Cabbage Soup with Spicy Meatballs

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Cabbage Soup with Spicy Meatballs

Cabbage Soup with Spicy Meatballs is a traditional Liberian recipe for a highly-spiced (with chillies) stew in which meatballs containing very hot chillies are placed before serving on a bed of rice. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Liberian version of: Cabbage Soup with Spicy Meatballs.

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

45 minutes

Total Time:

60 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Chilli Recipes Beef Recipes Liberia Recipes

This is a classic West African dish that, as with almost all West African dishes, is full of chillies (this is the main source of vitamin C in the diet). Like all West African 'soups' this is actually a stew.

Ingredients:

For the Meatballs:
4 Scotch Bonnnet Chillies
1 small onion, finely sliced
300g minced beef
1 egg
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt to taste

For the Soup:
8 Scotch Bonnet chillies
3 onions, coarsely chopped
3 ripe tomatoes
2 small cabbages (or collard greens or green cabbage or leeks or spring greens) finely shredded (a chiffonade)
1/2 tsp black pepper
100ml beef stock
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric

Method:

Begin by preparing the meatballs. Add the chillies to a pestle and mortar and pound to a paste. Add the onions and pound these in (or place in a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped). Add the ground beef to the chilli and onion mix along with the seasonings and spices. Mix together well then add an egg to bind. For the mixture into small balls and deep fry in oil until a rich brown in colour. Set aside.

For the soup, begin by mashing the chillies with a pestle and mortar then add the onions and pound those in as well. Chop the tomatoes coarsely and pound those into the chilli and onion paste (alternatively prepare this paste in a food processor but pulse to chop rather than puréeing). Heat oil in a wok or large cooking pot then add the chilli paste and fry until cooked. Add the shredded cabbage (or greens) and allow to fry for a few minutes before adding the spices and seasonings. Add the stock and just enough water to cover the cabbage. Bring to the boil then allow to simmer for twenty minutes.

Finally add the meatballs to the broth and simmer for a further twenty minutes. Serve hot with rice.