Nkwobi is a delicious cow foot Nigerian meal. People love nkwobi especially Igbo men, they use nkwobi to welcome their visitors especially prominent friends, they also use it for family gatherings, council meetings of chiefs and etc.
It is a popular eat-out meal common in Nigerian restaurants or beer parlors, most Nigerian men often hang out at restaurants to enjoy nkwobi with friends. The excitement on their faces when they beat nkwobi is indescribable.
Most people want to prepare nkwobi in their homes but are incapable of doing this because they do not know-how and most of these people often see it to be complicated and difficult but it is not. You just have to know the right steps and use the adequate ingredients for it.
You cannot make nkwobi with any kind of parts of meat you have to use the feet of a cow to have the right taste and to prepare the actual nkwobi meat. Women prepare nkwobi for their husbands to excite them and to freely ask them for gifts and favors.
The thing about this delicious delicacy is that you can step it down with palm wine for the palm wine lovers.
Ingredients for making Nkwobi
- 2500 g of cow foot
- Salt/bouillon cube to taste
- ½ cup Palm oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cameroon pepper
- 1 teaspoon Ground ehuru calabash nutmeg
- 1 cup Ugba Optional
- 3 Tbs Coarsely ground crayfish
- 1 large Onion divided ( half chopped up, the other ½ sliced in circles)
- Utazi leaves Sliced (For garnishing)
Instructions on how to make Nkwobi
Method 1
- Season cow feet with ginger, garlic, bouillon, and chopped onions. add water to a level that covers the meat and begin to cook. Make sure to add more water when needed as you cook
- Cook meat till tender, then turn off the heat and let cool. While the meat is cooking, pound the potash into powder and add a little water to it to dissolve it. Stir continuously, strain it with a sieve, and set the potash liquid aside for later use. If you’ll rather make use of the meat stock, then mix the powdered potash with a little of the stock left after cooking the meat. Pour the red palm oil into a clean pot, and add the potash liquid into the oil.
- When meat is cool enough to touch, cut meat into bite-size pieces. don’t discard the bones.
- Put back bite-size meat and smaller bones into the pot, add cray fish, some bouillon powder, and about ¼ cup of water. turn the heat back on to a low simmer.
- Pour Palm oil into a bowl and set it aside.
- Mix baking soda in a tablespoon of water, then pour the mixture into the Palm oil and mix. Stir until the mixture thickens to form a paste.
- Add the ehuru ( calabash nutmeg) and Cameroon pepper, stir to mix, then taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
- Turn off heat, stir in the palm oil / baking soda mix into the cow feet. Mix till well combined.
- Serve in a wooden bowl topped with the sliced onions and Utazi leaves ( in the picture I used kale leaves)
Method 2
- Cut the cooked cow feet into smaller bite size pieces. Remove the bigger bones. Leave some small bones (it is delicious to suck on)
- Add in the salt, bouillon powder, Cameroon pepper, ground ehuru, ground crayfish into the Palm oil paste in Method 1 above. Sir to combine, taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly
- Pour palm oil mix into the cooked cow feet. Mix the cow feet in, then add the ugba ( if using ). Mix well till everything is well combined.
- Serve in a wooden bowl topped with the sliced onions and Utazi leaves ( in the picture I used kale leaves)
