8 Easy And Savory African Pepper Soup Recipes To Try This Cold Winter
When it’s cold or when you are blue, even when you are dieting seeking something new, there is always this hearty and flavorful soup just for you. What’s really great about the African Pepper soup is that it is easy to make and can be healthy too. There are different variations of this soup that are all delicious. The key to this truly delightful soup comes down to the exotic spices.
ALSO READ: 25 African Recipes to Try This Holiday Season
8 Savory African Pepper Soup Recipes
Table of Contents
Recipe#1 – Goat Meat Pepper Soup with Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs goat meat and offal mix
- 4 Tbsps pepper soup spices – usually made up of Uda (remove seeds, roast bark and slightly pound), Ehuru (Jamaican nutmeg), and sometimes Uziza seeds.
- 3 habanero peppers(Roughly blended)
- ½ small onion(roughly blended)
- ½ tsp fresh ginger(grated)
- a handful of basil or scent leaves(minced)
- 1½ tsp crayfish
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- Bouillon
- Salt to taste
Recipe#2 – Goat Meat Pepper soup with Plantains
Ingredients
- 1-2 Unripe Plantain
- 600g Goat Meat With Bones
- 1 Small Red Onion
- 2-3 Scotch Bonnet Thinly Chopped OR 3 Tablespoons Ground Pepper (Atagungun)
- 2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
- ½ Teaspoon Minced Ginger
- ½ Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Pepper Soup Spice
- Dry or Fresh Efinrin/ Basil leaves OR Utazi Leaves
- 2 Knorr Cubes
- Salt to taste
Recipe#3 – Goat Meat Peppersoup with Njansa
Ingredients
- 3 pound goat meat cut in pieces
- 1 chopped medium onion
- 4-5- garlic clove
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoon chopped ginger
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 1 Tbsp Maggi or bouillon granules
- 2 green onion chopped whites and green parts
- ¼ cup basil
- ¼ cup parsley
- 0-3 Scotch bonnet or habanera pepper
- Salt and white pepper to taste
- Optional
- 1-2 Tbsp Njansa
- 1 calabash pepper peeled
- 2 Negro pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon grains of paradise
- 3-4 green plantains peeled and cut into 2-3 pieces
Recipe #4 – Chicken Pepper soup with Ehu
Ingredients:
- 1 medium sized whole chicken
- 3 Calabash Nutmeg seeds (Ehu/Ariwo)
- 2 tbsp. chilli pepper – ground (or as desired)
- A handful scent leaves
- 1 medium sized onion
- 2 seasoning cubes
- Salt to taste
Recipe#5 – Seafood Mix Pepper Soup
Ingredients
- 1.6 lbs catfish (cleaned and gutted)
- 1 lb fresh prawns
- 1 lb mussels and seafood mix
- 2 plum tomatoes
- 1 small red bell pepper
- 1 small green bell pepper(optional)
- 6 habanero peppers or ata-rodo(reduce or increase according to heat tolerance)
- 2 small carrots
- 1 knob of ginger ie about an inch
- 1 garlic clove(optional)
- A handful of chopped Basil leaves or scent leaves
- ½ teaspoon of dry ground pepper
- 1 Maggi crayfish (Any bouillon works)
- 1 Tbsp of dry ground crayfish
- Uyayak pod
- 1 Tbsp of utazi (optional)
- salt to taste
- 4 Tbsp of pepper soup spice powder (add more if you wish)
- 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil (optional)
Recipe#6 – Plantain and Fish Pepper Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Segment Fresh fish
- ½ Unripe plantains
- Dry Chili pepper to taste
- 1 seed Ehuru (crushed)
- 3 Efirin leaves chopped (also known as Basil leaves)
- ½ tsp Utazi (optional)
- 1 tsp Crayfish powder
- Salt to taste
- Beef seasoning to taste
Recipe#7 – Mushroom Pepper Soup
Ingredients
- ~3/4 lbs cremini/ oyster mushrooms, .l.
