Thinking of eating something different from your normal menu? Pepper soup might be the change you are looking for. The good thing about this soup is that it can be made in different ways depending on your choice and the ingredients on ground. Although it is best eaten in a cold season so that it can warm up your insides, you can actually treat yourself to its richness anytime you have the appetite. The procedure and ingredients are not very expensive, so you can still stick to your budget while preparing the soup. However, one area you have to pay close attention to when cooking pepper soup is the amount of pepper you add in, if it becomes too spicy and inedible, do not force yourself to consume it. The three most popular ways of making pepper soup are:
1. With catfish: This is one of the commonest ways of preparing pepper soup as it requires less work and tastes very good. Also, catfish is highly rich in antioxidants and it helps to supply the body with a lot of nutrients, but the main reason why it is so popular is because it is delicious and soft. To prepare catfish pepper soup, you will need freshly killed catfish, spices such as stock cubes, mint leaves, salt, onions, ginger and pepper. The kind of pepper used depends on your preference, fresh red peppers, alligator pepper, Cameroon pepper and white peppers are the common ones used. However, ensure you pour hot water on the fish before cooking to remove the slimy layer.
2. With goat head: Preparing pepper soup with goat head actually requires a lot of patience and precision. The goat head should be cut into smaller pieces that can sit in the pot and become easily cooked. The raw pieces of goat head must be washed properly. It is then boiled with spices, onions, stock cubes, salt and pepper for about 30-50 minutes to ensure that it becomes adequately infused with the ingredients.
3. With offal: These are commonly known as the internal organs of ruminant animals such as cattle, sheep and goat. These are cleaned, cut and boiled with the ingredients right from the beginning because they cannot stay for too long on fire so that they will not lose their nutrient content. Cooking time for offal is 30 minutes and the vegetable (scent leaves) should be added last so that the heat does not blanch away their nutritional value.
What other types of pepper soup do you know? Kindly share in the comment box below.