The colorful cuisine of Nigeria includes a different variety of meat, one being the most popular condiment and snacks called Ponmo. Ponmo is a cow skin that is always prepared by butchers. It's a delicious part of beef used as a condiment in many soups and enjoyed as a snack. It's commonly found and eaten in the southwest (among the Yorubas) but also in other parts of the country, Nigeria.
Dried cow skin is hygienic and odorless, it's often said that cow skin has no nutritional value. That is not the case as cow skin is very high in collagen, a type of protein that is quite important for holding bones and skin tissues in place. But the protein in the cow is considered to be of low quality.
Soaking Procedures
It doubles in size after soaking. It's a delicious part of beef that is used as a condiment in many soups. For better results, soak the Ponmo in hot water with a pinch of salt as you can see here below, cook it for ten minutes (10), after that remove it from the fire and then pack it inside a bowl and add cool water to it as shown below.
Furthermore, take a clean kitchen knife and begin to scrap both sides of the cow skin properly and trim off any excess fat and meat. Start to wash it one after the other and place it in a clean sieve for it to drain out the water soaked in it.
The cow skin can be prepared as a sauce (Ponmo Alata) or with a melon soul (Egusi) or Efo Riro, a rice stew and a lot more.
NB: The dried cow skin (Ponmo) can be preserved for more than a year! With this post, you should have learned something about cow meat and eradicate certain misconceptions or myths. I hope you will use Ponmo in preparing your delicious food. Trust me, you will all like it when you try it out.