How To Cook Crunchy Peppered Nigerian Snails

[Gimbiya]

How To Cook Crunchy Peppered Nigerian Snails

Peppered snails snack, served HOT

Snails, fondly called Congo Meat are a great delicacy to those who eat them. Give me snails any 

day, anytime, anywhere. Take away the beef and give me snails. For those who have stopped eating or do not eat red meat, snails are your best white meat. The fact that these molluscs are very rich in Protein cannot be overemphasized. My family loves them in soups, especially vegetable soups. Most times I close my eyes and cook without because, they are outrageously expensive in Abuja.

Snails can be served as healthy snack or accompanied with rice, plantain, foof oo and whatever meal you want to serve with them. They are supposed to be crunchy when cooked. If not well prepared by washing with lime and adding straight into boiling water, they become soft like any other meat. To fully enjoy snails, make them crunchy and a bit peppery.
To serve this delicacy as a snack, remember to serve with your choice wine. Taking a glass of chill white wine after chewing on hot peppered snails is so much fun. 
Growing up as a child, I learnt that snails were not eaten/forbidden by my ancestors. Well, I tasted and couldn't stop eating them. To me, snail is the best type of meat, followed by chicken.  Sorry to say, but, beef is my least favorite.
[size=undefined]Snails can be washed with alum, lemon or lime, I prefer washing with lime oranges
[/size]wash snails with limes. Alum is also used, but it changes the taste for me. Washing with lime removes the slime and still 
retains original snail flavor

[size=undefined]add washed snails to boiling salted water and cook for 30 minutes for very large snails

boiled snails removed from the stock 
[/size]Blend or pound pepper, chopped onion and seasoning. I prefer to pound because that doesn't require addition of water
add ground pepper to oil to make pepper sauce[size=undefined]

cook ground pepper in oil for about 1 to 2 minutes

add cooked snails to pepper sauce
[/size]

[size=undefined]Stir in low heat for 2 minutes or as long as you want
serve hot snails as snacks
[/size]cooked snails in pepper sauce

[size=undefined]adding snail stock to make snail stew

Snails boil, heat is reduced and allowed to simmer for 3 to 5 minutes
[/size]serve snail stew with boiled rice, boiled unripe plantain or boiled yam

[size=undefined]Enjoy tasty snail stew with rice

Three snails served with rice and snail stew[/size]

Snail stew can be cooked with pepper and tomatoes. Snails must be washed with lime and plunged into salted boiling water to harden, before adding to tomatoes stew.

You want to bribe him before asking for a favor?  think no more of how to go about it. Serve him crunchy snails with his choicest wine, and remember to ask for anything while he is still eating and drinking. *wink*

Enjoy easy to cook crunchy snails!

http://www.wivestownhallconnection.com