Chicken Pepper Soup with Oat

Chicken Pepper Soup

Pepper soup of whatever form is one of the more popular Nigerian Dishes. Whilst most only get to enjoy this light soup at drinking bars or parties. For those trying to manage their weight pepper soup has become the go to dish for a somewhat ‘light meal’ in the Nigerian context. You ma want ot try my fish pepper soup or goat meat pepper soup.

Chicken Pepper Soup does not require much culinary mastery to put it together. What you need actually is a good taste bud, hahaha. No seriously chicken is generally naturally tasty meat for which you need little seasoning, especially if the chicken is old layer which is what I have used here. The soft chicken which is used for frying does not cut it for me in pepper soup. I simply need something to work on, if you know what I mean. In any case I want to boil the meat for a reasonable length of time to allow the meats and bones to absorb the spice flavors. So that when eating the soup it has to be a spoon and hand affair, *wink*wink.

I prefer a few notes of spices per time in dishes. The reason I do not buy the market blends. I find the 2 notes of African nutmeg and Efirrin so interesting in this dish than having 5 spices I don’t really know what they are. But again the spice mix is an individual choice.

To make Chicken Pepper Soup a slightly filling meal I decided to play around with oat meal. I know that oat meal is one thing that has found its way into the Nigerian food list in the past 2-3 years. Many people for health reasons prefer to eat either whole wheat meal or oat meal as ‘swallow’ with their soups. So I thought why not include oat dumpling in the soup to add some healthy bulk to the meal. If you cannot find oat meal flour in stores near you can simply grind dry Quaker oats to get your flour for the dumpling. The taste of the oat dumpling is just amazing. I like to eat oat for its great nutritional benefit but cooked oat as cereal is not my favorite. Now I have found a way to eat my oats.

This meal keeps quite well in the freezer, so why not cook your week’s need in one go, portion into single serves and freeze. It comes in quite handy when you get home late and are not ready to cook. Remember to take out your dinner leave in the fridge so it starts to thaw before you get.

Enjoy!

Recipe for Chicken Pepper Soup with Oat Dumpling

Ingredients

1 kg Chicken laps (cut into pepper soup size)

2 African nutmeg (roasted and ground)

Dry Pepper to taste

1 Cameroun or yellow Pepper ( for more pepper heat and  flavor)

1 tablespoon chopped Scent leaf (effirin/Nchawun/Ntong)

Seasoning Cube to taste

½ cup Oat meal flour

Method

1. Wash, cut and season chicken pieces with salt, seasoning, chopped yellow pepper and set aside for about 20 minutes.
2. Drop the African nutmeg in a pot and dry roast for about 5 minutes. This is help crack open the nuts and also helps to release the flavour of the nuts. Take off the outer skin and grind the nut to powder. You may wish to buy the ground version in the market.
3. Bring Chicken to boil in its juice till almost dries. Add the nutmeg powder, add a little more pepper if need be and water and continue cooking the chicken till soft. Correct seasoning.
4. Mix the oatmeal into thick dough enough not to stick to the fingers. Roll into tiny balls and press the center with your thumb to make an interesting shape. Drop in the chicken pot and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add the chopped effirin and get the pot off the fire. The heat of the soup will cook the effirin.
6. Serve hot.