Periwinkle
Also called: sea snails, West African periwinkle, isam, bigorneau, escargots de mer
Periwinkles are small sea snails with dark, pointed shells. They go into the pot shell and all. The meat is small, firm and lightly briny, and it gives a sauce a quiet taste of the sea. In Cameroon you meet them mostly in the leafy palm oil soups of the South-West, and in some okra and bitterleaf dishes.
Lumo has one recipe that uses them: Afang soup, a South-West dish where periwinkles cook with okazi leaves, palm oil and crayfish. At the table you suck the meat out through the opening of the shell, or pick it out with a toothpick.
Buy periwinkles that look clean and smell fresh, not strong. They hold sand and mud, so soak them, scrub them and rinse several times until the water runs clear. Many sellers clip the tip of the shell for you, which makes the meat easier to get out. Cook them the day you buy them, or freeze them. Abroad, look in African grocery stores, usually in the freezer, either in the shell or already shelled. There is no real substitute. If you can't find them, make the soup without; it will still be good.
Recipes with this ingredient
- Afang Soup Sud-Ouest · 1 hr 30 min
A rich Calabar-style soup: pounded afang (okazi) leaves and waterleaf cooked with goat meat, dried fish, periwinkle and palm oil.