One morning, I woke up thinking about what to do with the water yam I had in my kitchen. I didn’t feel like eating it with oil, and porridge yam was also not an option for me that day. While thinking deeply, I suddenly remembered that water yam is often used to prepare Ekpankuko, one of the popular delicacies Akwa Ibom people are well known for.

Immediately, I reached out to one of my closest friends to ask him how this special food is prepared. He asked if I already had the basic ingredients and started listing what I needed to buy. First, he mentioned water yam and cocoyam, which I already had at home. He then advised me to buy periwinkles, meat, and fish—depending on my pocket at the moment. Thankfully, he helped by getting fresh potato leaves and cocoyam leaves for me.

Once everything was ready, he assisted me in peeling both the cocoyam and water yam. After that, both were ground together using a local blender. The mixture was then properly mixed by hand until it was smooth and well combined. Next, it was carefully wrapped using the potato and cocoyam leaves that were earlier prepared.

Then came the cooking stage. Hot water was boiled and added to the pot, and the wrapped Ekpankuko was allowed to cook properly. Honestly, it was an interesting and challenging experience for me, but also a very enjoyable one because I was learning something new and cultural.

To fully understand the process and see how it was done step by step, watch the video as everything is clearly shown there.