Nkwobi
Nkwobi, cow leg mixed in a spicy palm oil sauce
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg Cow leg
- ½ small onion
- 1 cup ugba (ukpaka)
- 1 cup Palm oil
- 2 tablespoons Akanwu (potash, kaun*)
- 3 seasoning cubes
- 1 tablespoon crayfish or 1/2 crayfish seasoning cube
- 2 Ehuru seeds toasted and ground
- 2 scotch bonnet/fresh pepper ground
- salt
- 1 small onion thinly sliced (garnish)
- few utazi leaves thinly sliced (garnish)
- ½ chopped scotch bonnet/fresh pepper (garnish)
Instructions
- Have the butcher remove the large bone from the cow leg and cut the cow leg into small pieces.
- Wash thoroughly and place in a pot.
- Add water, salt and two seasoning cubes, cook meat until very soft.
- Be careful when adding water and salt because you want to have just a small quantity of concentrated stock left in the pot when the cow leg is ready.
- Set aside to cool down.
- In a small bowl, put akanwu and water, stir until well mixed, leave to stand to allow any sand to settle at the bottom.
- Meanwhile, thinly slice onions into rings, shred utazi and chop pepper for the garnish, set aside.
- Pour palm oil into a medium-sized pot.
- Add 3 tablespoons of the akanwu (potash) water and stir continuously using a wooden spoon, add more and stir until the oil thickens and the colour changes from red to yellow. (If it is cracking, add another 1/2 tablespoon of akanwu water and stir. This mixture is called ncha (soap))
- Add one seasoning cube, ugba, crayfish (and crayfish seasoning cube if using), ehuru, scotch bonnet and about 1/4 cup of concentrated meat stock and stir well. Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed.
- Scoop the cooked cow leg pieces into the slurry and mix to get the sauce into the crevices.
- Place over low heat to just warm through, about 1 minute, stirring.
- Dish into bowls garnished with onions rings, scotch bonnet and thingly sliced utazi.
Notes
- Serve with palm wine or any drink of choice e.g Pina Colada, Nigerian Chapman or Afterglow Mocktail.
- You can enjoy your Nkwobi paired with boiled or roasted yam and plantain also with plain white rice.
- Do not heat the Nkwobi for longer than a minute or else the oil will separate and your dish will taste oily instead creamy.
- The number of utazi leaves might vary depending on their size.
- Store in a freezer, thaw in the refrigerator and reheat over a gentle heat, just until warmed throw. You can defrost and use a low heat setting in your microwave oven too.
- Use baking soda as a substitute for akanwu.
