This recipe is for 10 servings
- 1 small sized ripe Pumpkin(about 250 grams)
- 1 kilo Meat of Choice(beef, cowfeet, goat meat, soft cow bones, chicken, tripe(shaki), oxtail)
- 1 medium Dried or Smoked Fish
- 1 small bunch Yakwa(yakuwa)(sorrel leaves)(use spinach or ugwu as a substitute)
- 1 medium Tomatoes
- 1 or 2 Fresh Pepper
- 1 Tatashe (red bell pepper)
- 1 Onion bulb
- 150gram(1 cup) Groundnut (either roasted or raw)
- Half cup Crayfish
- 2 tablespoon ground Locust Beans OR about 100g fresh Locust beans(ogiri, iru or dawadawa)
- 1 to 2 Cooking spoon Palm Oil or Vegetable oil
- 1 to 2 seasoning cubes/Stock cubes (to taste)
- Salt to taste
Notes: Yakwa(yakuwa/sorrel leaf) is the main leaf used for this recipe because it's tangy taste contrast well with the sweet taste of the soup.
Preparation
First prepare all the ingredients for the soup:
- Wash and cut the pumpkin, peel of the outer skin, scrape out the hairy pulp and the seeds. Then cut the pumpkin meat into small chunks
(don't throw away the seeds, it can be toasted and eating as a snack).
- Clean the dried fish with hot water, remove the bones and set aside
- Wash and chop the vegetables and set aside
- If you bought fresh groundnuts and would love to roast it, place in a dry pan and stir gently with a wooden spoon , on low heat, until you can smell the aroma of roasted groundnut.
Blend the groundnut and crayfish together to get a smooth thick paste .Dissolve with a little water or meat stock and set aside.
- If using dried locust beans(ogiri, iru or dawadawa), grind it and set aside
- Blend the tomatoes, fresh pepper, tatashe and onions, then pour into a pot to dry out excess water in the blended paste and set aside.
Now to cook the Miyan Taushe (Nigerian Pumpkin Soup)
1. Place the meat into a pot along with the pumpkin chunks, season with onions, 1 stock cube and a little salt. Leave to boil in it's own juice for 5 minutes, then add a little water and cook until the meat is tender.
Mash the softened pumpkin coarsely in the meat pot.
2. Then add the dissolved groundnut paste into the meat pot; add the tomato-pepper paste, the cleaned dried fish, and the palm oil and mix thoroughly.
3. Also, add the locust beans(dawadawa, ogiri or iru), taste for salt and seasoning and add if necessary.
Mix thoroughly and leave to boil for 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning at the bottom.
Note: If the soup is too thick, you can add a little water to lighten the soup, but it shouldn't be watery.
Note: the soup will thicken as it cools.
I found the soup kinda ''sweet'' but the kids loved it and asked for more...
Click here to watching video