Cameroon: Ekwang and Koki Corn
Ekwang
Ok, who’s ready to talk about Cameroon?? Cameroon is a west/central African country on the Gulf of Guinea. (Anyone else picturing a sea full of dog-paddling guinea pigs lol?) The country’s name comes from the Portuguese word ‘camaroes’, which means shrimp- apparently a Portuguese sailor was so overwhelmed with the amount of shrimp in the Wouri River that he called it Rio Dos Camaroes (River of Shrimp)! Which is appropriate since one of my dishes has shrimp in it!
Cameroon was originally inhabited by the Bantu people, until Portuguese explorers “discovered” the land and set up sugar plantations, using the area as part of the slave trade. Cameroon was next colonized by Germans in 1884, But after WWI, it was taken over by the French and British governments, dividing the region in half. By October 1, 1961 though, Cameroon achieved independence and reunification, becoming the Republic of Cameroon.
Sadly, the country has seen a lot of turmoil in recent years. Since 2013, an Islamic extremist group, called Boko Haram, has been attempting to overthrow the government. They’re an anti-education group and want to “purify” Islam. Many of their attacks are against school children and include bombings and kidnappings.
Then, in 2016, an anglophone (English speaking) protest against perceived marginalization was met by fierce and violent suppression from the Cameroonian government. After that, there was ongoing conflict between anglophones and francophones, as the majority of Cameroonians speak French. In 2017, Ambazonian separatists (from angolophone) territories, launched attacks against the Cameroonian government, causing them to officially declare war against these regions. Both sides have been ruthless in their attacks and have killed and displaced many civilians along the way.
The conflict is ongoing and there have even been attacks against humanitarian aid organizations. As of 2022, over 3.9 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance with around 2 million people displaced.
*Side note: I’m learning right along with y’all, so if I got anything wrong, please feel free to contact me and let me know.
It’s always hard to choose a dish to make and Cameroon was no different, but I was really excited to try these dishes because they seemed so different from anything else I’ve made and the ekwang sounded a bit challenging, which I thought would be interesting to try to make!
It’s said that ekwang is a dish that you make to show people you love them, because it’s so labor intensive and time consuming. When I told the African grocer that I planned to make this, he laughed at me and asked if I knew how…I said I’d watched a lot of videos sooo, “no, not really.” He laughed harder, wished me luck, and told me to tell him how it turned out.
Well I think it turned out pretty good! I even brought the store owner some a few days later and he said it was good! Not exactly right, but close!
To make ekwang, you first start with the broth, which is made with smoked and dried whole fish, and sometimes beef. Next, you grate LOTS of taro root (I added purple yams as well), then add a little salt, and roll it up in taro leaves. I could not find taro leaves anywhere, so I used collard greens. Once you’ve used up all your filling, place all your little wraps in one layer in a large pan. Cook with habanero peppers, garlic, ginger and crushed, dried shrimp and some water. This is all topped with fresh shrimp and bitter leaves. When the shrimp are pink and cooked through, the dish is done!
The most time consuming part of this dish was definitely grating all of the taro- it was a full-on arm workout for my right arm lol! It was also a little difficult mixing and pouring ingredients in because you had to be really careful not to disturb the wraps so that they would stay in nice little rolls.
This dish was really yummy, although a little on the oily side. I loved the smokiness of the broth and it was all just super savory and filling. And besides the grating, it really wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be! My boyfriend, Ryan, said this was one of his favorite dishes, so I’d call that a win!
Ekwang
-0.5lb beef
-1lb dried and smoked fish (divided)
-1 tsp salt
-1 tbsp Maggi seasoning
-1/2 white onion (divided)
-3-4 taro
-2 purple yam
-4-5 bunches of taro leaves (I used collard)
-1 cup fresh shrimp
-1 habanero
-3 garlic cloves
-1” ginger
-1 cup fresh shrimp
-1/2 cup dried shrimp
-1/2 cup palm oil
-1 tsp pepper
-1 tbsp bitter leaf (optional)
1.) Rinse and cube beef, add to a large pot with 1/2 lb of smoked fish, salt, Maggi, 1/2 onion and 3 cups of water. Bring to boil, cook until tender, then set aside.
2.) Peel and rinse taro and purple yam. Grate or pulse in food processor. Add pinch of salt and a small amount of water to soften.
3.) Rinse collard leaves and cut into medium size (2-4”) pieces.
4.) Coat large nonstick saucepan with red palm oil, then layer pan with chunks of the other 1/2 lb of fish.
5.) Roll taro mix in collard leaves (about 1tsp in each) and layer on top of smoked fish. Add other half of onion, chopped, on top. Cook covered, on low heat, for 5 min.
6.) Add 2 cups of beef and fish stock, cover, cook for 10 min. Throughout cooking, be careful not to stir too much so that wraps remain intact.
7.) Meanwhile, blend hot pepper, garlic and ginger. Wash fresh shrimp and grind dried shrimp with mortar and pestle.
8.) Add blended ingredients and a little more stock, if needed. Cook covered, 10 min.
9.) Add ground dried shrimp, the rest of the palm oil, meat from the stock and the rest of the broth. Cook 10 min.
10.) Add fresh shrimp, pepper and bitter leaf. Simmer for 5 minutes, serve hot.
The second dish I made for Cameroon was koki corn- a moist, chunky cornbread cooked in banana leaves. Both koki corn and koki beans are common in Cameroon, and while the black eyed pea version sounded really good, those of y’all you know me well know that I LOVE corn! So obviously there was no way I could resist making the corn version haha!
Koki corn is made by coarsely grinding fresh corn and mixing it with corn meal or corn flour. Then you add some type of greens (I used collards) and habanero peppers. You wrap the mix in banana leaves and foil and then steam.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I got my consistency quite right since it fell apart when I opened the banana leaves and looked more like a corn pudding. I would definitely like to try this again though, because the flavor was so good! The sweet, fresh corn and spicy habaneros really hit the spot and went super well with the ekwang.
*Side note: the koki did firm up after refrigeration and reheating. It was really good as leftovers!