Snail Pepper Soup

Ingredients

• a big piece of fresh or frozen giant African land snails (Achatina achatina), thoroughly cleaned
• 1 tablespoon of alum (akanwu) for cleaning
• Lemon juice and salt for cleaning
• 4 to 5 Atarodo (very hot chilli peppers) — whole
• 1 teaspoon of ground uziza seeds
• 1 teaspoon of ground ehuru
• 1 teaspoon of ground Cameroon pepper
• Half a teaspoon of ground selim pepper (uda)
• 3 big handfuls of ground dried crayfish
• 1 big onion, sliced
• 2 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
• Salt to taste
• 5 glasses of water
• A small handful of fresh scent leaves, torn

Method

1. 01

   Multi-Stage Snail Cleaning. Place snails in a bowl with alum and coarse salt. Rub vigorously — snails will release enormous slime. Rinse thoroughly. Repeat 3 to 4 times until absolutely no slime remains. Remove from shells using a fork. Trim the dark digestive gland. Cut each snail into 2 to 3 pieces.

2. 02

   Pre-cooking the Snails. Place cleaned snail pieces in a pot with sliced onion, 1 seasoning cube and salt. Add 2 glasses of water. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes until tender. Drain and reserve the slightly sweet snail cooking liquid.

3. 03

   Building the Pepper Soup Broth. Combine reserved snail liquid with 3 glasses of fresh water. Add all pepper soup spices and remaining seasoning. Bring to a vigorous boil.

4. 04

   Adding the Snails. Add pre-cooked snail pieces to the boiling spiced broth. Cook for 15 minutes until fully infused with broth flavours.

5. 05

   Finishing. Add torn scent leaves in the final 3 minutes. Taste and adjust. Serve hot.

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