Ekwang

Preparation

1. Grate the cocoyam: Using a fine grater (or a food processor with the finest blade), grate the peeled cocoyam corms into a smooth, slightly sticky paste — like wet mashed potato. Season the paste with half the salt and one crumbled Maggi cube and mix with your hands. The grated cocoyam should hold its shape when you squeeze a little in your palm.
2. Wrap the ekwang parcels: Take one cocoyam leaf, lay it flat shiny-side down, and place a heaped teaspoon of grated cocoyam at the wide end. Fold the leaf over the filling and roll it up tightly into a small finger-shaped bundle (about 7 cm long). Repeat with all the leaves and filling — you should get 25-30 bundles. Set them aside on a plate as you go.
3. Build the sauce: In a wide heavy pot, cook the beef in just enough water to cover, with the onion, garlic, half the crayfish, the remaining Maggi cube, and a pinch of salt, for 30 minutes until tender. Add the palm oil and minced pepper and stir until the broth glows a deep orange-red.
4. Layer the bundles: Carefully arrange all the ekwang bundles in the pot on top of the beef, packing them snugly together. Sprinkle over the remaining crayfish, the smoked fish, and the ground country onion if using. Pour in enough hot water to come about halfway up the bundles — they will steam in the rest of the cooking.
5. Simmer covered over low heat for 50-60 minutes, gently shaking the pot every 15 minutes (do not stir — it will break the bundles). The bundles are done when the leaves are dark soft green and the cocoyam inside is firm, smooth and elastic when pierced. Serve the bundles in shallow bowls with the spicy red palm-oil broth and pieces of smoked fish and beef spooned generously over them.