Ekpang Nkukwo Prepared by @ahbaz

Some plants can be consumed right from the leaves to the root. An example of such a plant is the cocoyam.

Greetings dear Steemians, it is a wonderful and hungry day to wake up to, LOL that is why I have written down a guide on how to cook Ekpang Nkukwo, a portion of delicious food that leaves people asking for more.

Ekpang Nkukwo also known as Ekwang or simply Ekpang, pronounced as “eh kpang” is a Nigerian and Cameroonian native dish. In Nigeria, it is commonly eaten by the people of Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State. If you take a deep look, you will realize that the people of Cross River State and Akwa Ibomites share a whole lot in common.

For me as an Akwa Ibomites, we call the food Ekpang Nkukwo, so please wherever you see Ekpang Nkukwo I am also referring to Ekwang.

Ekpang Nkukwo is a native dish made with freshly grated cocoyam that is then wrapped with the cocoyam leaves. It would have been my great joy to share my images of the grated cocoyam and the leaves I used in the preparation of this but it is currently not available as I had to enter the kitchen and start preparing the food quickly.

Most people hand grate their cocoyam using a grater, most people use a pounder or any other technological device.

INGREDIENTS
-Cocoyam
-Cocoyam leaves
-Palm Oil
-Periwinkle: Shelled periwinkle
-Meat; any meat of your choice
-Fish; fresh, smoked
-Water
-Salt
-Pepper
-Maggi cubes
-Crayfish
-Nkong ubong, pumpkin leaf (optional)

_{An image of the grater, meat, seasoning cube, tray and crayfish}

PREPARATION OF THE WATER YAM
Peel the skin of the water yam completely off, while doing this try not to cut too deep into the body of the cocoyam.

After peeling the skin, cut it in a way you can comfortably hold them in your hands to grate.

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Wash the peeled cocoyam into a clean basin.

Rinse a tray you will use to grate the cocoyam into then rinse the grater.

Carefully place the grater of the tray while holding the handle with your left hand and the washed cocoyam with your right hand.

Start grating, use your right hand to move the cocoyam up and down the rough sides of the grater. Be careful not to hurt yourself and it is important to do this in a well-lit environment.

After grating/grinding the cocoyam, bring your washed cocoyam leaves closer and the pot you are putting this into. This pot should be filled with a well-seasoned periwinkle and oil.

Using your hands spread the well-sized leaves and cut the grated cocoyam with your right hand, place it at the bottom of the leave then start folding. To know how to do this will need a different tutorial as I will have to cut it out so as not to make this post so long.

PREPARATION

• Wash your meat properly and put it in a pot for steaming.
• In the meat, put pepper, a small quantity of salt, a few seasoning cubes (following the quantity of the meat), and little water for meat like ikpa (Pomo, cow skin meat).
• In another pot, pour a little quantity of oil at the bottom of the pot, this will help the food not to get burnt easily.
• Put your periwinkle in the pot with oil, and add a little quantity of pepper, salt and seasonings to taste.
• Start putting your wrapped grated cocoyam inside. For me, I put it in a cross-hatching manner to enable it to enter the pot. This way the wrapped grated cocoyam will not be packed inside the pot. It will be arranged well.
• Put the pot filled with the wrapped cocoyam on the fire and bring it to boiling, then put the already boiled water to feel the cocoyam till where it(cocoyam) stops in the pot. Put your seasoning, meat, and palm oil and leave it to cook. Keep an eye on the food so it won't burn. When it starts boiling and the water begins to reduce you can now put your leaf or leaves.

NB:
If you are using a stove to cook, pour oil on the sides of the pot as well as the base.

To make the cooking faster, I use 3 burners of the gas cooker. One for the water in a kettle, the second for the steaming of the meat and the 3rd burner for the grated cocoyam.

Wash everything you use to cook, from the cocoyam to the fresh pepper to the grater.

Do not use a spoon to turn the food, not at the beginning or the end. Use a spatula instead. This is where palm oil is really necessary as it helps the food not to stick to the bottom or sides.

Ekpang Nkukwo is healthy for the body as it contains many nourishing ingredients. I hope you've learned something. Thanks for reading and you can drop your questions where confused.