh or dried groundpepper (as desired)
- Seasoning cubes,4 cubes or to taste
- Salt to taste
Steps on how to prepare abak atama
- Wash; season your beef or mutton with stock cubes, onions, pepper and salt. Cook the meat together with stockfish for 15 minutes
- While the meat is on the fire, dress or de-bone the smoke fish and keep aside.
- Check the meat after 15 minutes, add the snails and kpomoto the meat and cook for another 15 minutes if you are using these. When everthing is wellcooked, remove the pot from heat.
- Bring the pot you have sieved the palm fruit extract into and drop on the heat, turn the meat, periwinkle, and the smoke fish into the content on fire.
- Add the Aiden fruit (uyayak) and leave to boil for 15 minutes. Important tip: Cut into big round sizes two okra (ladys fingers) and add to the soup (it does another wonder to your soup, I did not tell you earlier); okra makes the soup to be slightly viscous, but you can use waterleaf instead if you prefer, just like i did.It is better not to allow the soup to be too thick while cooking it because it might become even thicker the next day (let it be neither watery nor thick.
- Add the remaining seasoning cubes, a pinch of salt and pepper and allow it to simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the atama leafand allow the content to boil for few minutes before stirring it.
- Stir thoroughly and make sure all the ingredients are well mixed. taste and adjust seasoning if need be.
- Put off heat and serve with fufu, semolina, eba, alebo or anything starchy food of your preference.
