Most of the time, you get served peppered meats at parties. It is a Nigerian hosting staple. Even at joints, you have the choice of eating “stick meat” with a cold drink. We, Nigerians sure loooooove our meats, there is no denying. Lol I have already written about assorted peppered meats HERE. It is not often that you get to eat peppered gizzard, and we should eat more of it, as gizzard has its own charm and peculiar flavour. I call it meat that is not meat. That’s the carnivore in me talking.
Okay, okay maybe the biological function of the gizzard puts people off, but if you can eat Saki/tripe (cow stomach), cow leg, intestines, fuku (cow lung), gizzard should be on easy street, because on the yucky scale, it ranks quite low. Gizzards are normally sold in packets, quite expensive I know but it’s worth the price. Unlike with the flesh of meat, gizzards are quite small, and when it is seasoned properly, it becomes a powerhouse of flavour. Once you start eating it, you almost can’t stop. If you have a recipe like fried rice that calls for chopped liver, try chopped gizzard next time and watch your guest consume spoonfuls of your rice with delight. Haven’t thought of that before, have you? You can also make Giz-dodo (recipe HERE), and if you want to totally go outside the box, make a peppered gizzard omelette and serve with freshly boiled yam. Breakfast at your house will never be the same again, trust me. You’ve made corned beef omelette, sardine omelette, egg stew, western styled omelette etc YAWN!!!!. Lol. Try peppered gizzard omelette. Simply follow my recipe below, but cut the gizzard into bite sized chunks instead, and once the sauce is done, pour in beaten eggs and voila, you’ve got a fresh take on an omelette.
You will need
1 kilo of gizzard – or more
2 green chillies
2 red chillies
2 pieces of ata rodo – scotch bonnet/Habanero pepper
1 large tatashe – red bell pepper
1 small stick of ginger
1 clove of garlic
1 1/2 large red onions
1 red tomatoe
Salt
Seasoning cube – knorr chicken cubes preferred
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper – dry pepper
Olive oil
How To
1. First you need to boil the gizzards. Give it a proper rinse and season with salt, seasoning
cubes, chopped onion (half an onion), curry powder, dried thyme and cayenne pepper.
Pour in enough water to cover the gizzards halfway, cover the pot and turn up the heat to high, to cook the gizzards. This should take around 30 minutes.
2. Next you need to blend your pepper mixture. To do this, blend the tatashe, ata rodo, half of the onion, tomato, ginger and a little water to achieve a smooth paste. The ginger should give an aromatic scent to the pepper, coupled with the onion.
Boil this pepper mixture, till most of the water content has evaporated. This should take roughly 10 minutes.
3. While the other bits are boiling, chop the garlic very finely, the rest of the onions, red and green chilli and set aside. Watch the pepper closely, lest it burns
4. Once the gizzards have cooked thoroughly, take them out of the pot and grill or fry till it browns. With grilling, you will have to flip it over midway, to allow both sides to get brown. Grilling is the healthier option though, same results. Don’t be lazy, lol, don’t skip this step. Boiled gizzards are not as tasty as the grilled/fried variety. Trust me, you don’t want to miss out on extra flavour. Lol.
Now you have your pepper boiled, and gizzards grilled, now it’s time to make the fried stew
5. In a pot, heat up 2 cooking spoons of Olive oil, throw in all the chopped ingredients from Step 3 and saute till the onions are soft and translucent. You should already begin to smell the onions, chilli and garlic flavouring the oil.
At this point, pour in the reduced pepper, you should hear it sizzle and start to fry immediately. This is why I mentioned boiling out the water content of the pepper.
6. Keep stirring and frying, till the colour of the oil gives off an orange hue, and the pepper has bubble dots of oil in it. This is when you know that the pepper has truly fried, then season with salt and seasoning cube.
You may be wondering why I did not just use the stock. Personal preference/pet peeve. I don’t cook with the stock of “offals”.
7. Once you are satisfied with the taste of the fried stew, add the grilled gizzards and stir. You are likely going to have a situation in your hands whereby the gizzards take over the stew. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: not to worry, this is exactly what you want, because the pepper should coat the gizzards. This is not stew.
Turn the heat down to low, add a cooking spoonful or two of water, and let the grilled gizzard soften into the stew and absorb its flavour. If you read my Assorted Meats recipe (HERE), I wrote about boiling, grilling and boiling again, to really pack the flavour in.
