How to prepare achu soup - The first timmer's guide

Achu is a traditional meal of most clans and ethnic groups of the North West Region of Cameroon. It is a white semi-solid pate of pounded cocoyam and special purpose bananas that is eaten with various soups. Even though achu is eaten with other soup there is a traditional soup that goes with achu – the famous yellow soup.

Most young girls nowadays don’t know or shy away from making achu soup and thus poor achu soups in restaurants managed by youths. This post therefore reiterates from start to finish the various steps involved in making achu soup in a very straight forward manner such that even the first timer could follow them and still be on the safe side. These steps are:

1.  The ingredients required
2. The process proper

1. Ingredients required for preparing achu soup

This method is not going to use so many ingredients rather it makes use of very few thus the ease in the making. The following are needed in quantities that vary depending on the number of achu bundles to be served out:
a)    Meat – about one kilo gram
b)    Animal skin (canda or lean) – about two kilo grams
c)    Palm oil – one and a half litters
d)    Maggi – five cubes
e)    Salt – a tea spoon
f)    Pepper – about four yellow or red or both
g)    Lime stone – a hand full piece
h)    Kang kang – about three tea spoons 

2.    The process proper

Boil the meat and canda with salt and maggi and collect the water that is left after boiling the meat and canda. Allow the water to cool down to room temperature. Heat the palm oil without bleaching it and allow to cool to room temperature too.

Burn the lime stone in direct fire, put in a small dish and add tap water to it then observe that in brakes easily and makes a solution of lime water. If not, force the burnt lime stone to break by pressing against it with a spoon.

Now, put the lime water in controlled quantities into the cool water from the meat and canda while stirring gently. Taste until the lime water is in satisfactory quantity. Add the cool palm oil and repeatedly pour the mixture into a second pot and then back into the first.

From the color of the soup you could deduce whether the palm oil is sufficient. If it should be sufficient, you will observe the characteristic thick yellow colour of achu soup (the kind of yellow on the Cameroon flag), otherwise you will observe a pale yellow colour which indicates that you should add the palm oil.

After everything else has been added, put the kangkang and the pepper and also add the meat and canda. Again, repeatedly pour the mixture into a second pot and then back into the first. The result from this last activity is achu soup that is ready to be served with achu.

That is how simple and easy you could make achu soup and always enjoy taking the meal.

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