Achu is a very traditional meal eaten in the western part of Cameroon by the bamilikes and the North west by the people from Bamenda. But however, even people who hail from other regions of the country still enjoy eating achu since it’s very delicious. 
This  dish is very tantalizing dish and it stands out due to it’s unique nature. 

In Cameroon it is populary known as achu or Taro. Some years back in a traditional settings, families gathered together to eat achu on a leaves placed on the floor which symbolizes the spirit of  unity in those families. I still have that picture in my mind of siblings eating achu together. 
Modernization has changed the traditional eating method of achu. Today achu and yellow soup is rarely eaten on leaves not to mention in a group on the floor. Many people prefer to dish out their own share of achu and eat with their fingers. Achu is not a dish that you will enjoy eating with a spoon or fork. Many people enjoy eating achu with their fingers.

Achu will always remain a great symbolic meal depicting our culture and negritude. . Though we don’t eat on leaves placed on the floor like  in the days of our ancestors . That still happens in our villages. 
Achu is a dish which is always present in occasions like celebrations , ceremonies, and sacrificial moments and traditional rights in the villages. Our people enjoys it with a traditional roasted chicken called ‘kahti- kahti’ which is also a very tradurional chicken roast. 
Arthur : Annuchka Queen 

Time: 1- 2.5 h. lt takes hours to pound achu unless you are making a very small quantity.

Yellow soup: 30  mins 

ACHU INGREDIENTS:

1. Achu cocoyams or taro 

1. Green bananas (optional )
2. Water 

YELLOW SOUP INGREDIENTS 

1. Lime stone / cooking soda / kangwa or Nikki. Nikki is an extraction of fireside grey dust and mix with water to extract soda liquid to use fir the preparation of this soup.
2. Palm oil 
3. Cow skin/ canda 
4. Maggi cubes 
5. Salt 
6. Pepper (optional )
7. Composed achu spices

 METHOD (ACHU): 

• Wash achu Cocoyams properly. Peeling is optional because you can peel before you pound)  I actually like to peel my cocoyams before boiling.
• Place in the pot with enough water without salt and allow to steam and boil.  
• You will know your cocoyams is ready when it’s soft. You must start pounding while the rest is still steaming to avoid it being hard. 
• Remove cocoyam one afyer thr other or in twos and pound. Use a pistle to give it a good pound.
• Either you pound and add some water to make it soft immidiately or you add water when doing the final mixing. 
• Remove pounded smooth padte and keep in a bowl and cover it. 
• With the traditional method we wrap achu in leaves and keep and we eat them on that same leaves before the western world introduced modernism in Africa. Then we started using plates. 

METHOD (YELLOW ACHU SOUP)

• Boil your assorted meat like cow meat, canda, strips, smoked meat and garden eggs . Season the meat with salt perper and bouillon cubes.

• Extract stock from your delicious assorted meat and set aside. Inside your hot stock add lime dtone indide to disolve.
• In a saucepan heat up palm oil for maximum 1 mins. Just give it a light heat not too much. This process is very optional. I prefer to let the warm heat from my stock disolve my palm oil.
• In a blender , combine stock , limestone salt , cubes and composed achu powder spice and give it a blend. And thats just it . It turns into yellow immidiately. And now ready to serve . 
• In villages or if you don’t have a blender, you can use two large bowls. Keep pouring into these bowls until you get a yellow consistency. 

HOW TO SERVE ACHU;

• In a plate, place achu in the middle, use 2 fingers to bore a well in the achu. Make sure the well is large enough to hold the quantity of yellow soup you will prefer. 
• Pour soup inside the hole or well. 
• Some people prefer their asdorted meat at the corners or boarders of the plate. That is reasonable cos it gives room for the soup. If you are not eating with much meat then its good keep your meat inside the hole or well of yellow soup. 
• It goes well with side dishes like jama jama which is a vegetable , egusi pudding, khati- khati and boiled garden eggs . 
• Sweet and fresh  palm wine from the forsest is a special drink that goes well with this dish. 

Click this link to watch full video of how i prepare and achu and yellow soup 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇https://youtu.be/lYs7_PIGYpM

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