Wierd request: anybody know the recipe for West African pepper soup?

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Pepper Soup

Pepper Soup or Peppersoup—which is especially popular in the English-speaking countries of Western Africa: Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria—doesn't have any more pepper than many other African soups. It is usually made with goat meat, but can also be made with beef, chicken, or mutton. There are many ways this soup can be seasoned. One Nigerian company makes "Peppersoup cubes" (for "easy, tasty, convenient peppersoup in double quick time"), which may be available in import grocery stores.

What you need

two pounds goat meat, lamb or mutton (beef for stew can also be used); cut into bite-sized pieces
one or two onions, quartered
two or three hot chile peppers, cleaned and chopped
peppersoup seasoning (see below)
four cups meat broth or stock
two tablespoons ground dried shrimp
one small bunch fresh mint leaves, chopped
one tablespoon fresh or dried utazi leaves (or bitterleaf) (see below)
salt and black pepper to taste

What you do

In a deep pot or dutch oven, combine meat, onions, chile peppers, and a cup of water. Bring to a boil and cook until meat is done, twenty to thirty minutes, adding water as necessary to keep pot from becoming dry.


Add peppersoup seasoning and the broth or stock (or water) and simmer over low heat for ten to twenty minutes.


Add the dried shrimp, mint leaves, and utazi leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until soup is to be served.

Packaged peppersoup seasoning mix, usually imported from Nigeria, may be found in African grocery stores. The traditional spices used in pepper soup are little known outside of Africa.

Jessica B. Harris and others report that expatriate Nigerians make a substitute peppersoup seasoning mix from allspice, anise pepper, anise seeds, cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dried ginger, fennel seeds, and tamarind pulp.

Some cooks also use thyme, Maggi® cubes, curry powder, cayenne pepper or red pepper, and tomato paste.

Utazi leaves and bitterleaf may also be found in African grocery stores. If they cannot be obtained, any bitter green can be substituted.

From www.congocookbook.com

(Google's a wonderful thing.)

If you're fresh out of goat meat....
http://gambia.i-dss.de/about0-2-0.phtml

Groundnut soup - dis nambawan chop...

Aha! A very interesting recipe, this one. It's related closely to a spicy Brazilian groundnut sauce whose name has slipped my mind, and which of course was transported to Brazil by slaves from West Africa.

Muriel Tew, who wrote one of the earliest West African cookery books in 1920, gave a simple recipe for groundnut soup - 2 cups stock, 1 cup of roasted, ground groundnuts (i.e. peanut butter), salt and pepper. But I commend to you the recipe at Chefs.com:

3 cups chicken broth
2 onions\cooked, chopped
2 tomatoes\cooked, chopped
2 slices fresh ginger root
1 boiled yam or sweet potato, mashed
1 fresh garlic clove, crushed
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. peanut butter


Instructions

Combine first 8 ingredients in a saucepan. Cook on low heat for about 8-10 minutes, or until all ingredients are tender. Add peanut butter, stirring, and cook for a few more minutes, or until soup thickens.

Billy goat peppers are known by the same name in the West Indies - again, there's the connection across the Atlantic slave routes; in the Bahamas the name is given to Scotch Bonnet peppers, which are similar to habanero peppers. If there's a Caribbean or West African grocery near you, it's worth trying to find the real thing!

[quote=Jacaranda;151341]Aha!... I commend to you the recipe at Chefs.com:

Thanks, Jacaranda. I admit I modified it just a bit (added some sautéed chicken, reduced the onion, substituted dried red chili flakes, used 2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger, etc. and pureed the finished product) but it was wonderful. Yummmmmmmmmm.....:cool: