First, I’d like to say that Palm oil can be substituted for the aku (palm kernel) liquid but to get that original traditional taste and feel, I’d be using Palm kernel liquid extract (aku) instead of palm oil. Before you start cooking, Extract the oil from the Aku(Palm kernels) into a large pot then boil till the water evaporates leaving the concentrated aku (palm kernel) liquid
Wash and chop the Uziza and Utazi leaves then set aside separately
To prepare the soup stock, wash and add the beef/ sharki/ kpomo into a different pot. Chop the onion, and scotch bonnet pepper into the pot. Add the seasoning & salt then cook for 15mins.
Into the pot with palm kernel liquid; pour in the Beef stock, add the stock fish, dry fish, ground uziza seeds (mkpuru uziza) and crayfish then cover the pot. Leave to cook for about 15mins Add a Scoop of the pounded cocoyam (ede) into the pot and watch its viscosity as it thickens. If it’s not as thick as you want it to be, add another scoop to get your desired thickness then leave for about 10minutes
Add the chopped Utazi and Uziza leaves into the pot and continue cooking on low heat for about 5minutes
Turn off the burner and serve with any form of swallow. I actually prepared edible cocoyam(Pounded) with wheat meal for this dish.
