While suya, beef kebab and catfish pepper soup are doing the Lord’s work, there are other lesser-known meat delicacies that should be on your radar.
If you haven’t tried any of these meat recipes, you’re depriving your tastebuds of the sweet things of life, and honestly, why that?
Dambu nama
The first time I had dambu nama was at a friend’s family home in Osogbo. His dad came home from Kaduna that weekend with it, and it was served as a side with rice. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it tasted good and chewy just like meat. My suspicions were right when I asked my friend.
Dambu nama is a popular delicacy in northern Nigeria, and it’s essentially spicy shredded meat. However, unlike the common shredded meat for stir fry recipes, the dambu nama meat is shredded so thin it feels like cotton candy floss. It can be made with cow, ram or chicken meat. Full recipe here.
Ngwo ngwo
This is a goat offal pepper soup delicacy from the eastern parts of Nigeria. It’s made from a goat’s innards: the liver, kidney, heart, spleen, tripe, and sometimes, bits of flesh. It’s similar to nkwobi (cow feet), but the difference is in the parts used for the delicacy. Find a complete recipe here.
Chicken yassa
As a certified onion hater, I once watched in horror as a chef on Food Network sliced up three large bulbs of onion on chicken cuts. I couldn’t understand why a recipe needed so much onion, but that was the first time I heard about chicken yassa. A year or two later, I watched a Nigerian food blogger recreate the recipe, and it didn’t seem like a bad idea at all. Chicken yassa is a Senegalese dish made with chicken, caramelised onions, lemon and a mix of spices. This is the complete recipe.
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Salted meat (eran oniyo)
Salted meat AKA “eran oniyo” is a Muslim meat recipe that stemmed from preserving ram/cow meat with salt during sallah. All that heavy salt coating gives the meat a different taste than meat preserved in the freezer or by frying. Salted meat is best enjoyed with egusi soup, yam pottage or stews.
Liver sauce
If you can stomach the idea of liver in your sauce, then you’ll have no problem going bigger with a liver sauce recipe. Apart from the fact that it’s a healthy meal packed with iron supplements, you’ll also give your taste buds a treat. Liver sauce can be enjoyed with rice, spaghetti or eaten alone. Find the liver sauce recipe here.
Shoko
Jollof rice isn’t the only meal we Nigerians share with our Ghanaian neighbours — I raise you shoko. Although the name is similar to the popular Yoruba vegetable soup “efo shoko”, this West African beef stew is slightly different. Shoko is prepared with amaranth leaves, tomatoes and a generous amount of beef. The seasoning spices introduce a delicious flavour to the beef. You can enjoy this sauce with rice, plantain or fufu. Find a full recipe here.
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