Peppered Snail (Congo Meat Sauce): The Best Way To Cook
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January 22, 2021How To Prepare Peppered Snails (Congo Meat Sauce)
Peppered snails is a particularly popular meal option in Africa and are sometimes known as Congo meat that is a top priority in Nigerian restaurants or fast food menus. In Nigeria, they are often made as a roadside snack for travellers and at most times a party favorite option. During a Nigerian function, the peppered snail tray is usually the first to finish up pretty quick as they are served as party small chops. Snails are also often eaten in countries worldwide like China, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, and Great Britain. In France, they have a well known popular snail dish known as Escargot, a french word with meaning "edible snail."
Naturally, snails are keto-friendly and gluten-free plus they also serve as a great source of protein. (Growing up, we were told that eating snails gives you plenty of blood)
It's interesting to know that 100g of snails contain just 16g of protein and 2g of carbohydrates. Snail is a rich source of iron, Omega-3 and magnesium.45 minutes
100g of snails contain 90 calories
Use Peppered snail as a side for fish and chips, fried yam, potato, rice, spaghetti or simply enjoy alone.
Ingredients
- Habanero peppers (4 small)
- 5 plum tomatoes
- 1 big stock cube
- Black pepper (1 tbsp)
- 15 medium snails
- 1 cooking spoon vegetable oil
- Salt (to taste)
- 1 large onion
- Grounded crayfish (1 tbsp)
- Curry (2 tsps)
- Red bell pepper (1 large)
- Thyme (1 tsp)
- Garlic (1 tsp minced)
- Lemon/lime (2-4 pieces)
- Green pepper (1 large, chopped)
Preparation
Get your ingredients together.
Step 1
To clean your shelled snail, boil them in a pot for at least five minutes. Drain the water and then pull the snails out of the shell. Place them in a large bowl and then rub with either lemon or lime juice. After cleaning, boil the snails with some chopped onions, seasoning cubes or powder, thyme, curry, salt, and minced garlic. Cook for about 30 minutes. Take them out of the pot and keep the stock to the side for later use. If you want crunchy snails, frying them after boiling for about 8 minutes or till it looks crunchy enough for you.
Step 2
Thoroughly wash the scotch bonnet pepper, bell pepper, and onions. If you can't handle a lot of heat, toss some tomatoes too. Blend them together. It should not be blended smoothly but quite rough. After blending the pepper mix, let it boil in a pan till it starts to bubble to remove some of the moisture and tanginess.
Step 3
Next, you heat up some vegetable oil in a pan till it is hot then add in your chopped onions and garlic. Stir fry them till the pleasant whiff of fried onions fill your nostrils. Add your grounded crayfish next and stir till you can smell the fried crayfish. The next thing going into the pan is the blended pepper mix and black pepper. Fry the mixture for about 5 minutes. You can add your stock if you want or you can ditch it and season with salt, seasoning cubes, and any other spices that you like. Cook until the oil floats to the surface.
Step 4
Add your snails and leave them to boil in the sauce for another 5 minutes. The chopped green bell pepper goes into the pan last. This makes the dish look even more colorful and appetizing. After taking your pan off the heat, leave the snails in for about 5 minutes to soak in the sauce even more. Enjoy.
Sargin Beatrice
Holistic Nutritionist
Nigerian
You can serve this spicy Nigerian snail dish (Congo meat sauce) with any of these such as boiled yam, boiled ripe or unripe plantain or boiled rice or have it preferably on its own. For appropriate drinks, you can push it down with some Chapman drink or zobo drink.
Good advice
Using alum to clean the snails affects the taste after, so lemon or lime juice is the best option for cleaning your snails. In less than 10 minutes, all the gooeyness from the snail should have gone. You should also still clean your snails with lime or lemon juice even though you bought them already deshelled and cleaned.
