30-Minute Gizdodo
The Sunday Rice Tradition
Gizdodo is the life of the party, an unapologetic collision of chewy, deep-savory chicken gizzards and sweet, caramelized plantains bound together by a fiery pepper sauce. Making it the old-school way meant standing over popping oil for an hour. To pull off the exact, authentic taste of an Ohio-Nigerian Sunday dinner on a Tuesday night, we let the air fryer and a pressure cooker do the heavy lifting. The real secret isn't the hardware, though. It's refusing to puree your peppers into a smoothie—keep them coarse—and aggressively frying that sauce until the oil floats to the top.
Before you start
Clean the gizzards thoroughly.
Chicken gizzards are a hard-working digestive muscle; take the time to peel away any tough yellow inner lining and rinse them meticulously under cold water.
Ingredients
- chicken gizzards1 lb
- yellow onion1/2 med
- garlic2 med cloves
- ginger1 small piece
- Nigerian yellow curry powder2 tsp
- dried thyme2 tsp
- Maggi or Knorr chicken bouillon cubes2 med
- ripe plantains2 large
- vegetable oil4 tbsp
- salt1 pinch
- red bell peppers2 large
- habanero peppers2 med
- Roma tomato1 med
- red onion1 med
- green bell pepper1/2 med
- yellow bell pepper1/2 med
Method
- 01
Tenderize the gizzards under pressure.
Place the gizzards, yellow onion, garlic, ginger, 1 teaspoon of the curry powder, 1 teaspoon of the thyme, and 1 bouillon cube into a pressure cooker, covering with just enough water to submerge them. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes, quick release, then chop the gizzards into bite-sized pieces and reserve 1/2 cup of the concentrated cooking stock.
- 02
Caramelize the plantains in the air fryer.
Toss the cubed plantains with the salt and 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil, then air-fry at 380°F for 10 to 12 minutes, shaking halfway, until deeply golden.
- 03
Crisp the tenderized gizzards.
Remove the finished plantains to a bowl, place the chopped gizzards into the air fryer, and fry at 400°F for 5 to 8 minutes to replicate a deep-fried texture without the heavy grease.
- 04
Blend the pepper sauce into a coarse paste.
In a food processor, pulse the red bell peppers, habaneros, tomato, and the roughly chopped half of the red onion. Do not puree this into a smooth liquid; it needs to remain a heavily textured, coarse paste to properly cling to the meat.
- 05
Fry down the ata dindin.
Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the finely diced half of the red onion for 2 minutes, then stir in the coarse pepper blend, the remaining 1 teaspoon of curry powder and thyme, and the crushed remaining bouillon cube. Fry aggressively for 10 minutes until the mixture reduces, darkens, and the oil separates and floats to the surface.
- 06
Marry the components.
Pour the reserved 1/2 cup of gizzard stock into the bubbling pepper sauce to loosen it, stir in the crisped gizzards, and simmer for 2 minutes so they absorb the heat. Turn the heat down to low, gently fold in the golden plantains and the diced green and yellow bell peppers, then kill the heat immediately so the plantains don't turn to mush.
Notes
Selecting the right plantains.
Your plantains must be yellow with prominent black spots—firm enough to hold their shape in the pan, but ripe enough to offer a sweet counterbalance to the fiery habaneros.
Working ahead.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, boil the gizzards in a pot with the aromatics for an hour on Sunday, storing them in the fridge with their stock so this meal genuinely takes 30 minutes on a Tuesday.
From Cook Nigerian in America.