Eru recipe

A Bayangi stew from south-west Cameroon where tough shredded gnetum leaves are slowly softened against wilted waterleaf and drenched in red palm oil.

2 hours and 30 minutesmedium10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 500 g eru leaves (gnetum africanum)
• 1000 g waterleaf
• 200 ml red palm oil
• 4 tbsp ground crayfish
• 300 g cow skin (kanda)
• 200 g smoked mackerel
• 400 g beef
• 1 tsp ground hot pepper
• 1 stock cube
• 1 tsp salt

How to make Eru

1. Shred 500 g of eru leaves as finely as you can. If they are dried, soak them 3 to 6 hours in cold water first; eru is fibrous and never softens as fast as spinach.
2. Boil 400 g of beef and 300 g of cow skin (kanda) with 1 stock cube and salt for about 1 hour, until the skin is gelatinous. Keep the stock.
3. Wash and shred 1 kg of waterleaf, salt it and squeeze the water out by hand rather than boiling it. If waterleaf is unavailable, squeezed spinach stands in, but it is a substitute and the stew will be softer.
4. Put the waterleaf in a pot with a ladle of the stock and cook 10 minutes until it collapses.
5. Pile the eru on top, cover and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, adding stock only if the pot runs dry.
6. Pour in 200 ml of red palm oil and 4 tablespoons of ground crayfish, then add 200 g of flaked smoked mackerel and 1 teaspoon of ground hot pepper.
7. Return the beef and the kanda, stir and simmer 15 minutes uncovered until the liquid is gone and the leaves are coated deep red.
8. Check the salt and serve with water fufu or garri.

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