Category: African Spices Delicacies

Peppered Snails Delicacy

Ingredients

  • 10 medium snails
  • 4 habanero peppers (or to your taste)
  • 5 plum tomatoes
  • 1 onion
  • 1 big stock cube
  • 1 cooking spoon vegetable oil
  • Salt (to taste)

 

De – Slim

Break the shells of the snails and clean the snail. Remove the snail slim with Alum/Garri/Salt/Lemo/Alum. Any of these agents easily neutralises the slim, wash until you could feel the absence of the slim. Any combination could also make for the de-sliming.

 

Methods:

Put the cleaned snails in a pot and pour water to cover them. Add the stock cube and the chunks of onion. Cover and start cooking on medium heat for 30 minutes.

Put the sliced tomatoes, pepper and onions in another pot and start cooking on medium heat until they are soft but stir intermittently to avoid burnt.

When the snail is cooked, remove the chunks of onion from the snails. Increase the heat to high and stir constantly till all the remaining liquid in the pot is absorbed.

When the water in the second pot dries from the pepper, tomatoes and onions, add the vegetable oil and fry for about 5 minutes. Stir continuously so it does not stick to the pot.

Add salt and stir very well and add the cooked snail.

Stir very well and heat for a minute.

Your crunchy mouth-watering spicy snail is ready.

African Salad (Abacha & Ugba)

Ingredients:

  • Abacha – 3 handfuls
  • Ugba (ukpaka) – 2 cups
  • Garden Egg leaves – 1 medium bunch
  • Palm oil – 30cl
  • Potash (Ground) – 2 tablespoons
  • Fish | Mackerel/Dry Fish/Stockfish/ Ponmo
  • Onion – 2 large size
  • Salt and dry pepper  – To taste
  • Crayfish (Ground) – 4 tablespoons
  • Knorr cubes x 2
  • Calabash Nutmeg (Ehu) – 1 teaspoon ground Ehu seeds
  • Ogiri / Iru – 1 teaspoon
  • 3 Fresh Utazi leaves (Gongronema latifolium)
  • Garden Eggs | As much as you can eat

 

Method

Pour the palm oil into a sizeable pot. Pour the water from the potash mixture, making sure not to pour the sediments. Stir very well and you’ll see the oil turn into a yellow paste.

Add the ground pepper, ground ehu, crushed stock cubes, crayfish, diced onions and ugba (ukpaka), then stir very well. Add the iru/ogiri and make sure it is mixed very well. Add the diced kanda/pomo and stir very well. Now add the soaked and drained Abacha and stir till it is well-incorporated in the palm oil paste. Add the sliced Utazi and salt to taste and stir well. It is important that you add salt last because after adding all that seasoning, your Abacha may not even need salt any more.

Transfer to a stove/cooker at this point and heat it up to your desired temperature at medium heat. When done, turn off the heat and add the sliced garden egg leaves, stir very well and serve.

Add sliced garden egg leaves, stir and serve with garden eggs, fish and onions.

 

 

Nkwobi Salad Delicacy (Eastern Nigeria)

Ingredients :

  • Cow foot – 2kg (cut into sizeable pieces)
  • Utazi keave – 1 medium heap
  • Palm Oil – 200ml
  • Potash – 1 tablespoon
  • Calabash Nutmeg(Ehu) – 1 teaspoon
  • Crayfish (Groud) – 2 tablespoons
  • Fresh Pepper – 3 medium
  • Onion – 1 medium size
  • Knor cubes x 2
  • Salt – To taste

 

Methods

Wash and put the cow foot chunks in a pot. Add the stock cubes (crushed) and the chunks of onion.

Add a small quantity of water and start cooking at medium heat till well cooked. Add just enough water to prevent burning as you cook. There should not be any stock (water) in the pot when the meat is done. While the meat is cooking, pour the palm oil into a clean dry pot. Pour in the potash mixture (sieved) into the oil. Stir with a wooden spatula as you pour the potash. You’ll notice the palm oil begin to curdle and turn yellow. Keep stirring till all the oil has turned yellow.

Add the ground crayfish, pepper and ehu seeds. Stir very well till they are all incorporated.

When the meat is done, add salt, stir and cook till all the water has dried. Add the well done cow foot to the palm oil paste and stir very well with the wooden spatula. Put it back on the stove/cooker and heat till the Nkwobi is piping hot, stirring all the time to make sure it does not burn.

To prepare the garnish, cut the onions into rings and cut the utazi into long thin slices. Add the thin slices of utazi and onion rings on top for the full effects.

Ukazi Salad Delicacy (Eastern Nigeria)

Ingredients:

  • Shredded Ukazi leaves – 1 medium heap
  • Fresh Pepper – 3 medium size
  • Boiled stock fish – 3 medium pieces
  • African nutmeg (Ground) – 1 teaspoon
  • Smoked shrimps – 15 medium size
  • Palm oil – 2 cooking spoons
  • Potash – 1 small piece
  • Maggi crayfish x 2
  • Water – 2 tablespoons
  • Salt – To taste

 

Method:

Heat the potash and crush. Pour into a bowl. Stir in water then palm oil till colour changes to yellow. Add the boiled stockfish, shrimps and Maggi crayfish. Stir. Add the shredded ukazi leaves. Stir and add salt to taste. Serve cold.

