Nkui

Ingredients

The thickener

• 60 gnkui bark
• from a trusted market source
• pounded to a fine powder

The spices

• 3 tablespoonsground white pepper
• 2 tablespoonsnjansang
• ground
• 1 tablespoonpebe
• or country spice mix
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm ginger, grated

The pot

• 800 gbeef or goat
• in pieces, or smoked fish
• 2onions, chopped
• 3 tablespoonsoil
• 2stock cubes
• about 1.5 litres water
• salt

To serve

• with fufu
• or plantain
• at a ceremony

Directions

1. Lift a spoonful and it draws a long thread. Do not substitute an unknown bark. Reduce it if you must but know it changes the dish. The bark powder is beaten into hot liquid. Pound the bark to a fine powder. It must be genuinely very fine. Sift it through a sieve if you can. Sift it anyway before using it. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot. Add the meat pieces and brown them.
2. Work in batches rather than crowding. Add the chopped onions to the pot. Cook them for a good eight minutes. Add the garlic and grated ginger. Cook them for two more full minutes. Add all of the water to the pot. Add both stock cubes in to it.
3. Season the pot with a little salt. Bring it up to a gentle simmer. Cover the pot and let it cook on. Give it about forty-five minutes. Simmer it on if it still resists. Lift the meat out onto a plate. Keep all of the broth in the pot.
4. Add the white pepper to the broth. Add the njansang and the pebe. Stir them through the broth thoroughly. They need to disperse in a thin liquid. Sprinkle the bark powder into the broth. Add it gradually rather than at once.
5. Beat it hard as you sprinkle it in. Those lumps never break down afterwards. Add it in just a little at a time. Beat it in fully before adding more. Beat the soup hard and continuously. Give it a good ten full minutes. Beat it in one direction if you can. Judging it takes a careful lift.
6. Lift the whisk out of the soup. It should draw a long thread behind it. Keep beating until it draws well. Add the cooked meat back to the pot. Let it warm through for ten minutes. Keep it at a bare simmer from here. Warm it rather than boiling it.
7. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed. It should be strongly peppery. Ladle it out into deep warm bowls. Serve fufu or plantain alongside. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• The viscosity is the whole point: the soup should draw a long unbroken thread behind a lifted whisk, and the longer the thread the better the cook is judged. That comes from mucilage in the nkui bark, developed by beating the powder hard into the hot broth for ten minutes or more — beating hydrates the mucilage and stretches it into long strands, and without it the soup stays thin. Sprinkle the powder in gradually and beat it in fully before adding more, since powder tipped in at once lumps and never breaks down.
• Nkui bark is a specific forest bark sold prepared in Cameroonian markets, and it is bought rather than foraged. Barks are hard to identify without knowledge, many forest barks are not edible, and sellers who know the product are the safeguard — do not substitute an unknown bark.
• It is served to women after childbirth, a longstanding and specific use regarded as restorative. Traditional use is not the same as proven treatment, and the atlas records the use rather than endorsing it; it is a nourishing hot soup in any case and not a substitute for medical care.

Substitutions

• Smoked fish stands in for the beef or goat.
• A balloon whisk works nearly as well as the traditional stick whisk rolled between the palms.

Variations

• Three tablespoons of white pepper is not a mistake — the soup is meant to be strongly peppery, and reducing it changes the dish.
• Njansang and pebe are Cameroonian forest spices giving an aromatic depth that is hard to substitute properly.
• Keep it at a bare simmer once the bark is in, since hard boiling can break the viscosity.

History

A Bamileke dish of the western highlands served to women after childbirth and at Ngondo-style ceremonies, prized for its viscous texture.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nkui?

Nkui is a soup & stew from Cameroon: slippery ceremonial soup drawn out from pounded nkui bark and spices. A Bamileke dish of the western highlands served to women after childbirth and at Ngondo-style ceremonies, prized for its viscous texture.

How long does Nkui take to make?

Nkui takes 40 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Nkui?

Yes, within limits. Smoked fish stands in for the beef or goat. A balloon whisk works nearly as well as the traditional stick whisk rolled between the palms.

What is the most important thing to get right in Nkui?

Lift a spoonful and it draws a long thread. Do not substitute an unknown bark. Reduce it if you must but know it changes the dish. The bark powder is beaten into hot liquid. Pound the bark to a fine powder. It must be genuinely very fine. Sift it through a sieve if you can. Sift it anyway before using it. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot. Add the meat pieces and brown them.