Nigerian · main

Amala with Ewedu and Gbegiri (Abula)

Amala with Ewedu and Gbegiri (Abula) reads heat 4.6, salinity 4.2 and umami 3.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Nigerian main, about 1 hr 43 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 5.3 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 2.5 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 0.6 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 1.7 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 3.2 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 5.0 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Heat 4.6 · Salinity 4.2 · Umami 3.8 · Marine & Briny 3.7 · Allium 3.5 · Funk & Ferment 3.4 · Richness 3.1 · Fruity 2.3 · Earthy 1.5 · Bitterness 1.2 · Floral 1.1 · Sweetness 0.7 · Sourness 0.6 · Herbaceous 0.5 · Nutty 0.5

What's in it (15)

• elubo — 400 g
• water — 1000 g
• dried peeled honey beans — 250 g
• unrefined red palm oil — 110 g
• ewedu leaves — 300 g
• iru — 15 g
• food-grade potash — 3 g
• crayfish — 30 g
• onion — 150 g
• scotch bonnet chillies — 200 g
• salt — 10 g
• bouillon — 4 g
• water — 600 g
• assorted boiled beef — 500 g
• its stock — 300 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 43 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 2.2 kcal, 0.2 g protein, 0 g fat, 0.3 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

1. For the gbegiri, boil the beans in 400 ml of the soup water for 45 to 60 minutes, until they collapse completely.
2. Press the beans through a sieve, or blend them and then sieve, about 10 minutes, so that every skin is left behind. Gbegiri that has not been sieved is grainy and will never be smooth.
3. Return the pulp to the pan with the palm oil, half the crayfish, the onion, one chilli, half the salt and the seasoning cube, and simmer 15 minutes, whisking, until it is glossy and the colour of butter.
4. For the ewedu, bring the remaining 200 ml water to a boil with the ground iru and the potash, 3 minutes. The potash keeps the leaves vividly green and helps them draw.
5. Add the ewedu leaves and boil hard, uncovered, 5 minutes.
6. Beat the leaves with an ijabe broom whisk, or pulse them very briefly with a stick blender, about 2 minutes, until the soup is uniformly green and slippery. Stop there; ewedu dulls to khaki within minutes of overcooking.
7. For the amala, bring the 1 litre of water to a rolling boil, 5 minutes, then turn the heat to low.
8. Rain in the elubo in a steady stream while stirring hard with a wooden turning stick, then fold and turn the mass against the side of the pot for 6 to 8 minutes, until it is smooth, elastic and deep chestnut brown with no dry pockets. Cover for 2 minutes and turn once more.
9. Shape the amala into a mound on each plate and serve the gbegiri and ewedu side by side beside it, with the boiled beef and ponmo and its stock poured over. Served together this way the three are called abula.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Ofe Nsala (White Pepper Soup) — Nigerian
• Orecchiette con le Cime di Rapa — Italian · Puglia
• Nasi Goreng Kampung (Village-Style Fried Rice) — Malaysian
• Laing (Taro Leaves in Coconut Milk) — Filipino
• Filipino Chicken Halang Halang — Filipino

Keep reading: what heat, salinity, umami mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.