See the different ways you can prepare your ram meat for Sallah/Ileya

This Sallah is a period of celebration marked by bleating of rams all over the country and the mooing of cows. If youve bought yours, here are the different ways you can prepare your ram meat for the season.

Eid el-Kabir, or Eid el-Adha or Big Sallah as it is fondly called, is the occasion that Muslims sacrifice an animal, usually a ram, cow, or camel, to commemorate Prophet Abraham’s great act of genuine submission to the will of God. In doing so, a portion of the meat prepared is for yourself, another portion for your neighbours and friends, while the last portion is for the less privileged.

You can decide to spice up your portions with any of the following:

1. Dambu nama

Dambu nama is a delicious, spicy-savoury Northern Nigerian dried beef floss. The dried, shredded meat floss can be eaten as a snack or sprinkled over rice or stuffed inside bread. It also goes along so well with masa. However, preparation is very time-consuming.

Cooking time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients

Ram meat

Seasoning cubes

Chilli powder

Onion

Garlic

Yaji (suya spice)

Vegetable oil

Ginger powder

Directions

Boil the ram meat with the spices and onions till it is very tender i.e. it falls apart. Make sure the taste is quite right. Then, you can shred the meat by continuous turning or by pounding or using a mallet or rolling pin on a chopping board. After shredding, add some more spices (yaji, seasoning cubes, garlic and ginger), heat up oil in a large pan and shallow fry. You can do this in batches and takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. Getting the right texture for the ‘dambu’ is crucial.

If the oil is not hot enough, the shreds will absorb most of it giving a greasy result. If the oil is too hot, the beef becomes dry and crunchy, instead of soft and chewy. Best to try a few small batches and work out your preferred texture and flavour.

2. Peppered fried meat

The peppered meat is very easy to prepare and a very delicious snack.

Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

Ram meat

Red Bell Peppers/Tatashe or Shombo

Green peppers

Black pepper

Onions

Scotch Bonnet (Atarodo)

Vegetable Oil

Seasoning Cubes

Beef seasoning of your choice

Curry

Thyme

Ginger

Garlic cloves Minced

Salt to taste

Directions

Wash your meat and boil for 20-30 minutes with salt, thyme, seasoning cubes, beef seasoning, onions and black pepper. While the meat is boiling, chop up all the peppers or blend lightly. After the meat is boiled, deep fry the meat till succulent. Heat up some oil and fry some onions and garlic before putting in the pepper mix. Add seasoning cubes, curry and salt and adjust to desired taste. Then add the fried meat and stir. Leave on low-medium heat for 10-15 minutes.

3. Barbecue/Grilled ram meat

Grilling is a healthy way of preparing meat. It involves marinating the meat in flavours, slicing the meat slim and placing on direct heat. Grilling gets rid of excess fat on the meat. To spice it up, you can kebab the meat.

Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

Ram meat

Barbecue sauce

Yaji (suya pepper)

Honey

Minced garlic

Dry ginger powder

Dry/fresh rosemary

Paprika

Cayenne pepper

Stock cubes

Salt to taste

Directions

After marinating your meat in a foil for 30-45 minutes, place on the grill (still in the foil) for about 15 minutes. Remove from the foil and put some more marinade on the meat. Place directly on the grill for another 10 minutes on each side.

4. Peppersoup

You can make use of the ram head and legs to make a peppersoup. The ram head is scraped, washed and cut into essential pieces and prepared as normal peppersoup is made. Check out how to make peppersoup with this simple recipe.