The reputation of the famous cow skin has been battered over the years, it has been rumored to be of no nutritional value. I personally did not believe this, but there is cow skin and there is cow skin. You should be aiming to buy at least inch-thick cuts of cow skin from your local meat market, if it is anything but thick, it’s a hard pass! The thick cuts are not only meaty but have nutritional value!
A 100g of boiled, thick cow skin contains about 6.80g of carbohydrates, about 43.9g of water, 46.9g of protein, 1.09g of fat, and 0.02g of fiber. For micronutrients, it contains small amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and Zinc. So when next someone says cow skin has no nutritional value, refer them here – foodsturvs.ca to be enlightened.
I was expecting a few friends over for the last long weekend we had, and I was thinking of something that most people would enjoy. For this set of friends, whatever I was going to make had to be spicy and meaty, hence my choice of making Peppered Cow Skin. The cow skin was cut into bite-size pieces and boiled till succulent and jiggly before being fried in a rich and spicy stew.
Peppered Cow Skin can be paired with Making the Famous West African Red Stew. Take time to also learn How to Make Nigerian Fish Pepper Soup .
Peppered Cow Skin Ingredients
For this recipe, you will need:
Cow Skin: As mentioned earlier, you should be able to get thick cow skin cuts at your local meat shop or butchery.
Pepper mix: For your pepper mix, you will need a combination of red bell peppers, scotch bonnets for added spice, onions, and ginger.
Seasonings & Spices: I kept it simple by using some beef bouillon, salt, black pepper, and paprika.
After boiling the cow skin pieces, it is important that you save the broth as that will be added to the stew for added flavour and that umami essence. This recipe feeds 8-10 people so you can measure accordingly.
Explore other savoury recipes that can be made with Cow Skin, such as Nigerian Jollof Rice and Ghanaian Jollof Rice.
PEPPERED COW SKIN RECIPE
How to Make Peppered Cow Skin
Ingredients
- 7 lbs cow skin
- 5 red bell peppers
- 3 scotch bonnets
- 2 large red onions
- 1 red onion chopped
- 1 white onion chopped
- Ginger
- Salt to taste
- Beef bouillon
- Black pepper
- Paprika
- 3 cups vegetable oil
Instructions
- Cut the cow skin into bite-size pieces, rinse well and transfer into a large pot.
- Add in the chopped red onion and ginger, season with salt and beef bouillon, cover to boil on medium heat for 30-40 minutes.
- When the cow skin pieces are soft enough, drain and save the broth for later.
- In a large skillet, heat up 3 cups of oil. When hot, add in the boiled cow skin and let it fry lightly, keep tossing for 15 mins until fried on all sides.
- In a blender, blend together the red bell peppers, scotch bonnets, 2 red onions and ginger.
- Take out the fried cow skin from the oil and set aside, add in the chopped white onion, let it fry till fragrant before going in with the blended pepper mix.
- Let it cook on medium heat till it reduces and begins to fry. Add in the beef broth.
- Season with the beef bouillon, salt and paprika. Let it keep frying till you begin to see the oil rise to the surface and it tastes just right.
- Toss in the fried cow skin into the pepper mix and use a large spoon or spatula to combine the meats and sauce properly. Cover and let it cook for another 5-10 mins on low heat to allow the meats soak up the stew.
- Garnish with sliced onions and scotch bonnets.
