Ugba Ukpaka Sauce Recipe-

Ingredients:

• 7 oz. (200g) Ugba (also Known as Ukpaka)
• 1 medium sized smoked dry fish – mackerel is a very popular choice
• 2 scotch bonnet peppers
• 4 tbsp. red palm Oil (plus or minus)
• 8 oz. whole dried crayfish
• 1 red onion
• 10 utazi leaves “Gongronema latifolium” – use fresh if you can get them, but you can also use dried utazi leaves and rehydrate them
• 1 African seasoning cube – use either Maggi cube, or a Knorr cube
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Use clean water and wash the smoked fish. Remove the guts and bones, rinse again, and set aside.
2. Peel off the onion’s skin, rinse the yellow pepper, and put aside.
3. Put the Ugba in a blender (after rinsing thoroughly, at least twice), and add into the blender the smoked fish, onion, crayfish, and yellow pepper.
4. Blend the ingredients together until the mixture is just chunky—not perfectly smooth.
5. Put a medium sized pot on the burner and pour in the palm oil; heat the oil on medium heat for a couple minutes. Now carefully add and stir the blended Ugba mixture into the oil.
6. Next add in the seasoning cube (crush it first) and the salt, and stir. Leave the sauce to cook on medium heat for 15 minutes, with the cover on the pot.
7. Wash the utazi leaves (if using fresh) while the sauce cooks. Roll the leaves up together. Cut off the stalks and toss them away. Chop the whole roll of leaves into little slices and set aside.
8. Turn the burner off once the sauce is done, and serve immediately. Traditionally Ugba Ukpaka Sauce is served with plantain or yam, boiled or roasted, and garnished with sprinkles of chopped slices of utazi leaves.

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