Actually I wanted to try something new. I wanted to make a new dish and I keep seeing this soup from the Hausa tribe keep popping up on Instagram. I hope I have done it some justice because this is the first time I have made then tasted this soup I really love it. There is only one offal that I would suggest using and that is tripe.
With 1 lb or kg of tripe which has the fatty part removed from the smooth part of the tripe itself and then a drop of dish soap plus lots of water to clean and then 1 tbs of vinegar in very cold water in a bowl and again a lot of running water to finish removing the smell. Also you don’t want to taste the grass that the cow lamb or goat has been eating and digesting or the acrid smell of stomach acid remaining.
A same amount of weight of chicken, goat, lamb, beef ox tails, or veal, chicken gizzards, 4 goat’s feet 4 lamb or goat tongues, 1 cow’s tongue, 2 pieces of smoked dried fish soaked and removed from bones are used, The tongues are boiled then the skin is removed. All except the chicken require the cooking time of 30 30 to 45 minites in a pressure cooker. The way I would go about this is cook for 20 minutes, let pressure escape in 2 liters or 1/2 gallon of water, then again for another 20 minutes then it should be ready by then. The chicken is boiled in a regular pot for 40 minutes. The meat is removed from the pot and put to the side and the stock is put in a regular pot. If using chicken then just remove the chicken from the pot to the bowl.
Cut either 1 small pumpkin or any type of winter squash that is orange inside, do not worry about the color and yes you can boil with the skin on because this gets soft too and edible when it is cooked. This is butternut, acorn, etc…. This gets the seeds removed and cut in to tiny pieces, 1 medium piece of ginger washed, peeled and chopped, 4 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped, 1 onion or shallot peeled and chopped or 4 green onions washed and the tops removed chop and add in the bowl with the squash or pumpkin,
Roast 1 handful of raw peanuts then transfer to mini processor and grind it then transfer this to a blender and add !/4 cup of water and blend this in to a paste then set aside.
Add the contents of the large bowl of the pumpkin or squash in to a large caldero pot. If you cooked chicken then this is the pot you should be using. Add carefully the stock from the pressure cooker or if chicken used to the chicken stock. You do not need additional fluid because the stock is plenty.
Add 1 bullion cube, 1 pinch each of dawadawa, red chili powder, crayfish, the dried smoked fish that was soaked, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma, then boil on low for 40 minutes. When squash is soft then you can go ahead and turn off heat and let cool slightly. Use a stick or immursion blender and blend until you do not see anything left.
Now add 1 tbs of red palm oil, the peanut paste, meat, 1 handful of dried maringa leaves whcih can be found in the African market along with the dawadawa or frozen chopped spinach equal to the amount as the dried maringa leaves. Add 3 tsps of boabab powder that has been made in to a slury with 1/4 cup of water by adding a little at a time making sure that there isn’t any lumps and then add to the soup and let it cook 5 more minutes so it can become thick.
The finished product is eaten with rice flour fufu which is my next post so see you there. I was more then happy also to wash it down with a cold non alcoholic brew.
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