So you’ve heard that ekwang is tedious, time consuming to make but still crave it… long for it …and want to make it.
You are not alone!
I am going to show you how to make it and a few pointers and short cuts to satisfy your craving.
It’s pretty popular in the southwest part of the country.
Ekwang also known as ekpang nkukwo is a traditional Nigerian and dish native to the Efiks and Ibibios. It is also widely enjoyed in Cameroon and very popular with the Bakweri tribe in
It is made of freshly grated cocoyam, then wrapped in leafy greens and slowly simmered with various types of fresh or smoked meat, fish, crayfish, red oil and other spices depending on the cooks preference until cooked to perfection.
Keep this in consideration when making ekwang.
- There are many varieties of cocoyam, for this recipe, the red cocoyam is best. However, you can use white ones with good results, but you have to dry it out. Buy it a couple of days before using it and let it dry out before you clean and use it.
- Although it is traditionally made with cocoyam leaves or sweet bitter leaves, you can use any fresh leafy greens available such as collard greens, spinach, or even romaine lettuce, or a combination. What I use depends on what is available. Pick the ones without holes or tears.
- If you have a grater and are up for it, then, by all means, use it. But the majority of us don’t have the time to grate the cocoyam, so to shorten this process you can use a food processor to grate the cocoyam.
- Keep the stirring to a minimum to prevent the ekwang from becoming mushy.
Watch How To Make It
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Ekwang ( Ekpang Nkukwo )
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Ingredients
- 4 pounds cocoyam
- 4-5 bunch leafy greens cocoyam leaves, collard greens, spinach, romaine lettuce
- ½ pound boiled meat beef
- 1-2 cups dried fish
- ½ cup ground crayfish
- ½ medium onion chopped
- 1 1/2 -2 cups palm oil /red oil
- 1 tablespoon bouillon granules / Maggie
- 1 tablespoon ground country onions optional
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper or any hot pepper optional
- 1 teapoons bitter leaf optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cut the beef in bite size chunks, season with salt, Maggi, and onions and cook until tender. make sure you have at least 2 to 3 cups of stock from the beef. to use in cooking this dish.
- Peel Coco yam with a sharp knife, peeling away from your body carefully draw the paring knife down the body of the yam, being careful not to remove too much of the yam in during the process.
- Look for any spoiled spots, such as bruising and discoloration, in the Cocoyam as you peel. Remove the spots away with the tip of the knife.
- Cut into large chunks and wash immediately to prevent discoloration and leave them in cool water until ready to use.
- Pulse the cocoyam in a food processor with until puree or use a grater to grate the cocoyam. Lightly salt and set aside.
- Wash leaves and tear them into medium pieces, making sure there are no tears or holes in the leaves.
- Oil a large pot with about ½ cup of palm oil. Set aside
- Scoop a tablespoon or so of grated cocoyam mixture onto a leaf and wrap tightly (to form the shape of fingers) making sure the cocoyam is not sticking out.
- Arrange wrapped cocoyam fingers in the oil pot in a circle leaving a hole in the middle. Repeat until cocoyam mixture has been completely used up.
- In a separate pot bring about 7 cups of water to a boil.
- Add chopped onions, crayfish, fish, meat, salt, pepper, bouillon cubes, palm oil, and country onions to the pot.
- Let it simmer for about 10 minutes, there should be no stirring at this point until most of the ekwang firms up- add about 1/2 cup of beef stock to prevent any burns.
- Then after ekwang firms up add about all the beef stock if you have any with about 3 cups water or just use 4-6 cups of hot water or more to the pot and let it cook on medium heat for about an hour until fully cooked. You may add more water to prevent burns.
- Stirring should be kept at a minimum- to prevent the ekwang from becoming mushy.
- Adjust for ekpang consistency with water, salt and pepper.
Nutrition Information:
Vera says
Hello Immaculate. I stopped by to thank you for every recipe. It saves as my daily cooking guide. Thank you for such an amazing blog. Wishing you God’s richly blessings.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks Vera. Super excited you are trying out my recipes. Happy Holidays!
brunhilda says
Thanks for this post,you’ve help me out.i always eat but never help to tie because my mum love to do the folding alone say complain our folding is big and she enjoys it tiny.so i ended up not learning but you just made my day with your help.any idea on how to preserve the cocoyam leaf from Cameroon to Europe and have it still fresh for atleast a week.have my husbands birthday party coming up and that’s what he wants as a main dish.
