A Food To Remember and Recipe

In the battle between healthy foods and junk foods, it is quite difficult to place any of them on a higher pedestal since a lot of this generation find snacks a quick go to compared to the time and energy it takes to prepare a balanced meal. I love a healthy intake of snacks but gun to my head, I'll use my last card to buy food at eat, I love food a lot, So I think that makes me a foodie.

But anyday anytime, I'll prefer food to snacks and here's why; For me, food lasts longer in the stomach than junk which gives me the needed energy to carry on the day's activities.

A typical example is when I go to school knowing I'll have lectures all day. When I buy food, it is more economical and holds me more than when I buy snacks because I'll keep on buying and buying the snacks without feeling satisfied. But with food, I know I've eaten for the day till I'm ready to go back home.

There's a saying that goes "too much of everything is a disease" but this does not apply to food because it contains all the 6 classes of food. Yet Another reason I love food is that I get to try variety of dishes, food combinations and other palate stimulators.

I can choose to eat rice in the morning, chicken and fries in the afternoon, and spaghetti with meatballs at night. The fact that there are so many tasty things one can consume which is still healthy makes food all the more appealing to me.

Goat Meat Pepper Soup

The food I love most or should I say my favorite food is "goat meat pepper soup"

This meal is a special delicacy amongst Nigerians. Usually prepared for special occasions like marriage ceremonies, naming ceremonies, clan meetings, festivals, for newborn moms, and traditional marriages etc.

Goat Pepper soup dish was always often associated with royalty dishes because the cost of goat needed to make this meal wasn't budget friendly to common people so it was only in events people would get to eat it.

But then to enjoy this meal more in families, smaller quantities of goat were bought, that now you don't need a fat pocket to enjoy this food.

And I think what hooks me to this particular dish is the meat itself asides the local spices used. The tenderness of the meat, the savory taste and all.

The health benefits of goat pepper soup include;

• It has high protein content. Goat meat being an excellent source of protein, is essential for muscle growth and repair of worn out tissues. Also helps in body building as do all sources of protein does.

• Goat meat is also a good source of iron, which helps to prevent anemia and overall boosts the immune system.

• The peppers and local spices used in the soup contain antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties which helps to reduce inflammation and improve overall health, plus it can also serve as a detox, cleansing waste toxins from our body.

• The combination of the goat meat, peppers, and local spices helps to boost the immune system and prevent illnesses especially for those newborn moms, it helps heal any wound they may have had during childbirth and washes whatever remains of the waste while stabilizing their health.

• The spices and peppers used in Making the soup, like garlic and ginger, have antimicrobial properties that help fight off harmful bacteria and viruses and is also nutrient rich with nutritional values like iron,vitamin B12, and zinc, etc.

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 2 kg goat meat and some goat meat offals cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 tbsp of Pepper Soup Spice ( you can ask the market women for grounded local pepper soup spices)
• 2 tbsp of habenero pepper.
• 1 tbsp of cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp Cameroon pepper
• 1 tbsp Ginger powder or grinded ginger
• 1 tbsp of grinded garlic paste
• 1 small onion
• Scent leaves
• Uziza leaf (a spicy scented leaf) optional
• Uyayak (a pepper soup herb) optional
• 3 Seasoning cubes
• Salt to taste
• 2 litres of Water

Recipe

In a clean pot, add your properly washed goat meat and the tripe and intestines.

• Add the peppers, chopped onions, salt, seasoning cubes, ginger and garlic paste, local pepper soup spices, uyayak, and add about half litre or less of water.

• Cook with lid on for about 15 to 20 minutes to allow meat become very tender

• Taste for seasoning and add 1 litre of water when meat is soft.

• Next, add your scent leaf, or uziza leaf, lower the heat and simmer for roughly 10 to 15 mins with the pot lid off the allow all the spices and scent leaf blend very well into the soup.

• Turn heat off and serve hot or warm paired with either rice, yam or just like that.

• Enjoy with a cold bottle of juice or palmwine

This is a good to remember for those who loves eating meat. Sorry about the insufficiency in pictures.