Isi Ewu (Spiced Goat Head)

Name: Isi Ewu (Spiced Goat Head)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 165 min
Total time: 205 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Nigerian
Ingredients: 1500 g goat-head pieces (inspected food-grade meat, skin and tongue, fully cleaned and cut by a butcher; no brain); 100 ml red palm oil; 0.25 tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate); 60 ml warm water (for dressing); 1 tsp ground ehuru; 1 Scotch bonnet pepper (crushed); 2 medium onions (one quartered, one thinly sliced); 8 utazi leaves (washed and finely sliced); 1 stock cube (optional); 1500 ml water (for simmering, plus more as needed); to taste salt

Tender goat-head pieces in a fragrant palm-oil dressing with ehuru, pepper and utazi. Isi ewu literally identifies its central ingredient, goat head. Nigerian cooks describe serving it in a small wooden bowl or mortar, with onion and utazi on top. Although it shares the creamy palm-oil dressing of nkwobi, the two dishes retain separate names and principal meats. Cultural context: An Igbo goat-head dish. This practical home version uses butcher-prepared meat, skin and tongue and omits the brain sometimes used in the traditional sauce.

Isi ewu meat and skin pieces with onion and leafy garnish

Isi_ewu.jpg by Aderiqueza, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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25 minPreparation

165 minCooking

6Servings

Allow 15 additional minutes for resting / soaking. Total: 205 minutes.

What you’ll need

6 servings

Let’s get cooking

1
Place the butcher-prepared goat-head pieces in a heavy pot with quartered onion, stock cube and water. Bring to a boil and skim.
2
Simmer covered for 2–2.5 hours, adding water as necessary, until meat and skin are very tender. Cook longer if needed.
3
Drain, remove the cooked onion and accessible small bones, and cut meat into serving pieces. Rest about 15 minutes.
4
Dissolve baking soda in 60 ml water. Off the heat, beat it gradually into liquid palm oil until the dressing turns creamy.
5
Stir in ehuru, pepper and half the utazi. Coat the warm meat in the dressing and warm gently for 3–5 minutes.
6
Adjust salt, garnish with sliced onion and remaining utazi, and serve promptly. Tell diners that some pieces may contain bones.

A little kitchen wisdom

Do not attempt home slaughter or skull splitting for this recipe; request ready-cleaned, food-grade cuts. Omitting brain changes the richness of some traditional versions and is declared in the recipe. If the dressing remains loose, use it as it is rather than repeatedly adding more baking soda. Timing: active preparation 25 min; cooking 165 min; additional passive time 15 min; conservative planning allowance 205 min. Some stages may overlap. For Recipe.ng display, prep_minutes includes the additional passive time; it is not all hands-on work. Recipe status: Research draft; not kitchen-tested. Allergens and checks: Check stock cube label

Recipe notes & sources

Research draft; not kitchen-tested

Also known as: Isiewu

An Igbo goat-head dish. This practical home version uses butcher-prepared meat, skin and tongue and omits the brain sometimes used in the traditional sauce.

Allergens: Check stock cube label