Atama Soup

Ingredients

• 1 kg meat
• to taste smoked fish
• to taste mudu palm fruit
• to taste piece of lime/alum
• 1 tablespoon ground crayfish
• to taste bunch of atama leaves
• to taste snails
• to taste water
• to taste piece of uyayak
• 1 cup periwinkles

Steps

1. Cut a little piece of the tail end of periwinkle, then wash thoroughly and boil with a teaspoon of salt for about 8–10 minutes until it foams.
2. Remove and wash thoroughly to get rid of the dirt.
3. Wash and boil palm fruits for about 30 minutes.
4. Drain off water and pound for few minutes.
5. Add palm fruits to warm water, mix thoroughly, and drain off the oily extract.
6. Remove unwanted bits of snails, add 2 tbsp salt, and knead to remove the slime.
7. Use lime to wash snail thoroughly to remove the remaining slime.
8. Season and boil snail until it’s cooked.
9. Cut and finely grind the atama leaves.
10. Pour the oily palm fruit extract in a pot, boil for about 5 minutes, add boiled snail, meat, cleaned fish, periwinkle, pepper, and maggi.
11. Stir and allow to boil for about 10 minutes.
12. Add atama leaves, and let it boil for 10 minutes without stirring.
13. Add uyayak and salt to taste, then stir well.
14. Allow to simmer for another 10–15 minutes.
15. Remove from heat, then serve with pounded yam, fufu, or boiled rice.