Nigerian Pepper Soup

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Nigerian Pepper Soup

February 27, 2012 | 32 Comments

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 wouldobviously 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

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life. These seeds are then ground and added to water (or stock). *see #6 in notes for

information on using water or stock)

Nigerian Pepper soup is an intricate soup to make and as such, in order to provide a

better explanation without overwhelming one post, I will divide this post into two parts:

Part 1 will cover the recipe, while Part 2 will be more in depth on the ingredientsneeded. So, after reading through the recipe, you are encouraged to read through the

ingredients post for a better explanation.

Requested Recipes are a series of posts geared towards recipes YOU’ve requested!

Thanks to Latunia, Seyi, Saradoubleu, Lawrence, Bimpe, Divine, Stella, Sherri, Bukky,

Sade, Adelola, Seyi O., Grace, Asa M., and Faith for the request! If you’d like a

particular recipe featured, let me know!

Now, on with it! To learn how to make Nigerian Pepper Soup, here’s what you’ll need:

Recipe Cost: $37.15 Prep: 2 hrs 30 mins Cook: 1.5 hrs Difficulty: IntermediateServes: 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

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• 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!

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Disclaimer:

The Recipe Cost of $37.15 is approximate for me in US dollars, but should be used an

estimate only. Please keep price fluctuations & exchange rates in mind. If you’re based in the US, the grocery store(s) you frequent might have the same items cheaper or more

expensive than what I purchased.

If you’re international, please keep in mind that exchange rates vary constantly. I recommend using this site to convert it from US dollars to your local currency. You

might also have some of the ingredients at home already, thereby reducing the cost.

If you’d prefer to see an individual ingredient cost breakdown, let me know!

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Enjoy :) {I missed you too!}

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Nigerian Pepper Soup

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