Bouja (Booya) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

6 lbs chicken, skinned (2 medium-sized)
3 lbs beef stew meat
2 lbs pork loin
8 onions
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 lbs carrots, chopped
2 heads cabbage, chopped
1 large rutabaga, peeled and diced
5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced
1 lb frozen corn
1 lb frozen peas
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
2 (11 ounce) cans yellow beans, drained
2 (11 ounce) cans green beans, drained
1 cup pearl barley
salt and pepper
1 ounce dry pickling spices

Preparation

Boil chicken, beef & pork in a heavy kettle in enough water to cover until tender. Remove meat from broth and cut into bite-sized chunks. Discard fat, skin, and bones.
Add in the cabbage, celery, and onions into the broth and boil until almost tender. Add in the remaining vegetables. When vegetables are cooked through, add the meat back into the broth, stir in the barley, and cook over medium heat until the meat breaks apart. The entire cooking process takes about 5 hours. Stir with large fork to break up the meat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Broth should have a slightly peppery quality to it.
Once the meat is cooked tender, it is time for the \"secret ingredient\". Put the pickling spices into a small cloth bag (you can make one out of some cloth and string) and dip into the bouja. You can let it sit for a couple of minutes, moving it around throughout the pot. Remove and stir. You can add more if you'd like a stronger flavor.
Until you add this, it's just vegetable soup. Once you do this last step, it will be BOUJA!
If you don't have a cloth to make a spice bag, you can also boil the spices in 1 cup of water for 3-4 minutes. Strain and add the clear liquid to the bouja pot.