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Miyan Kuka

A Nigerian soup made with baobab leaf powder, dried catfish, cow ribs, and spices.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Miyan Kuka

2-3
Time5 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the dried fish in cold water and debone when soft.

  2. Grind the crayfish with dawadawa and pound the pepper.

Cook the soup

  1. Cook the cow ribs with water, stock cube, salt, and onions until the meat is tender.

  2. Remove the onions, then the beef, reserving the stock in the pot.

  3. Stir the kuka powder into the reserved stock until smooth, with no lumps.

  4. Stir in pounded pepper, crayfish and dawadawa mixture, and palm oil.

  5. Add the deboned fish, cover, and cook 5 minutes over medium heat.

  6. Stir in beef, and add salt to taste, then cook for 2 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with tuwo shinkafa or tuwo masara.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

177Calories
2 gProtein
14 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 8 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Catfishnot in our table0
Crayfishnot in our table0
Leafnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Catfish + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together175 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  3. Catfish + crayfishtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Crayfish + oniontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together213 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Crayfish + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together264 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Baobab leaf powder
Thickens the stock and gives the soup its characteristic body and earthy flavour.
Dried catfish
Adds savoury, concentrated fish flavour and firm pieces of protein to the soup.
Dawa dawa
Contributes a strong, savoury fermented flavour that deepens the broth.
Ground crayfish
Adds concentrated seafood aroma and savoury depth to the soup base.
Palm oil
Adds fat, richness and a rounded mouthfeel to the finished soup.
Cow rib
Releases collagen and flavour into the stock, giving body and tender meat.

The step that matters

Stir the kuka powder into the reserved stock until smooth, with no lumps.. Baobab leaf powder clumps when added to hot liquid all at once. Whisking it into a smooth slurry first, or adding it gradually, lets it hydrate evenly and thicken the soup uniformly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (catfish, crayfish, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Okrafits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against catfish, crayfish, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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