Miyan taushe is a tasty and nourishing stew eaten by the Hausas. This combination of pumpkin with groundnuts, green leafy vegetables, spices, and meat is hearty, with a good balance of spicy and creamy, making it feel indulgent.
It is also known as Hausa pumpkin soup or Nigerian pumpkin soup. Miyan taushe is one of the more popular soups from the Northern part of Nigeria, along with miyan kuka (baobab leaf soup) and miyan gyeda (groundnut soup).
It is usually served with masa/waina (rice cake) or tuwo shinkafa (rice balls). However, it goes well with most swallows. Swallow refers to a thick paste, usually produced from starchy grains or root crops; and eaten with soups in Western Africa.
How To Make Miyan Taushe
Here are the ingredients you need...
How To Make It
Wash and slice the spinach. Next, wash the fermented locust beans. Keep these to one side.
Wash the goat meat and pour into a saucepan with a cup of water.
Slice one onion and chop the garlic. Add into the pan. Crush in the bouillon cubes with a dash of salt. Place the pan under medium heat. Cook until the meat is tender. This will typically take between 30 – 40 mins.
While the meat is cooking, wash the butternut squash and cut off the two ends. Peel, then cut into halves before scooping out the seeds and cutting into cubes. This Simply Recipes post shows how to do this.
Add the butternut squash into the pan containing the meat and cover.
The cubes should be soft and ready in about 10 mins. Remove from the pan and transfer into another pot or container. Use a potato masher or ricer to mash.
While the butternut squash is cooking, wash, then remove the stalks from the red bell peppers and scotch bonnet peppers. Blend with the remaining onion and keep aside.
When the goat meat is tender, pour the blended pepper mix into the pan, still under medium heat. Add the red palm oil, ground crayfish and fermented locust beans. Mix these into the pan, cover, and cook for 10 mins.
Stir in the peanut butter and reduce the heat—Cook for 5 mins.
Add the mashed butternut squash. Mix in with the content of the pan and taste for salt. Add more if required. Allow to cook for 10 mins. If you think it is too thick, feel free to add some water to thin it out.
Stir in the spinach, leave for two more minutes and remove from heat.
A few notes about the ingredients...
- Pumpkin: This is the main ingredient in this recipe, and you can use any ripe pumpkin, squash or edible gourd. I used butternut squash because it is available in my local stores.
- Leafy vegetable: Miyan taushe is traditionally prepared with “yakuwa” (leaves from the white hibiscus plant). This leaf has a slightly tangy taste, for which I couldn’t find a direct substitute. I used spinach for my recipe, but you can use other leafy vegetables like kale, ugwu (fluted pumpkin leaves), or callaloo. If you find yakuwa, you only need to use a little, as the tangy taste could dominate the soup if too much is used.
- Scotch bonnet pepper: Add, reduce or remove the scotch bonnet peppers depending on your heat tolerance.
- Goat meat: You can substitute with other proteins – beef, lamb, chicken, smoked fish etc.
Recipe FAQ and Notes
If you don’t use up the whole squash/pumpkin, you can cut it into smaller pieces and freeze. Then, Cook directly from frozen when you are ready to use. You can also wrap up the leftover in cling film and store it in the fridge; it will last around a week like this.
Canned pumpkin is a good substitute if you can’t find fresh pumpkin/squash. It is cooked and mashed squash/pumpkin, so it will work.
Yes, you can! Miyan Taushe will keep in the freezer for many weeks. It will also last about a week in the fridge.
Goat meat is not common in mainstream supermarkets in the UK. Instead, you will find it in speciality meat shops, farm shops and Asian, African or Caribbean shops.
Related Recipes
Other African soups to eat with swallow...
Miyan Taushe - Hausa Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- 1 kg Goat meat cut into small pieces
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 2 Onions medium
- Salt to taste
- 2 Bouillon cubes
- 2 Red bell peppers
- 3 Tomatoes
- 2 Scotch bonnet peppers
- 1 tablespoon Fermented locust beans
- 3 tablespoons Red palm oil
- 1 tablespoon Ground crayfish
- ½ Butternut squash big, or one small
- 3 tablespoons Peanut butter no added sugar
- 2 cups Spinach
Instructions
- Wash and slice the spinach. Next, wash the fermented locust beans. Keep both to one side.
- Wash the goat meat and pour into a saucepan with a cup of water.
- Slice one onion and chop the garlic. Add into the pan. Crush in the bouillon cubes with a dash of salt.
- Place the pan under medium heat. Cook until the meat is tender. This will typically take between 30 – 40 mins.
- While the meat is cooking, wash the butternut squash and cut off the two ends.
- Peel the skin off with a sharp knife. Cut into halves and scoop out the seeds. Cut into cubes
- Add the butternut squash into the pan containing the meat and cover. The cubes should be soft and ready in about 10 mins. Remove from the pan and transfer into another pot or container. Use a potato masher or ricer to mash.
- While the butternut squash is cooking, wash, then remove the stalks from the red bell peppers and scotch bonnet peppers. Blend with the remaining onion and keep aside.
- When the goat meat is tender, pour the blended pepper mix into the pan, still under medium heat. Add the red palm oil, ground crayfish and fermented locust beans. Mix these into the pan, cover, and cook for 10 mins.
- Stir in the peanut butter and reduce the heat—Cook for 5 mins.
- Add the mashed butternut squash. Mix in with the content of the pan and taste for salt. Add more if required. Allow to cook for 10 mins. If you think it is too thick, feel free to add some water to thin it out.
- Stir in the spinach, leave for two more minutes and remove from heat.
[…] tuwo shinkafa is eaten with different soups, with gbegiri/ miyan wake (bean soup), a favourite. Miyan taushe (pumpkin soup), miyan kuka (baobab leaves soup), egusi and okra soup all go well with these rice […]