Kwacoco Bible (Cameroonian Steamed Cocoyam)
Abuja, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Kwacoco bible is grated cocoyam mixed with palm oil, smoked fish, crayfish and greens, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed until set. It is a staple of the Bakweri of Cameroon's South West Region. Its closest relative is Nigerian moi moi, the steamed bean pudding, and the technique is the same: a wet seasoned mixture portioned into leaf parcels and cooked in a covered pot with water in the base. Grated cocoyam behaves much like blended beans, it sets into a firm, sliceable mass when steamed, because the starch gelatinises and holds everything suspended in it. The banana leaves are not packaging. They flavour the parcels as they steam, and they are what gives the dish its particular aroma; foil holds the shape but contributes nothing. Cocoyam is worth knowing about here, because the variety matters. The source notes that the pink-fleshed ones are starchier and drier when cooked, and that raw cocoyam can leave a slight itch in the throat, that is calcium oxalate, and cooking removes it entirely. It is also why gloves are worth wearing when grating. Nobody, including the source, can explain the name. It has been left unexplained rather than given an invented etymology.
AFN Heritage Note
Kwacoco bible is a Cameroonian dish of grated cocoyam mixed with palm oil, smoked fish and greens, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. It is a staple of the Bakweri people of the South West Region and is prepared in the same manner as Nigerian moi moi.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Peel the cocoyams and grate them to a smooth paste, or work them in a food processor. Gloves are worth wearing, raw cocoyam irritates the skin.
- 2
Mix the grated cocoyam with the salt, seasoning cubes, palm oil, chopped greens, scotch bonnet and flaked fish until everything is evenly combined.
- 3
Line the base of a pot with banana leaves or foil.
- 4
Wrap about three-quarters of a cup of the mixture in each portion of banana leaf or foil, and set the parcels into the prepared pot.
- 5
Cover all the parcels with more banana leaves or foil, then pour in water to about halfway up the parcels.
- 6
Cook for one hour. Check every 15 minutes and top up the water so the pot does not run dry and burn.
- 7
After an hour, let any remaining water cook away, then turn off the heat.
- 8
Unwrap and serve, on its own or with a kpomo sauce as it is eaten in Bakweri villages.
Africook’s Notes
- Use banana leaves if you can. They flavour the parcels as they steam in a way foil cannot, and that aroma is part of the dish.
- Check the water every 15 minutes. A pot that boils dry burns the bottom parcels and there is no recovering them.
- Grate the cocoyam finely and evenly. Coarse gratings do not bind and the parcels fall apart when unwrapped.
- Wear gloves while grating. Raw cocoyam contains calcium oxalate, which irritates skin, cooking destroys it entirely.
- Warm the palm oil before it goes in. It combines far more evenly than cold oil.
- Do not overfill the parcels. The mixture expands as the starch sets.
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