Efik Soup · Wild Vegetable Stew
Afang Soup
Photo: Psalmbusy / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Afang leaves have to be shredded extremely fine, often with a machine or a specialized slicing board, because the raw leaf is tough and fibrous until cut down to near-thread thickness.
Afang soup is made by finely shredding afang leaves (Gnetum africanum, a forest vine known as okazi in Igbo) and combining them with waterleaf, palm oil, assorted meats, dried fish, and periwinkles into a thick, dark-green stew. It's a signature soup of Calabar's Efik and Ibibio kitchens, eaten with pounded yam or fufu.
Why it's made this way: Afang leaf is native to the Cross River region's forests, making the soup a distinctly local specialty that's harder to find fresh outside the area.
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