Bakweri tribe, South West province of Cameroon – Kwacoco Bible

By Verdzekov Bernard

Kwacoco Bible, by the Bakweri tribe in South West province of Cameroon.

This dish eating by bakweri people of Cameroon and in many other parts of Cameroon, is a delicious and special meal to the bakweri people. The dish is made from grated coco-yams together with some spices which you will read below, and it is wrapped in banana/plantain leaves. This dish is called kwacoco bible because it’s shape, when wrapped in plantain or banana leaves and steamed, it usually in a rectangle form, and shaped almost as a small bible.

Ingredients

• A bucket of coco-yams
• Well washed Bitter-leaf
• Pepper
• 2 cups of red oil
• 1 cup of grind crayfish
• Smoked fish
• Salt
• Maggi
• 1 bulb of onion
• Banana leaves

Process

• Boil 10 cups of water in a pot and leave it there when it is heated. Off heat.
• Peel your coco-yams making sure your removing all the spoiled parts and wash well. Grater the coco-yams using a grater into a pot. Slice and washed bitter-leaf and add into the pot to suit the quantity of grated coco-yams.
• Add grind crayfish with grind pepper, sliced onions and smoked fish into the pot.
• Add about 5-6 cubs of maggi with salt to taste.
• The banana leaves you will have will depend on the quantity of coco-yams grated. But in this case, you use approximately 2-3 matured banana leaves. Clean and warm the leaves until they are semi dark in color. Cut the banana leaves in a rectangle shape making sure you eliminating the bad side.
• Put the grated coco-yams into the leaves and fold them perfectly in a rectangle shape. Making sure the grated coco-yams stays in the leaves perfectly. Use some of the banana leaves and pot on the surface of the pot and pour about 5 cups of the boiled water into the pot.
• Place folded coco-yams in the pot in order. Making sure the surface is covered then you start mounting until you are done mounting. Pour the rest of the other five cups of boiled water and put the pot on heat. Leave for about 30min making sure you are checking to make sure the water doesn’t dry off. If after checking and the water is dried off, add to suit quantity and leave for about 45min to steam well.
• In other to be sure the meal is ready; you could open pot and remove one of the folded kwacoco and check. If it is tender enough, then your meal is ready, if not at this point you could determine by yourself how long it needs to take to get ready. You close the open leaves and keep back in the pot and cover until it’s ready.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL: