Eru Soup (Cameroonian Wild Vegetable Soup)
Cameroon
Senior Editor
Abuja, Nigeria ·
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Abuja, Nigeria ·
Eru soup is finely shredded eru leaves cooked down with waterleaf or spinach, palm oil, crayfish, smoked fish, beef and cow skin. It is Cameroonian, most closely associated with the Bayangi of the southwest, and it is one of the country's best-known dishes. Eru is the common name for two closely related climbing vines, *Gnetum africanum* and *Gnetum buchholzianum*, gathered wild from the forest rather than farmed. The leaves are tough and leathery, which is why the method insists on soaking them for hours, or on cooking them with kanwa. That toughness is also why eru is always shredded very finely, much more finely than any cultivated green would be. The pairing with a soft green is not optional. Waterleaf traditionally, or spinach where waterleaf cannot be found, provides the moisture and bulk that eru alone would not, and the ratio is roughly one to one. Palm oil goes in generously and late. The Nigerian relative is afang soup, made by the Efik and Ibibio of Cross River with the same leaf under the name afang or okazi. The two are close cousins: afang tends to be soupier and eru is more finely ground. They are kept as separate pages here because they are genuinely separate national dishes, and that is flagged. The source's health claims about eru's protein and mineral content have not been carried across.
Eru is the Cameroonian name for the leaves of Gnetum africanum and Gnetum buchholzianum, wild forest vines gathered rather than cultivated. Eru soup is closely associated with the Bayangi people of southwestern Cameroon. The same leaf is called afang or okazi in Nigeria, where it is used in afang soup.
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Soak the dried eru leaves for 3 to 6 hours. Alternatively soak them for an hour and then cook them with a small pinch of kanwa for 30 minutes, eru is tough and this step cannot be skipped.
Wash and shred all the leaves finely. Eru needs to be cut much finer than a cultivated green would be.
Use roughly equal quantities of eru and waterleaf or spinach. Waterleaf is traditional; spinach is the standard substitute where it cannot be found, and the two are not the same thing.
Wash and cut the cow skin, then cook it for 30 minutes. Put in the cleaned and cut beef and season with salt.
Cook for a further 10 minutes until a gravy has formed. Add chilli to taste. Put the soaked smoked fish in towards the end of the cooking. Keep the cooking liquid, it is needed later.
In a separate pot, cook down the waterleaf or spinach. After 10 minutes, work in the eru and cook the mixture gently, turning it occasionally.
Tip in the meat and fish, mix through and cook for 5 minutes.
Pour in the reserved cooking liquid and the palm oil, mix, and cook gently for 15 minutes.
Finally mix in the crayfish and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Serve with garri, fufu or water fufu.
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