RECIPE OF THE DAY...NIGERIAN PEPPER SOUP :)

Credit: avartsycooking.com

Have you ever wondered how to prepare Pepper soup? Be it fish,beef,Chicken or even Goat meat. You have got to stop right here because there are beautiful steps to prepare this sumptuous meal for yourself,family and Visitors this 2014. Trust me,it is economical,easy and above all, delicious. For Nigerians living in diaspora,what are you waiting for?lol...
Thanks to avartsycooking.com for sharing this...




Nigerian Pepper Soup is an incredibly spicy, intensely flavored and aromatic broth like soup made primarily from a blend of native seeds and good amount of water, to which small cuts of a protein of choice is always added. The protein could either be in the form of goat meat, shaki/tripe/towel, cow skin/kpomo, chicken, fish, turkey. The protein component of the soup could also be the innards or offals of an animal or parts of the animal that would normally be discarded. Some of these parts could include intestines, hearts, liver and other such parts.
The choice of protein to use is purely either out of preference or financial instability. If one is relatively ‘boxed up,’ or rich, you could get choice parts of meat, but if finances are scarce and one is on a 0-1-0 or 0-0-1 or 1-0-0 diet, then the cheapest parts would obviously be the innards/offals. *0-1-0 means no breakfast, lunch and no dinner :: 0-0-1 means no breakfast, no lunch and dinner while 1-0-0 means breakfast, no lunch and no dinner. You could make other number variations as well, it’s a Nigerian ‘thing,’ lol.*
Nigerian Peppersoup is eaten year round in Nigeria, despite the hot weather. It is a soup that has the capacity to stop a cold/flu in it’s tracks if done the proper way.  Lots of Nigerians love to eat peppersoup (I’m yet to come across one that doesn’t! Actually, I don’t really care for it unless I’m down with a cold). However, the bone of contention that often stumps those who attempt to make it are the ingredients used in the soup. There’s always the case of ‘if I see it, I’ll know it! I just don’t know what it’s called!) As mentioned in the opening paragraph, native seeds are really what bring the soup to life. These seeds are then ground and added to water (or stock). *see #6 in notes for information on using water or stock).
 

 

Now, on with it! To learn how to make Nigerian Pepper Soup, here’s what you’ll need:
 Prep: 2 hrs 30 mins Cook: 1.5 hrs Difficulty: Intermediate Serves: 1-2

• 10-12 small cuts of skinless goat meat
• 6-8 small cuts of shaki/tripe/towel
• 6-8 small cuts cow skin/kpomo
• 4-8 rodo/scotch bonnet peppers/habanero
• 1 cluster uda uwentia/negro pepper/enge
• 3 tbsps ulima/alligator pepper/atariko
• 3 calabash nutmegs/ehuru seeds/ariwo
• 3 tbsps ground crayfish
• 1 handful/2-3 tbsps nchawu/scent leaves
• 4 knorr cubes
• 3 tbsps crushed red pepper (optional)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 12-15 cups of water
• A powerful blender or spice grinder

1. Add ulima seeds, uda seeds, calabash nutmegs to a bowl and fill with water
2. Rinse goat meat and shaki/pomo. Transfer to separate pots
3. Trim excess fat off cow skin/kpomo and pluck out excess hairs
4. Add water and slice 2 garlic cloves into pot with shaki and kpomo, boil over medium heat
5. Add water and 2 sliced garlic cloves to goat meat along with crushed red pepper and 2 knorr cubes, boil over medium heat
6. Add seeds to blender with 5.5 cups (44 ounces) water
7. Blend away!
8. Let blend 1-2 minutes, add 4 more cups water (32 ounces) and blend till it begins to turn brown in color
9. Let blend 2-3 more minutes
9b. Soak nchawu/scent leaves in water, swish around with spoon or fingers to loosen dirt
10. Stop blending. Using a sieve over a bowl, strain blended liquid
11. Strain a second time, to rid it of sediments


12. Strain sediment with the back of a spoon to get the extra concentrated liquid out. Discard sediment once done.
13. Set strained liquid aside, check on meat, shaki and kpomo. Add water as needed till meats are soft
14. Sieve soaked nchawu leaves, rinse under running water for a few minutes
15. Rinse out blender, add nchawu leaves, habanero peppers and crayfish with 1 cup water
16. Blend
17. Blend till relatively smooth
18. Rinse out sieve, strain crayfish blend
19.  Use back of spoon to strain out concentrated liquid from remnants
20. Add strained liquid to first strained liquid
20b. Add crayfish remnants to liquid
21. Add liquid to a large pot, add 2 knorr cubes and boil over medium heat
22. Meats should be soft. Remove from pots, discard stock, set aside.
23.  Add boiled meats to boiling peppersoup
24. Let simmer 20-30 minutes over low heat
25. Turn heat off after alloted time, let sit 5 minutes before serving.
26. All done! Serve

 Notes:

1. You don’t have to use habanero peppers, but I like to do so for that extra kick of pepper. If you decide to use it, you can always vary the amount you use based on how hot you want it to be.
2. Some like to add a small amount of palm oil as the last step in the cooking process. This is a step I skip, but if you wish, you are more than welcome to do so.
3. To eat your pepper soup, you can add small cuts of boiled yam into it as well for a more satisfying soup.
4. You can either use water to make your pepersoup or you could use a spice grinder to grind the ingredients into a powder form and then add that to stock from boiling the meat. However, because the primary base of peppersoup is the liquid, I prefer not to use stock as it is more concentrated and the stock from goat meat and shaki and kpomo is quite strong and unappealing to me. However, if doing so is easier for you, by all means, go with that method.
5. The garlic cloves are added to the boiling stage of the meats to quicken up the softening process, this is optional. Sliced onions can also be used.
6. Crushed red pepper is optional for boiling the goat meat.
7. I used skinless goat meat, since I was already using kpomo. You can do both or either or, I just thought it would be overdoing it.
8. If you don’t have a powerful enough blender, you can get away with using a mortar if you have one. If you have neither, you can try soaking the seed ingredients overnight in a bowl of room temperature water to help soften it up and not totally destroy your blender.
9. Adding the leftover habanero/crayfish/nchawu blend is optional. If you prefer just a clear, brown liquid, you can skip adding it in, however, if you’d like the texture, you can add it in. I also removed the rodo/habanero seeds floating in the liquid. The seeds hold most of the heat, not the skin.
10. You don’t have to use up all the liquid in one day, you can freeze some for another day and just boil some meat or your choice of protein and thaw the liquid, boil, add some knorr cubes and the boiled meat and you have quick peppersoup!
11. When you add the crayfish remnants back into the liquid, they will settle to the bottom of the bowl, but once you start boiling, they will float to the top.
12. Conversely, you can also buy the pre-ground pepper soup spice from African markets/stores. I just like to do things from scratch :), plus buying the powder would mean adding it to stock :(

Substitutes:

1. You can use any combination of meats to your heart’s desire. Though not a huge fan of peppersoup, my favorite combo is goat meat, shaki and kpomo. Catfish peppersoup is the probably the second most popular version.
2. You can replace the nchawu/scent leaves with bitterleaves or ukazi/utazi. The main thing is to use leaves that have a slightly bitter element to them and the leaves are to be chopped up into smaller pieces.

Serving Suggestions:

I have this simply with a bottle of cold water! You can add some small pieces of boiled yam in there to make it more hearty if you like!



GHEN GHEN...OUR PEPPER SOUP IS READY....