MERVIS says
YOUR RECIPE WAS GREAT MY HUSBAND LOVED IT. WHAT DO I DO WHEN IT TURN TO STICK TOGETHER? A FRIEND SAID I SHOULD ADD TOMATOES IS THAT TRUE?
ImmaculateBites says
Mervis, to my understanding tomatoes would not prevent the ekwang from sticking. What does help is oil and enough space to spread out the ekwang. Hope this helps.
Cherie says
If I understand what u mean by ‘stick’, there must have been an over-abundance of paste or soup thickness from the cocoyam/wateryam mixture. A solution to this is when ur wrapping the ekpang into the finger shaped wraps, u should best ensure that the mixture is sealed from soaking into the soup part too early by totally wrapping the ends of the ekpang up.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks for sharing this with us Cherie, will keep that in mind.
Guest says
First time on your site, everything looks amazing!!! I must have salivated more than 5 dogs in the past hour or so just browsing childhood recipes.
The ekwang reminds me of when we were kids and mom would call us to wrap the cocoyams and lay them in circular fashion exactly as in that pic.
Will share this link with a friend who would like to cook this fave dish for a Cameroonian pal.
Kudos and continued success!
Nady says
Thank you so much!!!
Nady says
I just discovered this website and it’s really great. Thank you so much! I would love to know which specific processor you are using cuz I didn’t know the processors blend cocoyams. I checked cuisinart processors and didn’t know which to get cuz they say chopping and slicing. please can you help me?? I’m tired of grating my fingers.
ImmaculateBites says
I hear you Nady. This the one am using Cuisinart FP-14DC Elite Collection 14-Cup Food Processor, Die Cast. This one is good too- FP-14DC Elite Collection 14-Cup Food Processor, Die Cast. I got at it at Amazon. Now no more grating your fingers.
Sylver says
Love your recipes. It is always so refreshing to see how neatly and beautifully you display your dishes. Think you should revise this recipe for Vegetarians. With Veggie broth? Yum!
nina says
you are a life saver just can t wait for other dishes such as roasted fish and vegetable sauces.thanks alot
ImmaculateBites says
Nina, I already have roasted fish and pepper sauce featured here http://africanbites.com/?p=2144. Or you can do a search at the top for any recipes. Thanks for stopping by
Liz says
What brand of food processor do you use to achieve that consistency ? Love your site .
Africanbites says
Thanks Liz, I use cuisinart.
Ndem says
Very good I have learn a lot.
pella says
I will really like to know why you decided to place your ekwang this way in the pot?
Africanbites says
Pella, ekwang is placed in circles so there is room to throw all the ingredients in the hole , to prevent the ekwang from becoming mushy. However, you can place it, without forming a circle. My sister, makes her ekwang without the hole in the middle and it turns out great! Thanks for stopping by!
pella says
Thanks very much for this tips. Didn’t know I could learn how to prepare ekwang on net. What I really appreciated most is the way you presented the ekwang in the pot. Thanks alot and God bless you this New Year.
kelsey says
Never knew about this. Will try it out and let you know. Can it be use for kwacoco as well. Thanks a lot for all the great tips. Happy New year in advance.
Africanbites says
It does work for kwacoco too! Kelsey, I want to take this opportunity to say, thank you for your constructive criticism and feed back! I Never take it lightly… Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year.
kelsey says
Just wondering, other than Makabo cocoyam, can one use any other cocoyam. The Makabo type is quite scarce where I live. What I mostly see are the small ones.
Africanbites says
You can use the small ones, leave it out on the counter to dry out for days for best results. Or after grating the coco yam let it sit in a sieve for about 2 days to remove excess liquid . Hope this helps.
kelsey says
Wow, looks yummy!!!! Thanks for the little tips. Never thought of using any other green leaf except cocoyam leaves. So which did you use? Was it collard green?
Africanbites says
I used a combination of leafy greens in this recipe- collard greens, romaine lettuce and bok choy(chinese cabbage) .
I forgot to mention that, sometimes you may add a teaspoon or more of bitter leaves while cooking to lend a little bit of bitter taste to ekwang . It is optional. Will update recipe.Most times I prefer my ekwang without the bitter taste .