It has been a crazy year but I’m grateful for the little victories. You know how little drops make an ocean? My little victories, I believe will make a big one soon. Sometimes, I place the bar so high that when I cannot reach the goal, I begin to feel bad. Slowly, I’m learning to celebrate and appreciate the little victories.

Christmas is here and it happens to be one of my favorite holidays. Do I believe Jesus was born on Dec 25th? No 🙂 but I know some special people who were and I just enjoy the beauty of being able to eat fried rice and peppered meat 🙂 

There is a joke amongst Nigerians that we cook our meat until it’s dead dead. This is because after seasoning our meat and boiling it, we usually fry or grill it before cooking it again in whatever soup or sauce it was prepared for. It is  believed by Nigerian cooks that this process makes our food savory. I don’t know if it truly makes any dish any savory but with peppered meat, I enjoy my meat cooked, fried/grilled and cooked in the sauce again because coupled with the sweetness and spiciness, I like the chewiness of the meat; especially tripe. The amazing chewy goodness brings ecstasy to my taste buds.  

For this recipe, you may use any type of meat, I used assorted meat because I like to enjoy the different textures. Some are chewy, some soft and just out right delicious.  I remember a lady who went to an African restaurant and was offered “ass meat” She didn’t know what it was and she freaked out on a Facebook post. I had to reach out to her and tell her that “ass meat” simply meant “assorted meat.” Assorted meat to a Nigerian is simply a mix of different types of meat. We love assorted meat because variety is really the spice of life. You don’t want your life to be boring, so why do you want the food on your plate to be so?

So go ahead, make this sweet and spicy goodness. Thrill your guests this Christmas season and become the talk of the day; but don’t try to outshine Jesus and His birthday mates 🙂

Easy peppered meat (Easy peasy Christmas)

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Author: Nma

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked assorted meat( I cooked the meat mix with garlic, ginger, white pepper, curry, thyme, salt, chili flakes and bouillon)
• 1 large tomato or 1tbsp tomato paste
• 4 bell peppers(any color)
• 1-2 large Habaneros
• 1 and ½ large onion
• 2 green onions
• 4 small garlic cloves
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp Cameroon pepper (chili flakes)(optional)
• ½ cup meat stock (this adds a rich flavor to the peppered meat)
• ½ cup oil(add more if you want to)

Instructions

1. chop tomato, bell peppers, 1 onion and garlic in a food processor or blender. Pour through a fine mesh sieve to drain out the excess liquid. You could boil the mix to dry out the liquid. I usually use a fine mesh sieve.
2. Pour oil into a sauce pan, slice in onion and sauté until translucent. Add the pepper mix and let it fry while stirring occasionally until the oil starts peeking through the tomato mix. (If using tomato paste, add it after the onions is translucent and fry for at least 5 minutes before adding the pepper mix) At this point, the mix will begin to taste sweet. Season with white pepper and ginger. Cook for another minute or two. Pour in your meat along with the meat stock. Check for seasonings and add salt and or bouillon. Reduce your cooking heat; then cover and cook while stirring occasionally. Oil will peek to the top. Drain any excess oil, add Cameroon pepper, stir and let cook for 2 minutes. enjoy

Notes

You may use water if you don't have meat stock. I prefer using meat stock for flavor. When boiling your meat, you may use a Habanero pepper. Simply poke some holes into the pepper. It helps the stock to be very flavorful 🙂


You could fry or grill your meat after boiling. Adding just boiled meat to the peppered mix is okay 🙂

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