Nsala Soup (Eastern Nigeria)

Ingredients:

  • Chicken / Fresh Fish – 1kg
  • Crayfish (Ground) – 2 tablespoons
  • Onion – 1 medium size
  • Yam – 2 slices
  • Uziza seeds (Ground) – 1 teaspoon
  • Dried Pepper (Ground) – 1 tablespoon
  • Maggi chicken x 1
  • Water – 8 cups
  • Salt – To taste

 

Method

Cut the dressed chicken into pieces. Season with few slices of onion, pepper and salt. Steam for 10 minutes. Add the water, fish, Maggi chicken, crayfish and the remaining pepper. Peel and cut the yam into small pieces and add to the boiling pot. After 5 minutes, remove the yam and pound thoroughly, then add to the soup as a thickener. Stir. Add the uziza powder. Simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. Serve with pounded yam.

Obe Korowo/Scent Leave (Western Nigeria)

Ingredients:

  • Bush meat – 1/4 large size
  • Smoke fish – 1 medium size
  • Snails – 4 large size
  • Iru – 1 small wrap
  • Lime juice – 1 cup
  • Korowo (Ground) – 2 cups
  • Palm oil – 3 cooking spoons
  • Effirin/Scent leaves – 1 medium bunch
  • Fresh Pepper – 4 medium size
  • Fresh Tomatoes (Ground) – 4 medium size
  • Tatashe pepper (Ground) – 4 medium
  • Onion – 1
  • Maggi cubes x 2
  • Salt – To taste.

 

Method:

Cut and wash the bush meat thoroughly, set aside. Wash the snail with salt and lime juice. Dress the snails and cut open into two. Sift the korowo to remove the chaff. Pick the Effirin eaves, shred and set aside. Heat the palm oil, add the ground tomatoes, tatashe, pepper and onion. Stir and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the snails and korowo to the pot. Sprinkle a little salt and cover the pot. Allow to boil for about 10 minutes. The addition of salt almost immediately would make the korowo to come out grainy. Add the bush meat, fish and Maggi cubes. Stir and reduce heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir and add the Effirin Leaves. Stir and taste for salt. Remove from heat and serve with pounded yam.

Oha Soup ( Eastern Nigeria)

Ingredients

  • Oha leaves –  (as required)
  • Cocoa yam –  (15 to 20 medium sizes)
  • Meat –  (chicken/assorted/beef/goat meat/turkey)
  • Dry fish/mangala –  (as desired)
  • Maggi cubes x 4
  • Crayfish – 2 cups
  • Uziza leaves (optional)
  • 1 big Stock fish head
  • Palm oil – 15 to 20cl
  • Achi/Ofo –  (200g)
  • Ogiri
  • Salt and Pepper – To taste

 

Method:

Pound cooked cocoa yam with a mortar and pestle into a smooth paste, the normal traditional way. Grind crayfish and fresh pepper. Using your fingers, cut the Ora (Oha) leaves into tiny pieces. Parboil meat with the necessary ingredients, allow to cook for ten to fifteen minutes – add washed dry fish and stock fish. Cook until it is tender.

Add more water then add red oil (palm oil), ground crayfish, maggi, salt and pepper to taste. Stir and allow boiling. Then add the pounded cocoa yam and the ground egusi if you choose to make oha soup with egusi, which is also a very tasty recipe. Also add the ogiri at this point. Stir; allow to dissolve before adding the sliced uziza leaves then uha leave should follow after a minute. Stir and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes and you just made a very delicious oha soup (ofe ora). Serve with swallow – eba, fufu or pounded yam.

Kamuna (Sierra Leone)

Ingredients:              

  • Sweet Potato leaves (3 handfuls)
  • Beef (1kg)
  • Okro(5 medium size)
  • Smoked fish (1 medium size)
  • Palm Oil (4 cooking spoons)
  • Broad beans (parboiled)
  • Ogiri (fermented beniseed) x 2 wraps
  • Fresh pepper (ground – 4 medium size)
  • Onion (ground) x 2
  • Maggi Cubes x 2
  • Water (6 – 8cups)
  • Salt (discretional)

 

Method

Wash and season the meat with some ground onion and salt then steam till the water dries. Add water between 6-8 cups and the beans and continue the cooking for some minutes. Add the palm oil, grind and add the Ogiri. Wash and shred the sweet potato leaves very thinly. Stir the sauce and add the leaves. Cover the pot and allow to steam for about 5 minutes. Stir reduce the heat and add the fish at this point, the Okro is cut into 2 pieces each and added to the soup. Stir and add the remaining  ground onion with Maggi cubes to the soup. Stir and allow to simmer for 5minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. Serve with boiled rice.