8. Keep stirring, and stirring on low heat, and you will notice that your earlier worry of the gizzards being too much has dissipated and the gizzards are now combining well with the stew, you can’t separate one from the other.
To make it glisten a little more, I add a teeny bit of olive oil – this is optional. To be sure it’s ready, take out a piece to taste. You should taste the richness of the fried stew harmonising well with the gizzard, and it should also be soft to chew. If it is still hard from the grilling or frying, it is not yet ready, keep stirring on low heat till you get to this point.
……………..and here’s your peppered gizzard
To plate it all pretty for the festivities, chop red and green chilli into rings, skewer one or two pieces of gizzard with a toothpick and decorate with red and green chilli
To truly wow your guests, if you are making a very large batch, serve Giz-Moi Moi. Trust me, this combination is electric. Trust me, it just works.
Enjoy your party……………
Hmmm….. (in my youruba -nigerian voice) Dunni, Dunni, Dunni how many times did i call you? God will bless you oh….God will bless you real good…because if you only knew what you are doing with this your blog and its simple illustrations…Wo, God will bless you jare….ve said my own!
In my yoruba plus delta Nigerian voice. The Lord will bless you too for visiting this blog and appreciating my work. Thank you so much
You are my hero Dunni. Thank you. x
Aaaw, thanks
This is the first time I’m hearing of peppered gizzard omelette, sardine omelette and the rest. I will try them all out, it will make a world of difference to the normal way we eat yam which has become soooo boring.
Thanks for the tip on using gizzard instead of liver for fried rice. I’m making it this Sunday and looking forward to it.
Thanks Prisca, you wilk enjoy it trust me. I’ll be looking forward your feedback.
Well done o! I have picked up so many tips from your blog since I started reading it. Gizzard is my best friend lol I love it so much, now I have another party plate for my guests.
Lol. A fellow gizzard lover. You are most welcome.
Dunni I dunno wts wrng….I no longer get alerts…nd so dunno wen derz a new post…….wil defntly try d gizzard omelet.d 1 I mke wich is my favrte so Far is chicken omelet..pls helpme rectify d alert ish abeg……thnks
Hmmmn, I’ve gotten several comments like this. I am guessing something must have switched off when I changed hosting providers. Sorry about that. Please re subscribe. You’ll start getting email notifications from henceforth. I hope you try out gizzard omelette. It’s a really different experience
Am loving this more , cos just recently i realised i am nt such a fantastic cook ,reason bin that i can only do a few and i have been comfortable with the usual and its so boring…recently i thought to start surfing the net becos i dont intend to bore my future hubby with the usual and booom i found u on bella naija today ! all i can say is we gonna be frnds for a long time,i am hooked on u .good job gurl.
Aaaaaaw, welcome to Dooney’s Kitchen Fzy. Lots to learn, lots to share, you are about to become the best cook you can be, trust me. It is all about using a great recipe and building your confidence in the kitchen. Thanks for the kind words, I am looking forward to a kitchen and food filled friendship
Dunni, thanks a million for ur special way of cooking ogbonno and egusi soups, i tried the two and all came out fine. Am so happy nd glad to be on this blog.
Thanks Rakiya. It is my pleasure they came out fine. Well done
Dunni, another great recipe!!. I made it today for my mom’s birthday party and everyone was asking for the recipe. I am getting ready to make your puff puff recipe in a minute. Thanks girl
Whoop, whoop. You are welcome dear. Well done. Please let me know how the Puff Puff turns out.
Dooney u have no idea how grateful I am for this your blog. U make cooking sound so much more interesting. God bless u girl, pls don’t ever stop!!
Thanks MK. I won’t
made this with fried plantain for the hubby this night yum yum he was like “this is what good food should taste like” lol with Grilled sea bass chai and I’m watching my weight ooo Dooney!! loving this site God bless
Lovely to read your feedback Elsama. Well done
Eu gosto de moela de frango, seja frita, cozida ou em saladas… Hmmmmmmmmm, são deliciosas. Gostei da receita, deliciosa! 🙂
Congrats
even as a man, i have to say this post has just made me go looking for gizzards tomorrow to try my skills. Thanks!
Hi Dunni! White girl from Nebraska here; I’m so glad I found your blog! I heard about peppered gizzards by reading “Americanah,” and that’s how I got here. My gizzards are simmering in the sauce… I’m hopeful because they already tasted good at the boiled stage. Mmm!
Thanks for sharing Nigerian food with me!