Preparation of Abacha and its importance to the Igbo Tribe.

Abacha the meal, is one of those meals that are prepared with lots of ingredients. Here is a full option Abacha that contains all the possible ingredients.

If you do not have Abacha or you are on a low carb diet, prepare Cucumber Abacha.

Abacha (the ingredient) is made from cassava. The cassava tubers are cooked till done then sliced with a special grater. The sliced cassava is then soaked in cold water overnight, washed thoroughly and dried under the sun.

Abacha is a local food predominantly consumed in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. The name Abacha is thought to have originated from Igbo’s ideology that salad contains lots of vegetables without thorough cooking.  It is an excellent source of carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. Abacha is made from dried and shredded cassava which makes it an indispensable staple important for the livelihood of a substantial percentage of farmers, processors, and other key players within the cassava value chain.

The Food has a high value of importance to the Igbo speaking tribe. It is not served in every occasion and it is served not to the general public but to some high personalities in the occasion. It represents respect, integrity, value for culture.

Rev James of National Church an Anambra man said that the dish Abacha has a way to stand out among all other Africa dishes.

An Igala man was asked if he knows Abacha and immediately he started describing how good and tasty it is.

Nurse Blessing said that sometimes she advise her patients to eat Abacha, because of it’s high level of nutrition that makes up the dish.

With Abacha, the more ingredients you use, the tastier and more "complete" it will be. So use as many as you can lay your hands on:

	•	2 tablespoons Powdered Potash (food tenderizer)

	•	2 teaspoons ground Ehu seeds (Calabash Nutmeg)

	•	3 Fresh Utazi leaves (Gongronema latifolium)

	1.	Abacha is the main ingredient. Abacha is made by boiling and grating/shredding cassava tubers.

	2.	Ukpaka or Ugba is shredded oil bean seeds. It is compulsory for me but if you do not have it, you can skip it.

	3.	Red Palm Oil must be used when preparing abacha. Other oils are not acceptable.

	4.	You must add a green leafy vegetable. Garden Egg leaves are used for abacha. If you do not have it, use leafy spinach especially the baby ones. Very good alternative.

	5.	At least one type of fish must be used. For abacha you can use stockfish (dry cod), dry fish (dry cat fish, mangala), fried mackerel (fried titus) and smoked fish.

	7.	Pepper must be used and you can either add habanero pepper (recommended) or dry cayenne pepper. Habanero pepper is atarodo, atarugu or ose oyibo. Black pepper is not a good fit for abacha.

	8.	Add ogiri Igbo for the classic traditional taste but if you do not have it, add stock cubes. One of these must be used unless you are really really allergic to both.

	9.	Add garden egg. It is great in abacha but not compulsory.

	10.	For me, red onions are a must. My grandma will tell me that adding onions is "umu township" version.

	11.	Edible potash: akanwu, kaun, keun is what makes palm oil curdle and it is a must. If you do not have it or you do not want to eat edible potash, baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) has similar properties.

	12.	Ehu: for me ehu (calabash nutmeg or African nutmeg) is a must. Again if you do not have it, you can skip it. But the day you will eat Abacha prepared with ehu, you will understand the difference between capital B and cow footprint.

	13.	Be careful when adding salt to abacha. This meal contains lots of ingredients that already have salt: stockfish, stock cubes, crayfish etc. Most often I do not need more salt.

All the work of making Abacha goes to preparing the ingredients.

	1.	Soak the dry fish in cool water and set aside to soften.

	2.	Soak the abacha for 2 minutes in cool water and put in a sieve to drain.

	3.	Rinse the stockfish and cook till soft. I use a pressure pot for this. Debone when it is soft.

	4.	Mix the edible potash with some water, stir and set aside.

	5.	When the dry fish is soft, clean and debone. Then break into small pieces.

	6.	Cut one of the onions into tiny pieces and cut the other into rings. See the video for what I mean.

	7.	Rinse the leafy vegetable, cut some into tiny pieces, some into thin stripes and leave some leaves whole.

	8.	Rinse the ukpaka and put in a sieve to drain.

	9.	Cut some garden egg into tiny pieces and some into thin discs.

	10.	Crack open the ehu seeds and grind with a spice grinder.

	11.	Grind/blend/pound the habanero pepper.

	12.	Melt the palm oil in a sizeable pot over low heat. Note that this is melting not bleaching. The oil should not even be hot. If your palm oil is in liquid form, no need to use heat. Just pour it into a pot.

When mixing the Abacha ingredients, it is important that all the ingredients are well incorporated. Add similar ingredients, stir and add another batch. It is not recommended to add everything all at once and stir because it will be very difficult for you to get a good mix of all the ingredients.

	1.	Slowly decant the liquid from the edible potash into the palm oil and stir at the same time and you will see the palm oil thicken and turn yellow. Make sure that the edible potash sediments do not go into the pot.

	2.	Add the stock cubes (crushed), ground ehu, ground crayfish, diced onions, blended habanero pepper, tiny vegetables and mix well.

	3.	Add the abacha, ukpaka, pieces of dry fish, diced garden eggs and mix well.

	4.	Taste and only add salt if necessary.

	5.	You can warm it up a little bit before serving. It can also be served at room temperature.

Serve with the onion rings, discs of garden eggs, stripes of garden egg leaves and the whole garden egg leaves. Throw in a chilled drink. Palm wine is the best for Abacha.

Abacha is one of the favorite dishes of the Igbo speaking tribe in Nigeria and even some tribes has started eating Abacha. At some point we can say that Abacha has become an international delicacy.

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