A defining Yoruba pairing of amala, a smooth dark-brown swallow made from yam flour, with ewedu, a silky, draw-y soup of finely beaten jute leaves. The two are usually eaten together with a peppery stew, the slippery green soup helping the soft mound go down.
Amala is rooted in the yam belt of southwestern Nigeria, where the Yoruba learned to peel, dry and grind yams into a shelf-stable flour called elubo, turning a perishable harvest into a swallow that could be made all year. Paired with ewedu, the jute-leaf soup beloved across Yorubaland, it became a comfort meal that follows Yoruba families wherever they go.
The amala is soft, faintly earthy and elastic, with a clean yam flavour that carries any sauce. Ewedu is smooth and gently slippery, mild and grassy, designed less to be tasted alone than to glide a piece of swallow into a peppery stew. Together they are soothing and deeply homey.
A pinch of alkaline potash keeps the jute leaves bright green and helps draw out their natural mucilage for that signature slip. Adding yam flour to boiling water and stirring constantly gelatinises the starch evenly into a lump-free, stretchy swallow.
Variations
Often served as 'abula' with gbegiri bean soup added; amala can be made from cassava or unripe-plantain flour instead of yam
On the Palate
Where Amala and Ewedu sits in the Nigerian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 16 min
Pick and wash the jute (ewedu) leaves, discarding tough stalks.
- 210 min
Boil the leaves in a little water with a pinch of potash or baking soda until very soft.
Watch outCook the leaves just until they collapse and turn bright, glossy green — the pinch of alkali keeps that color, so pull them before it dulls to khaki.
- 34 min
Beat the leaves with a traditional broom whisk or blitz briefly until slippery and uniform.
- 45 min
Season the ewedu with ground crayfish, locust beans (iru) and salt, then simmer a few minutes.
- 55 min
For the amala, bring water to a rolling boil in a sturdy pot.
Watch outWater must be at a hard rolling boil before the flour goes in — a lukewarm pot means the yam flour clumps instead of setting smooth.
- 66 min
Sprinkle in the yam flour gradually while stirring hard with a wooden spatula to avoid lumps.
Watch outRain the flour in a little at a time while stirring hard the whole way — dump it and you get lumps you can't beat out.
- 76 min
Add a little more flour or hot water to reach a smooth, stretchy dough, then cover and steam briefly.
Watch outYou want a smooth, stretchy dough that pulls off the spoon in a sheet — if it tears stiff, work in a splash of hot water.
- 83 min
Mould the amala into a mound and serve with the ewedu and a spicy stew.
