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Eru is one meal that everyone in my house loves. From Mr N. to baby girl, no leftovers are guaranteed. Some weeks ago, my parents sent me some dried Eru and crayfish all the the way from home. I leaped for joy knowing it will be a while before I visit an African store to purchase these leaves. My parents eh. They wrote my names on the packs as though they were sending me off to Form 1 in boarding school. See the packs below.
Eru is a wild plant that is harvested from the forest in Cameroon. In Nigeria, it is called Ukazi or Afang. Natives of Cross Rivers State use it to prepare the famous Afang soup. Afang soup has a striking similarity to Eru but it is more “soupy’ and the Eru is ground or pounded prior to preparation. Another soup that really looks like Eru is the Edika Ikong, also prepared by the Calabar people of Cross Rivers State in Nigeria. It looks almost like Eru. Permit me to say that Eru is the grandmother of Afang! I have tasted the two and I know who the mama is and who pikin is. Lol!
I’m yet to see someone who doesn’t like this delicacy. It is that meal that will make a responsible man fail to follow the queue when he notices it is almost finished at a party. Lol. But seriously people just love this dish. I’ll show you below how to make the perfect Eru everytime but first let’s look at some Eru don’ts:
-Don’t add water after adding in your Eru. It is a ‘dry soup’ You sure need water to cook your meat/fish but make sure the water is dried before you put in your spinach/waterleaf. The spinach will provide the moisture you need.
-Don’t add onions to Eru. I have seen some recipes including onions and that is just out of place. Original Eru needs no onions.
-Don’t cook Eru without crayfish. My Mom always says, “crayfish is the ingredient of Eru.” No amount of dried fish can replace crayfish in Eru.
-Don’t eat Eru with a spoon (okay, I’m kidding on this one!)
Let’s start cooking, people.
ERU RECIPE
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients
6 cups of Eru/Ukazi
3 bags/bundles of spinach/waterleaf
2-3 pounds of meat/fish of choice(beef skin/canda, beef stripes, beef, goat meat, dried/smoked fish, stocked fish, snails, and/or others)
2 cups of crayfish
3 cups of palm oil plus half cup of canola (or groundnut) oil
1 crayfish seasoning cube (Maggi Crevette)
1 Habanero pepper (optional)
Salt to taste
Method
If you are using dried Eru, start by soaking it in water.
Wash your meat and put in the pot to boil. I used beef skin and beef stripes AKA canda and towel.
While the meat boils, chop your spinach or waterleaf and set aside.
When your meat is half-boiled, season with salt. When it is cooked, add in spinach and start stirring. Spinach is quite soft and will shrink fast as seen below.
Then you drain Eru and add to pot. The small liquid from the Spinach will make the Eru soft.
Add in your fish and mix. I had some already boiled stock fish so I threw it in.
Then add the oil, seasoning cube and lastly crayfish. Tip : Mixing palm oil and canola/vegetable oil keeps the oil from becoming hard when the Eru is cold.
Stir well and voila, Eru is ready. Serve with Water Fufu (Akpu), Garri or even Pounded Yam.
The works of Mr N’s hands-
Ehen, if you try this abeg come back to gist me by dropping a comment below. Enjoy!
Welcome to my core! I am Precious Nkeih, the recipe developer and writer right here on my blog, Precious Core. My goal is to show you insanely delicious recipes you can replicate in your kitchen. And I love to tell stories too. Hope you find recipes here that will make cooking easier for you! Check me out on YouTube at YouTube.com/PreciousKitchen.
Bunch of thanks precious. This recipe saved my relationship 😅. I had never cooked eru before so that day I playing my grand finale. I nailed it! I think better than people who have been cooking it forever. Lol. It is so detailed and straightforward. Im hoping to tap some more from here. Keep saying our lives, we’ll promote you in return😂 (It’s the least we could do).
Yay glad to know! The secret is don’t over-cook it. Also, only add the water leaf/spinach to the pot when the pot is dry. That way your eru won’t turn out watery – because when eru is watery you might want to cook it more to reduce the liquid. Hope this helps.
Looks yummy. As a “nyangi” I got a couple of comments. First, eru is not and should not be called a soup. We call it a vegetable (just imagine someone calling huckleberry a soup? You get my vibe right?)
Secondly, to really get maximum taste of the crayfish, you add about 1/2 to boil in the stock for like 5 mins before adding the waterleaf and add the rest when youb dded it. As my grandmother Ma Enow used to say, this gives the crayfish extra sweetness.
Hihihihi Pre that exercise book page though I do recognise it
Hihihi
Thanks for the tips of don’ts dear
To add to it
Don’t cover the pot when u add in spinach/waterleaf till u finish cooking the Eru to maintain the green darling of the Eru cuz some people cover it and let it boil first before adding in the Eru
Heh heh heh! I am a Ugandan who fell in love with Eru after visiting Cameroon. I carried some good stock of Dried Eru, & water leaf to plant. Big mistakes I have made preparing it oh gosh! Yet it was still finger lickjng! Now watch me after your post!
No b small mata I ate eru last in 2004 bfr mama demise iin 2005 mama happens to be from mamfe n dad nigerian am glad I got ds recipe n found a cameroonian blog one love sis keep postin am jotting them down wen I try one I wil send feed back n pictures tnx
Nuvi, I once ate Edikan Ikong and thought I was eating Eru. We are indeed related- children of the same family. I'll be posting more recipes. Thanks, hun!
It's got Similarities with Edikan ikong but in place of Eru(uziza ), Pumpkin is used . Going through some of your post shows you are from Cameroon, all Africans are really related. Looking forward to more recipes. I'm a foodie, so you've got me on that aspect.
