tony b Posted January 30, 2021 Report Share Posted January 30, 2021 Got a nice package of goodies from Nigeria via the UK today - one guess as to who that benefactor was? Now my challenge is to eat a LOT of pepper soup! LOL! Now for the quiz of the day. What are the spices in the 3 small bags? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted January 30, 2021 Report Share Posted January 30, 2021 Hey @tony b. Nothing makes me happier than sharing food experiences. When you said you had enjoyed the first lot of pepper soup mix that I sent you, I had to make sure you had enough supplies to keep you going. The only problem was that my supplies, brought to me by my father in Nigeria, were running low. I had never needed to go to a local African store before because my parents always supplied me with what I needed. Mr Google told me that I had at least three stores within five minutes' drive of my house. I called them up and they all had pepper soup mix. I made it to "Mama Lit" and found pepper soup and more. I have learned a lot and have been back since. She has plantain chips (delicious with or without chilli), palm wine (turns out you need that for making a favourite childhood roadside snack of mine, puff puff) and things I had never heard of - ogiri and iru. When I told my mother I had bought some melon seed for making Ijebu egusi she said I needed to find a fermented product called ogiri. Here I am in England, making Japanese inspired groundnut miso using a book written by some guy in the South and I never knew we had a culture of fermented foods in my own country. A whole new world of food has opened up and I am having fun. So, to your care package Tony: Northern Nigerian chilli mix - I have no idea what makes up this mix but it is good and hot and I like it. Makes me sneeze so I suspect it has a reasonable amount of black pepper in it. I use it for everything. Red pepper - go to heat amper for stews Pepper soup mix - ready mix for adding to stock and meat/chicken/prawns to make a tasty, super hot soup as you know. Our favourites are made with goat or chicken gizzards but you can use any mix of meats that you like. Ground hot pepper - you can never have enough Mystery packs are things I had never bought myself either. They are the makings of the pepper soup mix if you want to make it yourself. The lady in the shop gave me no idea what proportions to mix them in, just that that is what she uses. Noone measures stuff so I wasn't going to get any more help than that. I photographed here boxes so I would remember the names of each. The five ingredients you need are: 1. Wedeaba (calabash nutmeg) 2. Efom wisa (alligator pepper) 3. Hwenteaa 4. Esuru wisa (grains of paradise) 5. Cloves The first three are left to right in your picture. I didn't get you 4 and 5 because she said 4 were black peppercorns and I thought you could get both easily where you are. Over to you. I await the outcomes of your research and experimentation so that I can try this out myself once you have perfected the recipe. The jollof mix was new to me. I make jollof rice from scratch and there are recipes online. I usually make a stew using stock, water, bones, tomatoes and chillis to build a flavourful base for making the stew. That mix looks like a short cut. I bought some for me too. Will report back when I have tried it. Have fun! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted January 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) Big props to @tekobo - for sharing. I used some of the new pepper soup seasoning (Home Taste) in a bowl of canned soup today. It's good. Did a side-by-side tasting of it against the original one that you sent me. This one is very similar in taste, but hotter. You’ll need: * 6 to 8 pieces calabash Nutmeg * 8 pieces Negro pepper (Uda seeds) * 1 tablespoonful seeds of Aligator pepper (Atariko/Ulima seed) **this makes about 3 tablespoonful pepper soup spice mix Note: some people add dried ginger roots and cubeb peppers(uziza seeds) to their mix, so feel free to add a little if you want to. Uziza seeds are very similar to regular black peppercorns. Use high quality black peppercorns to get as close as possible. Edited January 30, 2021 by tony b 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted January 31, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2021 I made some boneless chicken breasts with the Northern Nigerian Chile Mix (upper left-hand corner bag) for dinner tonight. Simple paste of 1 TB chile mix to 2 TB of oil and a pinch of S&P, marinated the chicken for 30 minutes before tossing in the oven - Sorry, freezing rain here, so no grilling out tonight! OMG! I think she's trying to kill me! And as many of you know, I have a high tolerance for spicy! The flavor is reminiscent of Jamaican jerk, as I suspect there's Habaneros in it, but by the time I'd finished dinner, my mouth was numb! Thankfully, the Viognier that I was drinking came to the rescue! Willing to share some of the spice mix with others who think they are adventurous enough to try it! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted January 31, 2021 Report Share Posted January 31, 2021 14 hours ago, tony b said: OMG! I think she's trying to kill me! And as many of you know, I have a high tolerance for spicy! Ha! You forgot the First Rule of Chile Club: Respect the heat, do NOT treat it like a rub. 14 hours ago, tony b said: Willing to share some of the spice mix with others who think they are adventurous enough to try it! Good luck with that. Who is going to take you up on this offer when even you @tony b, couldn't take the heat? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted January 31, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2021 Learned my lesson with this one! Will use 1/2 as much next time! 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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