Cat Fish Pepper soup – Eating Light

Waiters with bottles of drinks are arriving the tables, plates of Cat fish pepper soup are following in tow. Men are talking on top of their voices analyzing football matches, politics or generally discussing issues of the opposite sex and their prowess as the male specie? This is where pepper soup dominates!

But again we start to see in Nigerian hotels 3 course menus with pepper soup featuring as our first course. Goat meat, chicken,cow tail, cow-leg,fish are all variants of peppersoup. The uniqueness of each bowl of soup lies in the selection and intensity of the spices and herbs used. Is there a standard peppersoup dish? Maybe not. Typical common spices will include dry red chilli, uziza,uda,African nut meg, uyayak,utazi leaves, effirin or ntong(scent) leaves.

As a meal for after childbirth or even the common bout of malaria many Nigerians suffer from, peppersoup  is a favorite for recuperating when you lack appetite . A dash of utazi just seems to pick you up.

When you are looking for something to warm you up on a rainy day or simply something light in the evening,  Cat fish pepper soup is just the thing. Hot, spicy, sweaty forehead, runny nose, gulps of water …this is the experience! Really you can spice it up to the level you can tolerate. I generally like spicy foods. Adding one cooking spoon of macaroni if you are really hungry gives you a meal that will not be heavy for the evening. On a different note I have varied my Cat fish Pepper soup with the addition of carrots and cabbage and it is still quite filling. This is one dish that those on a low carbohydrate diet will appreciate. Pick up some cat fish and get cooking.

 

Recipe for Cat fish Pepper soup

Ingredients

4 pieces silver Cat Fish

1 teaspoon dry ground Pepper( or to taste)

2 pieces African Nut Meg

1/2 teaspoon Uziza Seeds( crushed)

1 stick Uda( smashed and deseeded)

Seasoning Cube to taste

Leaves of lemon grass for tieing round the fish

3-4 cups Water

Method

1. Season Fish with some dry pepper and seasoning cube.
2. Tie the lemon grass round the fish and set aside for about 5 minutes
3. Add water to a seperate pot, add all the spices and seasoning cube and salt and bring to boil for about 3 minutes
4. Lower the heat, drop in the fish and cook till well cooked through. Cooking the fish on low heat helps retain the softness of the flesh.
5. Taste and correct seasoning
6. Serve hot.

Lemon grass in this pepper soup gives it a nice aromatic twist .