Asun and Dodo(Asun and Roasted Plantain)

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The first time I heard about Asun, I kind of wondered what it was until I asked some friends of mine who were able to explain it to me. Asun is a spicy goat meat, smoked with the skin on. It is usually smoked until soft with a whole lot of flavors. Asun is made mostly by the Yoruba speaking people of Ondo State, Nigeria. You have gotta love Nigeria and it’s diverse ethnic groups; each one with a dish of their own

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I wanted to make some Asun, but I did not have a smoker nor an outdoor grill so I decided to go a different route and each process I followed helped to infuse flavors into the goat meat which when you try it, it will leave you wanting some more. I did a different process in between, but I kept the basics of the dish. I believe that no matter how much one tweaks a recipe, one has to honor the basics and origin of the recipe. The process I did in between simply helped me build the flavours into this dish. I also did not want a hard tasting or a tough tasting meat, so it worked just well! I am quite happy with this dish.

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I cannot even go on to explain any more about how happy this dish made me as it always leaves me salivating…oh yum!

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4.0 from 1 reviews
Asun
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Cuisine: Nigerian, Southwest
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1ripe plantain
  • 1lb of goat meat with skin on
  • 1½ medium to large red onions
  • 1 small shallot or small red onion for garnishing
  • 6 large or 8 small habanero peppers or Ata-rodo
  • salt to taste
  • 1knorr cube(any bouillon works)
  • 2 tbsps. of olive oil(any vegetable oil is fine)
Instructions
  1. in a blender, blend the half portion of the onions, 2 habanero peppers, one tbsp of the olive oil and the knorr cube. Pour the blend along with some salt to taste into the goat meat. Work the blend into the meat and let it marinate for 1-48 hours(this helps to make the meat tender and infuse flavors)
  2. in a food chopper, chop the remaining portion of the red onion and the left over habanero peppers
  3. Heat the remaining tbsp of oil in a heavy bottomed pot and sear the goat meat for about 5minutes on each side ie until a little brown(you could skip this part). Pour in some water just to the level of the meat and season with salt if any more seasoning is needed. Cook goat meat until tender and until the meat stock is dry, but not burnt(i.e the meat absorbs all the stock and retains flavor). Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Chop the meat into little pieces, removing most of the bones. Line an oven pan or tray with foil and place the meat into the pan and roast it in the oven for about 15minutes or until golden brown, but not burnt. Remove the meat from the oven and pour into a heat proof bowl or the same pot with which you cooked the meat stock, this will help the meat soak up whatever juices that have been left over in the pot. pour in the onion and pepper mix and toss it together with the meats and serve after garnishing with sliced scallions or some more red onions. You could slightly pan fry the goat meat in a little bit of oil when there is no oven and stir with the pepper and onion mix.
For the plantain
  1. peel and score the plantain, spray the plantain with some oil spray or rub a little oil on it(you may season with salt) and roast in the oven until golden brown. Alternatively you could fry the plantain
Notes
After the first phase of seasoning. I did not really need anymore seasonings. Taste as you go to make sure. You may also reduce the amount of onions you use if you want. I used a lot because I like onions.

 

10 comments

  1. Janet Desmond Woyens says:

    Please can I just fry the pepper and turn in the goat meat and stir instead of putting it in the oven? I don’t have an oven.

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