Bouillon d'awara (Awara Broth)

Method:

You need to begin with the awara paste: Wash the awara fruit, place in a large pan, cover with water then bring to a boil and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the palm fruit are tender. Drain the palm fruit and place (whilst still hot) in a large mortar (you may need to do this in batches).

Pound the awara fruit with a large wooden pestle to turn it into awara paste. The objective is to separate the central seed (black in colour) from the flesh and skin of the awara.

Discard the seeds and retain the flesh, skin and fibres. Now it's time to separate the fibres away from the awara pulp. Add warm water to the mixture then knead with your hands. Continue working the mixture with your hands so that the fibres separate, releasing the pulp.

Squeeze the mixture so that the pulp comes separates from the fibers completely. Set aside the juice, which should be strained through a fien-meshed sieve. The juice will be the base of your broth. Pour into a large pot, put over a low flame and cook for up to 3 days until reduced to a thick consistency (this is the awara paste and forms the base of your broth).

The day before preparing the broth, desalinate your pig's tail, your salted meat and your smoked bacon by placing them in separate bowls, covering with plenty of water and storing in the refrigerator over-night. The following day, discard the water, rinse the salt meats again and cut them into pieces.

Wash the vegetables: long cucumber, aubergine, green beans, spiny cucumber, green/white cabbage, tannia/spinach. Your prickly/spiny cucumbers should be scraped (with a knife), then cut in half. Cucumbers should be peeled and cut in half to remove the seeds, then diced. Your aubergines (eggplants) should be peeled and diced. For the cabbage, you should also remove and discard the outer leaves, wash and cut into large chunks. Rinse your green beans in cold water and cut them roughly. Rinse your tannia leaves as well then shred them.

Cut your smoked meats into bite-sized pieces, the same goes for the smoked chicken and smoked fish. Clean your shellfish, the crab claws and prawns.

Pour the awara paste into a large pot and bring to boil. Add in the pieces of pig tail and salted meats. Cook over medium heat for about 2 hours, stirring regularly and skimming off any black oil that rises to the surface of the dish.

After the 2 hours have passed, add the pieces of aubergine, the long cucumbers, the spiny cucumbers, onion, garlic, chopped chilli and the cabbage. Stir to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pot and continue cooking over low heat for a further 2 hours.

Still on low heat, add your tannia leaves (or other greens) and the pieces of smoked bacon. Cook for a further 40 minutes, until the greens are very tender. Towards the end of this cooking time, add in the smoked chicken, smoked fish and bacon. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes more.

Now add in your shellfish and spices (except for the chilli pepper) and cook for 15 minutes while stirring your broth.

To finish, add your fresh chillies and cook for 5 minutes, until softened then turn off the heat.

Serve hot.

Bouillon d'awara (Awara Broth)

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