Nigerian Goat Pepper Soup with Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1000 g goat or mutton, bone-in pieces
• 2 tbsp pepper soup spice
• 1 onion
• 1 scotch bonnet chilli
• 20 g fresh root ginger
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 beef stock cube
• 600 g waxy potatoes
• 20 g fresh basil

Method

1. 1

   Rinse the goat pieces (bone-in lamb neck or shoulder is the swap if your supermarket has no goat; it needs only 50 minutes) and put them in a large pan with the chopped onion, grated ginger, crushed garlic, crumbled stock cube and 1 tsp salt.

2. 2

   Cover the pan and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes without water, letting the meat release its juices, then add 1.5 litres water and bring to the boil. Skim off any scum.

3. 3

   Add the pepper soup spice and the scotch bonnet, pierced once with a knife. If you cannot find pepper soup spice, use 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp ground cloves and 1 tsp black pepper.

4. 4

   Cover and simmer gently for 60-70 minutes until the goat is tender and pulls from the bone. Add the potatoes, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks, for the last 20 minutes, until cooked through.

5. 5

   Taste and add salt; the broth should be peppery, hot and thin. Remove the scotch bonnet if it is hot enough.

6. 6

   Tear in the basil (it stands in for Nigerian scent leaf), simmer for 1 minute and serve in deep bowls.