Nigerian nkwobi is a popular Igbo traditional food mostly served as a side dish or desert and usually together with wine or soft drink. This delicious meal is usually prepared with cow leg andit is loved by many people. Nkwobi is mostly sold as evening food in few restaurants and in some local bars; hence, it is commonly enjoyed with beer or wine or eaten as a main meal. you can also make this at home if you want, but need this main ingredients for preparing this, these include cow foot or cow leg, ugba (ukpaka (oil bean), ehuru seeds (calabash nutmegs), edible potash (kauwu), utazi leaves.
Here are some Tips you need to know before preparing nkwobi-
• Cow leg comes with a thick bone, you can tell the butcher to help you remove the thick bone and scrape out excess hair and dirt from the meat, then cut into medium sizes before taking it home.
• Cow leg is tougher than the usual meat you are used to, a pressure cooker can help you cook the meat in no time, to save time and your gas, but you can use charcoal fire to prepare this if you don’t have a pressure cooker.
• Edible potash, which is also called Kaun/kanwu, is a very special ingredient in nkwobi sauce, it is what helps to curdle and change the colour of palm oil and it helps to thicken the palm oil for a perfect coating of the meat.
• Ehuru seed or calabash nutmeg is an important spice in nkwobi recipe; it adds some kind of earthen flavour to the dish. This should not be replaced with the normal nutmeg. The outer covering is tough and the easy way to peel them is by roasting them in a dry pan or in open flame for 3 minutes before cracking them with your teeth.
• You will also need some greenish vegetables like utazi leaf to garnish your nkwobi. Utazi leaf has a very bitter taste, but you need to used it sparingly, you just need a little of it to complement the taste of your meal. If you can’t tolerate its bitter taste, you can substitute it with Uziza leaf, but it’s not bad if you use it.
• Your Nkwobi is delicious with or without Ugba, Ugba which is known as oil beans, contributes to the awesome flavour of nkwobi dish.
• Onions is also needed for garnishing of cooked nkwobi; it is usually sliced into rings and eaten raw.
• If you add too much edible potash liquid to the sauce, it could prevent the bitter taste of the kwobi; use just a little portion of it to
complement the taste.
Read more on the procedure to make nkwobi here- http://www.jotscroll.com/forums/15/posts/113/nkwobi-how-to-prepare-nkwobi-cow-foot-.html