RECIPE: COW HEEL SOUP

Ingredients 

• 1 cup of split peas rinsed
• 2 lbs of cow heel or cow feet
• 1/4 cup of white vinegar plus about 4 cups of for washing the cow heel
• 3 lbs of ground provision in any combination peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces (for this recipe I used, 2 sweet potatoes, 2 yellow plantains, 3 eddoes, 1 purple sweet potato)
• 1 cup of chopped spinach frozen or fresh
• 1 yellow onion diced
• 4 cloves of garlic sliced
• 1 teaspoon of salt or salt to taste
• A pinch of black pepper
• 3 wiri wiri peppers to garnish optional (may substitute with habanero pepper)
• About 8-10 cups of water

Special Equipment

• Instant Pot or Traditional Pressure cooker

Instructions 

1. Submerge cow heel in vinegar and water mixture and let sit for about 15 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and set aside,
2. Next add cow heel, split peas, onion, garlic, thyme, water and salt to the instant pot or traditional pressure cooker,
3. Then seal up and pressure cook on high until the cow heel/feet is tender. This takes an hour in the instant pot,
4. Then release the pressure in your pressure cooker (if using the instant pot, use the rapid release method)
5. Next add the ground provision, whole wiri peppers or habanero pepper and spinach if using frozen. If using fresh, you will add the spinach at the very end,
6. Then mix together well and continue to cook on medium heat if using a traditional pressure cooker or in the sauté mode if using an instant pot,
7. Cook until all the root vegetables are fork tender and the broth becomes a bit thick,
8. If using fresh spinach add your spinach here and mix into the broth then let the soup cook for 5 additional minutes then remove from the heat and serve warm.

Notes

Rinsing the cow heel with vinegar helps to remove any impurities or smell.

In the US the cow heel is already shaved and prepped however, you may need to examine it for any tiny hairs that they may have missed when cleaning it. I use a new disposable razor to shave any bits of hair on the cow heel before cooking.

In Guyana prepping cow heel would require shaving all of the tiny hairs off and my dad did this with a disposable razor blade. I don’t know if they come cleaned now. Comment below if you know. (Metemgee)