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Nkwobi Festive Platter

Also known as Nkwobi Festive Platter (Igbo Celebration)

Nkwobi prepared for an Igbo celebration is the dish served when a family wants to signal respect, abundance and social standing to their guests. Made with an exceptional quantity of cow trotters, cooked to extraordinary tenderness and dressed in the vivid yellow potash-palm oil sauce, festive Nkwobi is served in multiple large wooden mortars at once — the mortars carried to the tables by young men and placed at the centre for communal sharing.

Nkwobi Festive Platter, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 3 to 4 big cow trotters (ankasi), cleaned and cut into sections
  • 1 big piece of cow tail — optional for extra richness
  • 1 tablespoon of ground uziza seeds
  • 1 teaspoon of ground ehuru
  • 2 big onions, sliced
  • 4 seasoning cubes (Knorr)
  • Salt to taste FOR THE FESTIVE NKWOBI SAUCE:
  • 5 cooking spoons of red palm oil
  • 1 big piece of potash (akanwu), dissolved in 5 big tablespoons of water and strained
  • 2 big tablespoons of ground uziza seeds
  • 1 tablespoon of ground ehuru
  • 4 big handfuls of ground dried crayfish
  • 3 Atarodo (hot chilli peppers), blended
  • 3 seasoning cubes, crushed
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 big handfuls of fresh utazi leaves, very finely sliced

Method

  1. 01

    Very Long Pressure Cooking. Clean the cow trotters thoroughly — singe remaining hair, scrub well with lemon juice and salt. Place in a pressure cooker with sliced onion, ground uziza seeds, ground ehuru, seasoning cubes and salt. Pressure cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until the trotters are completely, deeply tender and the collagen has fully broken down — the meat should fall from the bone when pressed. If using a regular pot, cook for 2.5 to 3 hours.

  2. 02

    Cutting and Preparing the Meat. Remove the cooked trotters from the broth. Cut into generous, well-sized serving pieces — at a celebration, the pieces should be large and impressive, not small. Reserve the gelatinous broth.

  3. 03

    Making the Grand Nkwobi Sauce. In a large mortar or wide bowl, combine the palm oil and strained potash solution. Stir vigorously until the vivid yellow reaction occurs. Add ground crayfish, uziza seeds, ehuru, blended Atarodo, seasoning cubes and salt. Mix thoroughly into a thick, golden, well-seasoned sauce.

  4. 04

    Combining. Add all the cooked cow trotter pieces and the cow tail if used to the yellow sauce. Add 3 big tablespoons of the reserved gelatinous broth. Toss very thoroughly to coat every piece in the vivid yellow sauce.

  5. 05

    Serving in the Ceremonial Wooden Mortar. Transfer the Nkwobi to wooden mortars for presentation. Garnish very generously with the finest sliced utazi leaves. The vivid yellow Nkwobi contrasted with the bright green utazi is the defining visual of the Igbo celebration table.

More festive & ceremonial dishes