LounjeLounjePlan my week

Cow Leg Pepper Soup

Cow Leg Pepper Soup uses the entire front or hind leg of a cow — bones, cartilage, meat and all — cooked in the pepper soup broth for an extremely long time to extract the extraordinary collagen, glucosamine and bone marrow that make this one of the most therapeutically potent Nigerian soups. The resulting broth has a distinctive gelatinous quality even when hot, and a depth of flavour that only extended bone-in cooking can produce.

Cow Leg Pepper Soup, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 1 whole cow leg (front or hind), chopped into sections by the butcher
  • Lemon juice, salt and potash for cleaning
  • 5 Atarodo (very hot chilli peppers) — whole
  • 1 tablespoon of ground uziza seeds — generous
  • 1 teaspoon of ground ehuru
  • 1 teaspoon of ground Cameroon pepper
  • Half a teaspoon of ground selim pepper (uda)
  • 4 big handfuls of ground dried crayfish
  • 2 big onions, sliced
  • 3 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
  • Salt to taste
  • 10 glasses of water — more than other pepper soups to cover the large bones
  • A generous handful of fresh scent leaves, torn

Method

  1. 01

    Cleaning and Blanching. Singe any remaining hair. Scrub every surface with lemon juice, potash solution and coarse salt. Rinse in multiple changes of water. Blanch in boiling water for 10 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water.

  2. 02

    Very Long Slow Cooking. Place blanched cow leg sections in a very large pot with 10 glasses of fresh water. Add all pepper soup spices, sliced onion, seasoning cubes and salt. Bring to a vigorous boil, skimming foam continuously for the first 15 minutes. Reduce to low-medium heat. Cover and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours minimum.

  3. 03

    The Therapeutic Broth Development. After 1.5 hours, the broth should be visibly golden, slightly thick and with a gelatinous quality when you observe the pour off a spoon. Taste and adjust all seasonings generously.

  4. 04

    Adding Scent Leaves and Serving. Add torn scent leaves in the final 5 minutes. Serve very hot in deep bowls with both the meat-bearing bone sections and generous amounts of the extraordinary broth.

More soups & broths

Cow Leg Pepper Soup — how to make it | Lounje