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Periwinkle Pepper Soup

Also known as Periwinkle Pepper Soup (Isam Soup)

Periwinkle Pepper Soup — Isam Soup — is a uniquely Niger Delta and Cross River seafood dish made from the small black periwinkles (Tympanotonus fuscatus) that are harvested in enormous quantities from the mangrove swamps of the Niger Delta and coastal areas of Cross River State. These small, spiral-shelled molluscs have a distinctive, briny, slightly muddy flavour that is deeply prized in the cooking cultures of the South-South region.

Periwinkle Pepper Soup, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 3 big handfuls of fresh periwinkles (isam), scrubbed and washed
  • 1 big handful of fresh prawns or dried crayfish — optional
  • 4 to 5 Atarodo (very hot chilli peppers), whole
  • 1 teaspoon of ground Cameroon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of ground uziza seeds
  • 1 teaspoon of ground ehuru
  • 2 big handfuls of ground dried crayfish
  • 1 big onion, sliced
  • 2 cooking spoons of palm oil
  • 2 pieces of oburunbebe stick
  • 2 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
  • Salt to taste
  • 5 glasses of water

Method

  1. 01

    Preparing the Periwinkles. Scrub the periwinkle shells thoroughly with a stiff brush under cold running water to remove all mud and sand. Soak in salted cold water for 30 minutes, then drain and rinse again. The tips of the shells can be clipped off with scissors to make sucking out the meat easier during eating — this is the traditional preparation method.

  2. 02

    Building the Spiced Broth. Place oburunbebe sticks in a pot with 5 glasses of water. Add the whole Atarodo, ground Cameroon pepper, ground uziza seeds, ground ehuru, sliced onion, ground crayfish, palm oil, seasoning cubes and salt. Bring to a vigorous boil.

  3. 03

    Cooking the Periwinkles. Add the cleaned periwinkles to the boiling spiced broth. Cook on medium-high heat for 15 to 20 minutes until the periwinkles are fully cooked — the meat inside the shell should pull out easily when tested. Add prawns in the final 5 minutes if using.

  4. 04

    Finishing. Remove oburunbebe sticks. Taste and adjust all seasonings. The broth should be intensely spiced and the periwinkles should smell of the sea and the Delta spices.

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