🇹🇿 Tanzanian · Meat Dishes
🍖 Tanzanian Beef Bone Soup
Supu ya Mifupa
Supu ya Mifupa — Tanzanian bone broth soup. Large beef or goat bones slow-simmered for 2 hours with vegetables, ginger, and spices into a rich, deeply nourishing, golden broth. Tanzania's most restorative food — given to the sick, nursing mothers, and anyone who needs strength.
Supu ya Mifupa is Tanzania's healing food — the soup given to the sick, the recovering, and new mothers. The 2-hour simmer extracts collagen, marrow, and minerals from the bones into a broth of extraordinary nutritional depth. Sold at roadside stalls in large pots, it is the working person's nourishment.
Ingredients
Equipment: Very large pot
- 1 kg beef or goat bones — with marrow
- 2 medium onions — halved
- 3 medium carrots — roughly chopped
- 2 celery stalks — optional
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp ginger — sliced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 3 litres water
- ¼ cup fresh coriander
- Fresh lemon to serve
Method
- Blanch bones in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse.
- Place bones in a large pot with all vegetables, garlic, ginger, salt, and peppercorns.
- Cover with 3 litres cold water.
- Bring to a boil. Skim foam.
- Reduce to the lowest simmer. Cover and cook for 2 hours.
- Strain. Return broth to pot.
- Taste and adjust salt.
- Serve garnished with coriander and a wedge of lemon.
Chef Tips
- Blanching first removes blood and impurities — clearer broth.
- The lowest possible simmer produces the clearest, most elegant broth.
- Lemon squeezed at the table brightens the whole bowl.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Hard boiling — produces cloudy broth.
- Skipping blanching.
The Science
Long simmering dissolves collagen from bones and connective tissue into gelatin — producing a broth that sets to a jelly when chilled. This gelatin is what makes bone broth uniquely nourishing and soothing to the digestive system.
Nutrition (per serving)
Health Benefits
- Rich in collagen and gelatin.
- High in bone minerals.
- Deeply nourishing.
- Low in calories.
Cultural Note
Supu ya Mifupa is Tanzania's most healing food — given with love to the sick and the recovering. Every Tanzanian knows that a bowl of bone soup can restore strength when nothing else can.
Storage & Serving
Storage: Refrigerate 4 days. Freeze 3 months.
Reheating: Heat to boiling before serving.
Serve with: As a starter, With Chapati (TZA004), With Ugali (TZA001), With fresh lemon