I visited a good friend recently and I was served some stick meat along with cold drinks. This is a typical Nigerian way to offer "culinary engagement" to guests, while the main meal is being cooked.
Stick meat is a meat snack quite popular in Nigeria, served as finger foods at parties and events. It essentially involves skewering of small meat and vegetable pieces on toothpick/cocktail sticks. They do look like miniature kebabs but the difference between kebabs and stick meat is that stick meat is not cooked on the stick; the meat pieces are cooked first before skewered to the sticks.
As I ate through the pile of stick meat set before me, I wondered why they had to be so small and why they could not be served as part of a proper meal rather than as snack....
On my way back home I stopped by the butcher's and got some beef and tripe (I love the texture of tripe plus, it is rich in vitamins B12, folate, zinc, selenium)....when I got home, I made Chunky Stick Meat which I served with moist mushy jollof rice....
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| Chunky Stick Meat |
Check out the recipe below:
What you need
- Some rump steak
- Some honeycomb tripe
- Pre-made spicy pepper sauce
- Green pepper
- Red pepper
- Red onion
- Thyme
- Garlic
- Curry powder
- Salt to taste
What to do
- Trim off fatty streaks from the beef and cut into large chunks. Also, trim off fatty streaks from the tripe and cut into equal size chunks like the beef.
- Rinse both meat pieces thoroughly and place into separate pots. Season with salt, thyme, crushed garlic, curry powder.
- Work all the spices into the meat pieces and if you have the time allow to marinate for a while.
- Then add some water and boil the meats separately. Boil until meat becomes tender and soft. Also, allow all the juices to be absorbed back into the meat i.e. no stock should be left over especially for the tripe.
- Transfer the meat pieces onto a baking tray and grill for about 15 minutes. This is to help drive out some moisture from the meat. Don't worry about the meat becoming too dry, as moisture will be re-incorporated during the last stage.
- In a separate saucepan, heat some oil (I used coconut oil) and add some pre-cooked pepper sauce. Stir well then add the grilled meat pieces. Turn the heat down and allow to simmer for a while. Stir frequently.
- In the meantime, cut the peppers and onion into similar chunks as the meat pieces.
- Add the vegetable pieces to the simmering meat pieces at the final stage of cooking and allow to soften a little. Remove all from heat and when cool enough to handle skewer the meat and vegetable pieces (alternately) on a satay stick. Serve with some jollof rice.
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| Chunky Stick Meat |