By Ruth Unbreakable Echewe 

Sometimes, for the weekend, all a foodie wants to do is to stay indoors and feast, but what can be done when the urge for a taste of spicy hot pepper soup with all types of condiments just won’t go away – maybe a forced visit to a restaurant then?

Well, not quite with Mimidoo Iyorkaa, the founder of Mimi’s Tastee Food Hub & Bakehouse Limited in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Thanks to this chef, no one needs to make unnecessary trips outdoors when their bodies do not feel up to this – she does this by making sure that anyone can get their tasty delights of Nigerian pepper soups using the special recipes from her kitchen, now here is off to show how this can be recreated elsewhere.

From running her restaurants and making orders ready for corporate organisations, Iyorkaa’s business has evolved into an online bulk food service where customers pick up pre-requested meals and cakes as they book their events.

Mimi’s food hub also runs a catering academy where she trains people with zero or little culinary experience to become master chefs in African and continental cuisines, cakes and pastries.

Here are three out of several Mimi’s pepper soup recipes one could try at home without needing to be a master chef to pull it off – just do not forget one of the main ingredients, scented leaves for resounding flavour.

Catfish pepper soup (River or pond catfish)

• Pour hot water over the catfish to wash it clean of all the sliminess. Repeat the process until the fish is clean.
• In a separate big pot, put some water with blended ehuru(African nutmeg), uziza (West African black pepper), Aidan, uyaya, scotch bonnet pepper, salt, and seasoning cubes.
• When it has come to a boiling point, add blended onion, then put in the fish. The fish comes in last because of its softness. You want to maintain its size.
• Depending on the heat, time it for eight to 10 minutes, then add scent leaves, hot leaves and after steaming a bit, turn the heat off.
• The catfish pepper soup can be served with agidi(corn meal), bread rolls. For women who have just given birth, it is served with Irish potatoes or boiled yams to rejuvenate their system and serve their first meal.

Goat meat pepper soup

• Thoroughly wash the goat meat, which is cut into smaller bits for easy carriage.
• Place the washed goat meat in a pot without water to braise the protein and allow the meat to cook deeply with blended African nutmeg, scotch bonnet pepper, salt, and seasoning cubes.
• When the stock has dried up, add room temperature or hot water and check for taste, with additional spices that might have reduced from the steaming
• Then add sliced scent leaves and hot leaves.
• Put off the heat in order not to overcook.

Assorted pepper soup

• This is mainly offal – liver, heart, throat, shaki(tripe), intestines, which must be opened up with scissors to enable a thorough wash using salt and vinegar to neutralize the smell
• Then transfer it into a pot and add fresh pepper, scotch bonnet pepper, blended onion, salt, uyaya(Adan fruits), and seasoning cubes without the addition of water to allow the mix to steam properly till it releases its broth.
• When the broth has dried up, add room temperature or hot water and check for taste with additional spices that might have reduced from the steaming.
• Let it cook for some time because this particular type takes longer. If you prefer very tender meat, you can first cook it in a pressure pot till it is soft before transferring it to a pot and the spicing starts.
• Add thinly sliced scent leaves and hot leaves, which usually come in last.
• Once the flavours can be perceived, we turn off the heat to avoid overcooking

Ruth Unbreakable Echewe is a content creator with an interest in food and fashion, and everything good in Nigeria. This article was first published in the 2024 H2 edition of Local Content Digest, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board’s stakeholder magazine.

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