How to Prepare Atama Soup with Waterleaf

How to prepare Atama soup with waterleaf is what should come to mind if you have ever heard of Atama soup before or have tasted it before.

Generally known as Atama soup is a traditional Nigerian dish popularly cooked and eaten among the Ibibio and Efik people of the Niger Delta Region.

This soup is made up of Atama leaf majorly and some other ingredients be it waterleaf or Abak (palm fruit extract).

This soup is mostly made with assorted meats, dry fish, stock fish, and other ingredients such as periwinkle, crayfish, spices, and seasonings for taste.

Atama is known for its rich and flavorful taste, which is often served with fufu or any other swallow of your choice.

How to Prepare Atama Soup with Waterleaf

As stated earlier Atama soup can be prepared with waterleaf or with abak, some people make use of the two ingredients together.

For today’s recipe, we will be specifically emphasizing how to prepare Atama soup with waterleaf only.

Let’s get started, first, here are the ingredients needed for the preparation of this particular dish.

Ingredients

1. Atama leaves (either Dry or fresh)

2. Waterleaf

3. Meat (any preferred protein of yours)

4. Smoked or dry Fish

5. Stockfish

6. Crayfish

7. Palm oil

8. Fresh Pepper

9. Periwinkles

10. Cow skin (kpomo)

11. Crabs or Shrimps (optional)

12. Seasoning cube and salt

Other Nigerian Soups Recipes to Try;

• How to Make Nigerian Okra Soup
• How to Make Oha Soup
• How to Prepare Egusi Soup
• How to Make Nigerian Pepper Soup with Goat Meat

How to Prepare

Before you start your cooking, make sure that all utensils you are using are properly washed and clean, because obviously, we are what we eat. So, hygiene is very important when it comes to what we eat.

Here are the step-by-step guides on how to make this delicious meal:

Step 1

Boil some water, not too hot but above being warm. Then go ahead to pluck your Atama leaves and cut them into small pieces.

Step 2

Into a bowl pour your sliced Atama leaves alongside the boiled water and cover it. If you don’t want to do it this way you can put the sliced leaves in a pot and boil for 3-5minutes.

Step 3

After boiling carefully drain all the liquid, and wash repeatedly to remove the bitter taste. Taste it after washing if you still feel bitterness, repeat the rinsing part a couple of times.

Step 4

In a clean pot prep, wash all your proteins, periwinkle (cut and washed), shrimps, stock fish, and cow skin (kpomo). Add seasoning cubes, salt, pepper, and onion (optional) stir, and cover to steam. Add a little water after 2-3min to cook.

Step 5

Pluck your water leaves, wash them clean, slice them into fine tiny pieces, and set them aside.

Step 6

Into your pot of steamed meats and other ingredients add your sliced waterleaf alongside some crayfish and dry/smoked fish. Cover and allow it to cook for 2 min. then open and stir. At this point, you are already feeling the glory of the soup from the aroma.

Step 7

Since I am not using palm fruit extract (Abak) for this recipe, I will be adding my palm oil now. Open the pot and add some palm oil. Then taste to know if all the ingredients are enough. If it is okay for you, pour your already washed Atama leaves into the pot of Soup and cover it to cook.

Step 8

After 2-3 minutes, open the pot and stir. And your delicious Atama soup and waterleaf are ready. Go ahead and serve it with any swallow of your choice and enjoy.