Hahahaha I tell you! I wasn't for the groundnut oil mix before but I tried it and loved it. It doesn't have to be a lot of it. A little bit will do. Na really bon appetit in arrears. Eru has been digested and flushed a long time ago.
Ah be don tok say that eru ansa well well. 🙂 Na we contri chop. I don't know about the groundnut oil mix. My mum never did cook it that way and being a mama's daughter, I cook like her. But I have seen pple do it and I have been wondering why. Now I get the clue. Bon appetite in arears. BTW Ya reme sabi tie bush cargo all oyibo dog no fit smell am 🙂
Thank you
Your cooking recipes are always what I use to confirm mine and even learn a whole new. My cooking has become so good now because of you.
God bless you
God bless you too, dear. Thank you for the feedback.
Good but you have to make sure the water leave is dry ( just small water left) before putting your eru. Eru should be moist not watery. Too much water from the water spoils soap.
What causes eru to be bitter? I thought it’s young leaves that do that but I but some with better leaves and it was still bitter meanwhile I used to cook the best eru in my family. What makes it bitter now
Hi Barbie, it may be the kind of eru. I have had that happen to me too. If that happens, you could try adding more crayfish to see if it helps cover up the bitter taste. Hope this helps.
Bunch of thanks precious. This recipe saved my relationship 😅. I had never cooked eru before so that day I playing my grand finale. I nailed it! I think better than people who have been cooking it forever. Lol. It is so detailed and straightforward. Im hoping to tap some more from here. Keep saying our lives, we’ll promote you in return😂 (It’s the least we could do).
BTW, your writing skills are 🧚♀️👌
Thank you so much, Diana! So glad you nailed the recipe! And yes, I could really use some promotion. Thank you for your kindness.
There are other delicious meals Cameroon . Come and discover them. Our doors are wide open.
Please what’s your secret for the green texture after cooking
Please check my reply to the previous comment.
I tried it and it was delicious!!! Please what’s your secret for the green texture after cooking?
Yay glad to know! The secret is don’t over-cook it. Also, only add the water leaf/spinach to the pot when the pot is dry. That way your eru won’t turn out watery – because when eru is watery you might want to cook it more to reduce the liquid. Hope this helps.
WOW, Am really really happy to be here on this blog. Kudos. more grace.
Glad to have you here, Henry. Thank you!
Looks yummy. As a “nyangi” I got a couple of comments. First, eru is not and should not be called a soup. We call it a vegetable (just imagine someone calling huckleberry a soup? You get my vibe right?)
Secondly, to really get maximum taste of the crayfish, you add about 1/2 to boil in the stock for like 5 mins before adding the waterleaf and add the rest when youb dded it. As my grandmother Ma Enow used to say, this gives the crayfish extra sweetness.
Hihihihi Pre that exercise book page though I do recognise it
Hihihi
Thanks for the tips of don’ts dear
To add to it
Don’t cover the pot when u add in spinach/waterleaf till u finish cooking the Eru to maintain the green darling of the Eru cuz some people cover it and let it boil first before adding in the Eru
Hahaha that exercise book page is epic!!
Thanks for the tip, dear.
Eru is my best dish I can eat for break fast,lunch and supper so I love getting new ideas about it every day I’m grateful
I love Eru too. Very delicious something.
Heh heh heh! I am a Ugandan who fell in love with Eru after visiting Cameroon. I carried some good stock of Dried Eru, & water leaf to plant. Big mistakes I have made preparing it oh gosh! Yet it was still finger lickjng! Now watch me after your post!
Awww, Bibian this made me smile.I guess Eru speaks a universal love language of food.
Welcome on board, hun!
No b small mata I ate eru last in 2004 bfr mama demise iin 2005 mama happens to be from mamfe n dad nigerian am glad I got ds recipe n found a cameroonian blog one love sis keep postin am jotting them down wen I try one I wil send feed back n pictures tnx
Hello sweetie, sorry for the really late reply.
Nice to have you here and looking forward to the pictures!
Thanks dearie!
Cudos dear..that green color…..hhmmm…100 commentaire
Nuvi, I once ate Edikan Ikong and thought I was eating Eru. We are indeed related- children of the same family. I'll be posting more recipes. Thanks, hun!
It's got Similarities with Edikan ikong but in place of Eru(uziza ), Pumpkin is used .
Going through some of your post shows you are from Cameroon, all Africans are really related.
Looking forward to more recipes. I'm a foodie, so you've got me on that aspect.
Thanks, Eby!
I love this.
Hahahaha I tell you! I wasn't for the groundnut oil mix before but I tried it and loved it. It doesn't have to be a lot of it. A little bit will do. Na really bon appetit in arrears. Eru has been digested and flushed a long time ago.
Ah be don tok say that eru ansa well well. 🙂
Na we contri chop. I don't know about the groundnut oil mix. My mum never did cook it that way and being a mama's daughter, I cook like her. But I have seen pple do it and I have been wondering why. Now I get the clue.
Bon appetite in arears. BTW Ya reme sabi tie bush cargo all oyibo dog no fit smell am 🙂
I tell you, Nata.
Thank you
Your cooking recipes are always what I use to confirm mine and even learn a whole new. My cooking has become so good now because of you.
God bless you
God bless you too, dear. Thank you for the feedback.
Good but you have to make sure the water leave is dry ( just small water left) before putting your eru. Eru should be moist not watery. Too much water from the water spoils soap.
Thank you precious. Learnt a lot from this
You are welcome, Joel.
Looks green and yummy.
What causes eru to be bitter? I thought it’s young leaves that do that but I but some with better leaves and it was still bitter meanwhile I used to cook the best eru in my family. What makes it bitter now
Hi Barbie, it may be the kind of eru. I have had that happen to me too. If that happens, you could try adding more crayfish to see if it helps cover up the bitter taste. Hope this helps.