How to make Nkwobi

Nkwobi and Friday nights seems to be the norm especially for men. But you can have Nkwobi anytime of day .

A meat dish and  a drink on a Friday nite is something many  look forward to especially men. Is this all that men do on ‘boys night out’??? Many women are quick to disagree with me. Too many imaginations on a woman’s mind…. . Suya , Peppersoup , grilled fish etc all belong to this category of chop..chop. Nkwobi is actually not restricted to boys night out list of foods,but also featuring quite regularly on ‘starter’ lists of restaurant menus .

 

I had Nkwobi for lunch the other day, but was rather disappointed that it was packed with Pomo  which for me ,was not value for my money. I had to now do it at home and get the real deal.
The unexpected guests of my husbands friends coming over to watch a football match made it even more interesting . Women are always looking for people to give them that thumbs up after you have sweated out in the kitchen .
And so it was that my husband decided to have some male neighbors over to watch the Nigerian / Ethiopia match that saw Nigeria winning.
The match just happened to coincide with me wanting to cook and photograph this dish for the blog, so I just simply made more to serve all the men.
From the kitchen,I hear shouts and quiets, and had to look in many times just to be sure the men were fine. When Nigerian men keep quiet through out a football match get worried all is not fine on the field of play. Loud shouts means its an interesting match and Nigeria might just win.

 
Nkwobi is just one of those meals that fork and knife does not do justice to ,you have to handle it with your hands and use your teeth to search out all the meats in the crevices of the cow tail pieces.  And so it was that  the  success of Nigeria in the  Nigerian /Ethiopia match was celebrated with Nkwobi and some drink in my house. With plates cleaned out ,I sat back to watch one of my favorite programs on tv….’Master Chef’.
Enjoy Nkwobi one of Nigeria’ s signature dishes.

Nutrition Tip: Please note that potash or even baking Soda may interfere with absorption of some minerals so they should be used sparingly .

Recipe for Nkwobi

Pieces of Cow tail ( cooked)
3-4 pieces African nutmeg
Dried yellow pepper to taste
Seasoning to taste
1 cooking spoon Palm oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
Salt to taste
Slices of Onion
Sprinkles of chopped Utazi

Method
1, Cook the meat until soft after seasoning with pepper,salt,a little onion and seasoning cubes
To prepare  the Ncha, that is the sauce in which the meat is mixed in you will proceed like this :
2,Grind the African nutmeg , dried pepper and seasoning in a small mortar
3,Add the palm oil to the mortar and mix with the African nutmeg.
4,Dissolve the baking soda in about  1 tablespoon water,
5, Gradually add the soda water to the oil and mix with the pestle to form a thick paste
6 ,Pour in the meats and using a spoon coat the meat very well with the sauce
7,Serve meats in bowls or mini mortars and garnish with chopped Onion and Utazi

Cooking tips: Traditionally potash  is used to get the oil to thicken but I have tried using soda water or baking soda and it works as well. The other natural way to get the the thick sauce is to use smoked dried skin of unripe plantain. If you can get this then fine.