Nkwobi is a delicious spicy cow feet Nigerian delicacy. It is a popular eat out meal common in Nigerian restaurants or beer parlors which may seem complicated but in reality is easy to make and prepared with simple ingredients.
The only snag could be the length of time needed to get the cowfeet cooked to a soft consistency. But that can easily be solved with a pressure cooker or a slow cooker. But if you don’t have either then cooking the cowfeet ahead of time and freezing for later is a good alternative and that’s what I did. In fact I always have precooked meats in my freezer. Saves me loads of cook time in this America.
What better day to share this dish than a Thursday so you can be equipped to prepare this dish for Friday night so you can Surprise Oga with this delight ?
If you love spicy food then you are in the right company. But if you don’t, you can reduce the pepper to your taste but be warned you won’t be in the right company anymore ??... just kidding. Spicy or not this delightful Igbo man’s delicacy is a winner anytime.
A little secret... Hubby doesn’t like cowfeet much, but when made into this dish he is totally in. Sometimes I throw in some oxtails to make it more to his taste.
What makes this dish unique is the sauce with which the meats are mixed. Same mix is used for isiewu and Delta State’s owho soup. That sauce is simply a mix of palm oil and potash which cuddles the palmoil. A great substitute to potash is baking soda which is what I used in this recipe. Though I still have some potash (thank you momma) but decided to give this a try to demonstrate this alternative for people in diaspora that may not be able to access potash. The Gound ehuru seeds ( Monodora myristica) enhances the taste of Nkwobi.
I didn’t have Utazi leaves ( GANGRONEMA latifolium) on hand when I made this dish. What did I use? You guessed right Kale to the rescue. I know..... me and Kale ??.
This is one of my favorite Nigerian dishes and I enjoy it so much. Since I went low carb (keto to be precise), I was delighted when I found out it was on the list of low carb friendly Nigerian dishes. Win-Win in my opinion.
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do?, if you do, Consider rating the recipe and dropping a few lines below at the comment section I would love to hear from you.
Let’s get cooking
Love,
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Watch how to make Nkwobi
Nkwobi: Nigerian Cow foot Special
Ingredients
- 2500 g of cow foot
- Salt/bouillon cube to taste
- ½ cup Palm oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cameroon pepper
- 1 teaspoon Ground ehuru calabash nutmeg
- 1 cup Ugba Optional
- 3 Tbs Coarsely ground crayfish
- 1 large Onion divided ( half chopped up, the other ½ sliced in circles)
- Utazi leaves Sliced (For garnishing)
Instructions
Method 1
- Season cow feet with ginger, garlic, bouillon, and chopped onions. add water to a level that covers the meat and begin to cook. Make sure to add more water when needed as you cook.
- Cook meat till tender, then turn off heat and let cool.
- When meat is cool enough to touch, cut meat into bite size pieces. don't discard the bones.
- Put back bite size meat an smaller bones into pot, add cray fish, some bouillon powder, and about ¼ cup of water. turn heat back on to a low simmer.
- Pour Palm oil into a bowl and set aside.
- Mix baking soda in a tablespoon of water, then pour the mixture into the Palm oill and mix. Stir until mixture thickens to form a paste.
- Add the ehuru ( calabash nutmeg) and Cameroon pepper, stir to mix, then taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
- Turn off heat, stir in the palm oil / baking soda mix into the cow feet. Mix till well combined.
- Serve in a wooden bowl topped with the sliced onions and Utazi leaves ( in the picture I used kale leaves)
Method 2
- Cut the cooked cow feet into smaller bite size pieces. Remove the bigger bones. Leave some small bones (it is delicious to suck on)
- Add in the salt, bouillon powder, Cameroon pepper, ground ehuru, ground crayfish into the Palm oil paste in Method 1 above. Sir to combine, taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly
- Pour palm oil mix into the cooked cow feet. Mix the cow feet in, then add the ugba ( if using ). Mix well till everything is well combined.
- Serve in a wooden bowl topped with the sliced onions and Utazi leaves ( in the picture I used kale leaves)
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