Barondo, Cameroon – Ekwang

By Verdzekov Bernard

[ONE OF CAMEROON SPECIAL]

[BY THE BARONDO PEOPLE OF CAMEROON]

Ingredients

• Coco-yams (Red coco-yams in particular) 7-10 pounds.
• 7-8 bunch Coco-yam leaves (3 bundles)
• 1-liter red oil
• 4 bulbs of Onions
• Pepper (5)
• 1 cup of Crayfish
• Dry fish
• 3kg Dry meats
• Pepper (4)
• Magi
• Salt

Cooking process

• Peel, wash and grater your coco-yams. After you have grater the coco-yams, add about 14 cups of oil and little bit of salt to taste. Mix inside grater coco-yams. This mainly is to prevent the coco-yams from being too soft and to hold the coco-yams together when applying it on the leaves.
• Arrange your coco-yam leaves and cut them in nice shapes that will permit you to put the coco-yams on them, wrap and put in the pot.
• Before wrapping your coco-yams into the prepared leaves, put water on the fir to boil. This should be in another pot not the same pot you will wrap the ekwang and put in it.
• After you are done with wrapping, put a very small quantity of oil at the bottom of the pot and apply it like you rubbing the pot. Put your wrapped ekwang into the pot after which the boiled water you kept in the other pot you turn it into the pot of ekwang. When pouring the water, make sure you do that carefully, as to prevent the ekwang from scattering all over the pot.
• When preparing ekwang, normally, you have to arrange the leaves in which the coco-yam are in, in order in the pot. It may be in a round shape or zig-zag shape, or any shape you choose. But make sure you place them carefully.
• After this put your magi, dry fish, meet and pepper.
• Make sure the water is above the ekwang arranged in the pot. This is to make sure the ekwang boils well and doesn’t dry later. If you observe that the water is getting dry in the pot and that it wouldn’t give you enough moisture(source), add the water.
• As it is getting boiled, be tasting to make sure that, the magi and salt you applied at the beginning is ok. If not add.
• Then you later add your onions and grind crayfish. Don’t stair yet. When you see that the fish and cray fish has spread all over the pot and it is boiling, add your red oil. After adding your red oil, you can then stair. BUT make sure you don’t stair vigorously. Stair at the edges of the pot makes.
• Add your onion and stair. Allow the pot for about 10-15min, then you put down serve hot.

This meal is one of my favorites. I love the taste and flavor and too because it is nutritional and good for the system. The meal is also one of Cameroon special though it is a local cuisine of the Barondo people. In most restaurants in Cameroon, you will find Ekwang on the menu. Ekwang is natural and most of its ingredients used in the preparation of the meal are traditional and local derived. #cameroonthecountryofmanytribesanddishes

ENJOY YOUR MEAL: