Abo Fish

Abo fish is sold as dried sole, and the name has company

Grocers who sell Nigerian ingredients describe abo fish, eja abo in Yoruba, as dried or smoked sole, a flatfish. Listings from small African markets and large online marketplaces use that wording, and one Nigerian food post calls eja abo a slim flat fish that lives on the sea floor. That fits the tonguesoles of West Africa. FishBase, for example, describes the Senegalese tonguesole (Cynoglossus senegalensis) as a flat, elongated fish of sand and mud bottoms, found from Mauritania to Angola and sold frozen as fillets under the name filets de sole. Abo listings do not name the species behind the dried fish, so treat "sole" as a market description rather than a Latin name.

Then there is the Yoruba word kika. Several abo packs carry "eja kika" in the title, yet other sellers use the same words for panla, which most describe as dried hake, and a few for barracuda. The term looks more like a general word for smoked, dried fish than a species name, so the English name on the pack is the better guide.

Why efo riro is the natural home for dried sole

Efo riro is a Yoruba vegetable stew. The traditional greens are Celosia argentea and Amaranthus hybridus, with spinach and pumpkin leaves common stand-ins, cooked down with peppers and palm oil and traditionally enriched with stockfish, crayfish, fish and meat. It is eaten with iyan, fufu, eba or amala. Retail listings for abo name efo riro first, then egusi and ogbono.

The efo riro recipe from Sisi Jemimah shows the timing. Locust beans fry in the palm oil for about a minute, then the peppers cook for 15 to 20 minutes until reduced by half. Stock goes in, the meats and fish simmer for about ten minutes, and the greens finish in the leftover heat for around five. If you use spinach, squeeze out nearly all its water first or the stew turns soggy.

How to work abo into that stew

No soak time for abo itself is documented. The nearest published guidance is for dried catfish: 10 to 20 minutes in warm salted water, then a cold rinse. Sole pieces are thin, so start at the short end and check early. That is an inference from the shape of the fish, not a published rule.

1. Rinse the pieces, then soak them in warm salted water for about ten minutes. Press the thickest part. It should feel pliable, and if it is still stiff, give it a few more minutes.
2. Drain, discard the water and rinse under cold water. Break the fish into portions and pick out bones and any hard skin as you go.
3. Add the fish after the pepper base has reduced and the stock is in, alongside the other proteins, for roughly the last ten minutes.
4. Stir the greens in at the very end, on the lowest flame, and lift rather than stir hard so the fish stays in recognizable pieces.

Egusi: a later arrival in a half-hour pot

In Sisi Jemimah's egusi soup, the pepper base fries for ten minutes, stock goes in, and then the ground egusi mixed with blended onion and crayfish cooks for five minutes. Only then do the dried fish, stockfish, meats and extra crayfish join, and they simmer five to seven minutes before the greens. The whole soup takes about 30 to 35 minutes from start to finish. A fish that arrives that late needs only its soak and a short simmer, which makes a thin dried flatfish a practical choice for a weeknight pot.

Whatever the soup, taste before you add salt. Stock, seasoning cubes, crayfish and the fish can all contribute salt, and it is much easier to add than to remove.

Mistakes that leave efo riro watery or flat

• Rushing the pepper base. The recipe above cooks the peppers for 15 to 20 minutes until reduced by about half, and everything else is built on that.
• Adding wet greens. Squeeze spinach nearly dry, as the recipe advises, or the water thins the stew.
• Cooking the greens too long. The recipe leaves them to finish in the leftover heat for about five minutes.
• Over-soaking the fish. Published advice warns that a long soak leaves smoked catfish soft and short on flavor, and the same logic is worth applying to a thin flatfish.

Buying abo by weight, not by piece

Online listings count abo by the piece, usually three to six in a pack, and pieces vary in size. Wherever you shop, ask for the weight and a photo of the actual fish. Flat dried pieces can be brittle, so a bag full of crumbs suggests rough handling. Check for white fuzz or powdery patches, which can be mould, and walk away from sour, musty or ammonia-like smells. A bag that feels damp inside is a warning sign too, since moisture is what lets mould start.

Storing it, and a word for people with allergies

Keep abo sealed in an airtight bag or box, away from stove steam and sunlight, and refrigerate or freeze it if you use it slowly, as many cooks do. Cooked soup belongs in the refrigerator soon after the meal, not on the stove overnight. Anyone with a fish allergy should avoid dried fish altogether and read the label on any seasoned product, because fish is on the US list of major allergens.

What to cook while you wait for abo

Abo is still a coming-soon item. If you want a note the day it is listed, use the Notify me form on this page; there is no date yet. Meanwhile you can compare it with bonga fish and mangala, look through the whole category, or pick up pounded yam flour, since efo riro is traditionally eaten with iyan.