Cow feet stew/mazondo

I don’t know why it has taken me this long to share my cow feet stew recipe. After all, we had this almost every weekend after we left Zimbabwe about 5 years ago. We discovered them by accident in a little corner shop in Bermuda. I honestly had never made mazondo back then. My mother would be super surprised that I even tried. For my husband and I, mazondo evoked feelings of nostalgia. Took us back to a place we missed so much.

I like to brown my cow feet all over first before cooking.

Cow feet stew is pretty popular in the Asian, African and Caribbean circles. It requires a long time to cook in order to extract the flavorful gelatins and soften the tendons, cartilage and skin surrounding the bone. In Zimbabwe, cow feet were once upon a time, only for men, because they were considered an aphrodisiac and mixed with certain medicines in order to boost sexuality. Nowadays we all been having it.

Cow feet stew is usually slow cooked on a fire because of the prolonged time it requires to cook through. This gives it an amazing smoky flavor which I attempted to emulate by adding some smoked paprika. Definitely a must try and you will surely not regret it. Here in the US, I buy my cow feet at the Mexican market. Very inexpensive because it is considered a “poor man’s cut”, and will hopefully stay that way, if the rest of the world doesn’t discover what a gem they are, like they did oxtails.

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Cow feet stew/mazondo

Ingredients

• 4lbs (2kg) cow feet
• 2tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• ½ red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
• 5 roma tomatoes, pureed
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 ½ cups water
• 3 carrots, chopped

Instructions

1. Wash and dry the cow feet completely.
2. In a heavy pot, heat the oil on medium heat and brown the cow feet all over.
3. Remove them from the pot and set aside.
4. In the same pot, add the onion and red bell peppers and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the paprika and smoked paprika. Reduce heat to low and cook the spices for about a minute.
5. Add the tomatoes and bouillon cubes. Increase heat and cook until the cubes break apart and dissolve in the tomatoes.
6. Add the cow feet and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let slow cook for 4 hours. Check on the stew every hour or so just to make sure it’s not burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot. Also taste for seasoning. Bouillon cubes contain a lot of sodium, I don’t usually have to add any salt.
7. Add the carrots after about 3 ½ hours.
8. After about 4 hours the stew should be ready.
9. Serve over sadza or plain rice with your favorite vegetables.

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