Here is how to make stew with kpomo cow skin in Nigeria
pomo stew is cooked with Nigerian pomo (Cow skin). Kpomo is gotten from cows. After the beef is taken out, the skin is either turned into leather for making bags, shoes and other leather materials or roasted and turned into a Nigerian delicacy.
Nigerians love to eat kpomo, even when we know that it has very little or no nutritional value, we love to see kpomo in our Nigerian soups and stews. Kpomo has economic values that can help the country but most people don’t care.
If converted to leather, there are economic values but we seem not to be too ready for those gains yet. The funny thing about our love for kpomo is that we all know there are no health benefits of eating kpmo because honestly that dry cow skin is nutritionally dead unless it was skinned and cooked without drying and roasting.
Most kpomo sold at the markets are very dry skins that get roasted in high flames to burn the hair and soften the tough skin. Very well roasted skins tend to produce softer kpomos.
It’s not that we are ignorant o. Nigerians know that kpomo is nutritionally somehow dead YET, we love to chew the chewable soft tasty and request for more.
WHERE TO FIND KPOMO STEW IN NIGERIA
At events like Nigerian weddings, naming ceremonies and child dedication; some guests will rather eat rice and stew because they want the chunky kpomo in the stew.
Stew kpomo is very delicious sha, compared to soup kpomos. When tomato, pepper and onion flavors mix with kpomo, it can be really really delicious and who cares about nutrition when the beef and crayfish in the soup takes care of that.
Another method of enjoying kpomo is by just cooking with peppers some stir fry. If the kpomo is already soft from the sellers, you can just scrub with salt and rinse clean.
Then add to stir fry but if it’s hard kpomo from the market, then it has to be boiled after washing. Boil it soft before adding to the pepper stir fry. Kpomo stew can be enjoyed as a snack or served with an accompaniment.
This kpomo cow skin sauce was meant to be a snack, but after it cooked, the rich flavours won’t let us chew and swallow just like that.
We had to boil some rice to go with it. The combination of this supposedly kpomo snack and rice is the reason we gave it the name kpomo stew. It’s so affordable I have to categorize it under ‘low cost recipes‘
In this case, the kpomo stew has high nutritional value because of the ingredients used. Crayfish summarised the story by adding some proteins to the meal.
You can still boil some some rice when there is no meat. Kpomo alone with a few ingredients and crayfish or dadawa (Locust beans) is enough fortification for the system.
KPOMO STEW INGREDIENTS
1/2 kg kpomo
1 medium sized onion
3 large scotch bonnet peppers (ata rodo)
Seasoning cube (Bouillon)
1 tablespoon ground crayfish
Salt to taste
1/2 cup vegetable oil for stir fry
Water
COOKING DIRECTION FOR KPOMO STEW
- Stir fry peppers, onion and crayfish with seasoning cube.
- Add the washed kpomo and stir, leave to simmer for about 2 minutes while you check and stir occasionally.
- Add 1 cup water or more but don’t forget that the more the water, the less the taste (flavors)
- Check for salt and add if needed. If you are adding locust beans, you can add at this time. Stir and cover the pot to simmer. By this time, the kitchen is filled with flavors from the stir fried onion and peppers. From the smells in my kitchen, I already know tat this is going to taste great.
- Check for softness and taste of the kpomo cow skin stew, turn off the heat and serve with some rice or your favourite accompaniment. Snacking on kpomo cow skin stew can be awesome too.
Try these Nigerian recipes
- How to cook spaghetti porridge
- Dried tilapia coconut rice
- How to make jollof noodles
- How to make ugu leaf stir fry soup with mackerel fish
- Dadawa locust bean sauce with vegetables
- How to roast fish without an oven, in a fry pan
- Beniseed soup with vegetables