African Food and Art

This blog explores the wisdom of African proverbs, the depth of folklore, the beauty of art, the stories of history, and the flavors of timeless African food recipes.

Turtle Soup Recipe From Our Kitchen

You will love the taste of turtle soup and making our grandmothers turtle soup recipe is healthy and easy.

Turtle soup is soup made from the meat of turtles with spices and fresh vegetables. Our classic turtle soup recipe stewed Tanzania style, like they serve off the river and lakes throughout Africa. 

In the kitchen, we are the followers of the wisdom of our ancestors. Cooking is highly socialized and practical art. Each day, while it adds to our food experience it should also increase African ancestor food knowledge. 

Now that intercommunication between distant nations has become easier and frequent, the rural and city-dweller of Africa commands greater attention to culinary art. One art of cooking Africa offers is how to cook turtle soup. 

How the catch and clean snapping turtles for eating.

Catching and cleaning snapping turtles is easy. In Africa they live in a wide variety of marine habitats: large creeks, rivers, swamps, marshes, and lagoons. Fishing, grabbing them by the tail or the back of their shell is the usual method for catching snapping turtles. Snapping turtle used for eating must come from clean waterways.

To begin the process of cleaning a snapping turtle, cut the turtle's head off and hang the turtle upside down tied to a post to let the blood drain out. Then with plyers, muscles and a sharp hunting knife pull the skin off the turtle, parboiling with help loosen the skin for easier peeling.

The shell underneath the turtle is called the plastron, between this shell and the hardtop shell is soft joint easy to cut away. Remove the plastron with a sharp cutting hunting knife and remove the entrails.

Then cut away the meat, fat is yellow, detach from the meat but you can save this fat to favor other dishes. Cut up turtle meat just as you would turkey or chicken. Soak the turtle meat in clean water for 12-24 hours changing the water every 4 hours.

Boneless snapping turtle meat can be fried or stewed, however low heat and slow cooking methods have the best cooking results. The four legs and the tail of the snapping turtle are dark meat, the neck and back straps are white meat.   

Snapping turtles can average 10 to 12 inches in upper shell length and weigh between 15 to 25 pounds. Two pounds of boneless turtle meat cost between $38 and $50. Turtle meat is healthy with one cup of turtle meat has around 220 calories, 33 grams of protein and 2 grams of saturated fat.

Turtle Soup Recipe From Our Kitchen

Turtle Soup Recipe From Our Kitchen

Ingredients
2 cups boneless snapping turtle meat
4 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons salted butter
4 stalks chopped celery
1 medium chopped white onion
1 medium chopped red onion
3 diced carrots
2 medium red tomatoes
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon freshly minced parsley leaves
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions
In a large pot with a heavy lid over medium-high heat add butter, melt then add seasonings. Add flour and turtle meat stirring well until turtle meat is slightly brown. Add stock and remaining ingredients. Continue to cook over medium-high heat until the mixture boils, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 hours. Dish into serving bowls and enjoy The African Gourmet easy recipe of turtle soup.

More easy breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes from African Food Love to make right now so you never have to eat or prepare a boring meal again.

  1. Ethiopian Chicken Dinner
  2. Easy spice rub recipes
  3. Egyptian Rice with Mixed Vegetable Dish
  4. Fried Cabbage Pancakes and Onion Sauce
  5. Two easy squab recipes baked and fried

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