- 3 cups water
- 4 Njangsa seeds
- 1 large basil leave
- 1 small sprig Parsley
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/4 small onion
- ½ inch cube ginger
- 2 medium habanero peppers Adjust heat level accordingly
- salt to taste
- 1 Tbsp canola oil optional
Recipe#8 – Catfish Pepper Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized Cat Fish
- 3 Calabash Nutmeg seeds (Ehu/Ariwo)
- 4 Habanero Pepper or chili pepper (to taste)- ground
- 2 tbsp. Crayfish – ground
- A handful scent leaves
- 4 Utazi leaves
- 1 medium sized onion
- 2 seasoning cubes
- Salt to taste
Exotic African Spices
African Spice#1 – Ehuru
Monodora myristica, the calabash nutmeg, is a tropical tree of the family Annonaceae or custard apple family of flowering plants. In former times, its seeds were widely sold as an inexpensive nutmeg substitute. This is now less common outside its region of production. Other names of calabash nutmeg include Jamaican nutmeg, African nutmeg, ehuru, ariwo, awerewa, ehiri, airama, African orchid nutmeg, muscadier de Calabash and lubushi.
African Spice#2 – Eziza Seeds (Piper Guineense)
Piper guineense is a West African species of Piper; the spice derived from its dried fruit is known as West African pepper, Ashanti pepper, Benin pepper, false cubeb, Guinea cubeb, uziza pepper or (ambiguously) “Guinea pepper”, and called locally kale, kukauabe, masoro, sasema and soro wisa. It is a close relative of cubeb pepper and a relative of black pepper and long pepper. Unlike cubeb pepper, which is large and spherical in shape, Ashanti peppers are prolate spheroids, smaller and smoother than Cubeb pepper in appearance and generally bear a reddish tinge.[1] The stalks of Ashanti pepper berries are also distinctly curved whilst those of cubeb pepper are completely straight.[1]
African Spice#3 – Njangsa Seeds
The term Njangsa refers to an oily seeds tree, Ricinodendron heudelotii, found in tropical West Africa. It is also known as Munguella (Angola), Essessang (Cameroon), Bofeko (Zaire), Wama (Ghana), Okhuen (Nigeria), Kishongo (Uganda), Akpi (Cote d’Ivoire), Djansang, Essang, Ezezang and Njasang. Two varieties of the tree species are recognized R. heudelotii var. heudelotii in Ghana and R. heudelotii var. africanum in Nigeria and Westwards.
African Spice#4 – Uda
The term Grains of Selim refers to the seeds of a shrubby tree, Xylopia aethiopica, found in Africa. It is also known as kimba pepper, African pepper, Moor pepper, Negro pepper, Kani pepper, Kili pepper, Sénégal pepper, Ethiopian pepper, Hwentea and Guinea pepper. The seeds have a musky flavor and are used as a pepper substitute. It is sometimes confused with grains of paradise. By far the most common name in Wolof is djar in Senegal, and this is how it is listed on most, if not all, Cafe Touba packages.
African Spice#5 – Utazi
Gongronema latifolium is widely used in West Africa for medicinal and nutritional purposes. An infusion of the aerial parts is taken to treat cough, intestinal worms, dysentery, dyspepsia and malaria. It is also taken as a tonic to treat loss of appetite. In Sierra Leone an infusion or decoction of the stems with lime juice is taken as a purge to treat colic and stomach-ache. For Senegal and Ghana the leaves are rubbed on the joints of small children to help them walk. In southern Nigeria the Igbo people call the leaves ‘utazi’ and the Yoruba people ‘arokeke’.
African Spice#6 – Uyayak
Tetrapleura tetraptera is a species of flowering plant in the pea family native to Western Africa.[1] The plant is called Prekese (or, more correctly, Prɛkɛsɛ) in the Twi language of Ghana. It is also called Uhio (Uhiokrihio) in the Igbo Language of Nigeria. Its sweet fragrance is highly valued, its fruit is used to spice dishes such as Banga soup, and its bark is used for medicinal purposes. The major constituents are tannins, flavonoids and starch.
In West Africa, the plant Tetrapleura tetraptera (locally known as Aridan) is used as a spice, a medicine and as a dietary supplement rich in vitamins it is mostly found in Ghana in West Africa. It is used to prepare palm nut soup and other types of soups especially what is known by most Ghanaians as light soup because of its perceived medicinal benefits and whetting aroma. It is widely believed in Ghana that the plant only flourishes in two places i.e. Ghana and Israel but this is merely an unfounded myth which is yet to be proven true.
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