Ofe Achara

Method

1. Put 20 g of dried fish and 15 g of stockfish in a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soften for 20 minutes, then pick them over carefully for bones and sand and rinse.
2. Boil 60 g of cocoyam corms in their skins in plenty of water for 25 minutes, until a knife slides through easily. Drain, peel while hot and pound in a mortar to a completely smooth, sticky paste with no lumps. Set aside.
3. Make the mgbam: simmer 80 g of fresh mackerel in a little salted water with 0.5 sliced onion for 8 minutes, until just firm. Lift out, drain well, and strip off every bone and piece of skin. Mash the flesh with half of the 1 tsp of ground pepper and a pinch of salt, then squeeze and roll into 4 small balls the size of a walnut. Chill them while you build the soup so they hold together.
4. Strip the tough outer sheath from 100 g of achara to expose the pale tender core, cut into 5 cm lengths and wash in two changes of water. Bruise the thicker pieces lightly with the flat of a knife so they take up the soup.