howfarwhatagwan: You do not have to cook it for so long to ensure it is not bitter there are some ingredients that can be added to mask the bitter taste and for me that is how I was taught to cook stew

I think it gets bitter when you let it burn and then try to scrape out the burnt stuff while stirring it.

you are so funny

Emmadani: Watin concern me?Since d day one iya alata 4 lagos tell me how to cook stew,i no dey waste tym again.Na sharp sharp tinz.Ma own stew b say d pepper dey plenty pas tomatoes,so as u dey eat d rice and stew at d same tym water dey comot 4rm ur eyes,nose and ear...!Ma granny also teach me how to cook kpomo stew,wit alot of pepper so dat when u eat u go know say na E.T.T. I HATE fish stew.

Very funny post. I agree that boiling the tomato paste kills all the nutrients but at the same time using it in its raw state makes the stew taste sour. So here is what I do;

I blend the tomatoes n peppers without adding water to a rough paste. Then I pour the paste into a colander to sit for maybe 15 mins. All the water drains out leaving just the tomato paste. Then I proceed to fry my stew. That way not much harm is done to the tomato nutrients.

ogugua88: The other day we saw a thread complaining about fast food being unhealthy. Now slow food has dead nutrients. I just confuse.

End time tinz

Fussbot: well,wen dis type of thread makes front page u already know what TIME it is

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Dinner time

if you dont wana go tru all that stress nd not taste d raw tomatoes but still have d nutritional value of tomatoes, u can add very little potash..... its d best way to prepare stew fast without diminishing d tomatoes nutrition.... you can thank me later.....

really? ok text me ur address

gradeA:

dont mind him joor. pls come cook for me. I bet any food coming from the owner of dat pic i saw on your profile would be wonderful

I would eat your stew morning, afternoon and night, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year, and infact all the days of my life, and trust me it would never taste like lemonade. *not even for a sec*

obi123:

i only use kale in my smoothies , this kale in stew is new to me , quick question soul _glo, when you add the kale to your stew at the last minute that makes it vegetable stew abi? please how long after you add the kale do you turn off the burner?

I like kale in smoothies too. That was actually what gave me the idea of using it almost raw in stews. It is chock full with nutrients. I cook stew on low heat so maybe 5 minutes. You can take take the pot off the heat and keep the lid on. If you like to actually taste your veggies you will love this. I also do the same with groundnut soup. You're right that it is pretty much vegetable stew at that point. You can cook your kale on the side too. We should not be eating a whole meal of rice anyway. Kill the stew with heat but eat it with rice as a side rather than an entree. You can make up your nutrients with other things on the plate.



For people saying people who cook stew for two hours being bad cooks I have to disagree. The prepping and cook time could very easily be over two hours. The best way to cook tomatoes or anything really is with slow heat. That is why our grandmothers cooking tasted so good. Cooking outside over a slow fire vs blasting the heat on a gas stove? There is definitely a difference in the outcome

Fact or Fiction: Raw veggies are healthier than cooked ones
Do vegetables lose their nutritional value when heated?

By Sushma Subramanian

April 7, 2009


Cooking is crucial to our diets. It helps us digest food without expending huge amounts of energy. It softens food, such as cellulose fiber and raw meat, that our small teeth, weak jaws and digestive systems aren't equipped to handle. And while we might hear from raw foodists that cooking kills vitamins and minerals in food (while also denaturing enzymes that aid digestion), it turns out raw vegetables are not always healthier.

A study published in The British Journal of Nutrition last year found that a group of 198 subjects who followed a strict raw food diet had normal levels of vitamin A and relatively high levels of beta-carotene (an antioxidant found in dark green and yellow fruits and vegetables), but low levels of the antioxidant lycopene.

Lycopene is a red pigment found predominantly in tomatoes and other rosy fruits such as watermelon, pink guava, red bell pepper and papaya. Several studies conducted in recent years (at Harvard Medical School, among others) have linked high intake of lycopene with a lower risk of cancer and heart attacks. Rui Hai Liu, an associate professor of food science at Cornell University who has researched lycopene, says that it may be an even more potent antioxidant than vitamin C.

One 2002 study he did (published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry) found that cooking actually boosts the amount of lycopene in tomatoes. He tells ScientificAmerican.com that the level of one type of lycopene, cis-lycopene, in tomatoes rose 35 percent after he cooked them for 30 minutes at 190.4 degrees Fahrenheit (88 degrees Celsius). The reason, he says: the heat breaks down the plants' thick cell walls and aids the body's uptake of some nutrients that are bound to those cell walls.

Cooked carrots, spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, cabbage, peppers and many other vegetables also supply more antioxidants, such as carotenoids and ferulic acid, to the body than they do when raw, Liu says. At least, that is, if they're boiled or steamed. A January 2008 report in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry said that boiling and steaming better preserves antioxidants, particularly carotenoid, in carrots, zucchini and broccoli, than frying, though boiling was deemed the best. The researchers studied the impact of the various cooking techniques on compounds such as carotenoids, ascorbic acid and polyphenols.

Deep fried foods are notorious sources of free radicals, caused by oil being continuously oxidized when it is heated at high temperatures. These radicals, which are highly reactive because they have at least one unpaired electron, can injure cells in the body. The antioxidants in the oil and the vegetables get used up during frying in stabilizing the cycle of oxidation.

Another study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 2002 showed that cooking carrots increases their level of beta-carotene. Beta-carotene belongs to a group of antioxidant substances called carotenoids, which give fruits and vegetables their red, yellow, and orange colorings. The body converts beta-carotene into vitamin A, which plays an important role in vision, reproduction, bone growth and regulating the immune system.

The downside of cooking veggies, Liu says: it can destroy the vitamin C in them. He found that vitamin C levels declined by 10 percent in tomatoes cooked for two minutes—and 29 percent in tomatoes that were cooked for half an hour at 190.4 degrees F (88 degrees C). The reason is that Vitamin C, which is highly unstable, is easily degraded through oxidation, exposure to heat (it can increase the rate at which vitamin C reacts with oxygen in the air) and through cooking in water (it dissolves in water).

Liu notes, however, that the trade-off may be worth it since vitamin C is prevalent in far more fruits and vegetables than is lycopene. Among them: broccoli, oranges, cauliflower, kale and carrots. Besides, cooked vegetables retain some of their vitamin C content.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=raw-veggies-are-healthier

tjskii: Pls if therz a better way to cook stew,do share,was so frustrated lastwk,I was superhungry and decided to cook stew,d stupid water took so much time in draining from d pepper,by den I was seeing double from hunger

Put the paste on fire, allow to simmer for 3mins, sieve the paste to drain d water. Put back on d fire, then add oil and other ingrediendts

The stew gets well fried faster when gas is being used for cooking

ogugua88: The other day we saw a thread complaining about fast food being unhealthy. Now slow food has dead nutrients. I just confuse.

are you serious? lol
fruits and vegetables lose their nutrients when cooked for too long or too hot.

the comparison to fast food makes no sense because fast food is processed food and processed food simply means food that has been cooked to such extent that it loses most of its nutrients. ex deep fried, treated with extremely high heat etc.
so they are all the same. just that fast food is made in large quantities and sold. sort of like naija party food.

a normally cooked pot of stew where the tomatoes and peppers still have nutrients in them will go bad quicker (it will spoil and sour in about one week in the fridge). whereas a pot of stew that fried and spend hours on the stove will take longer time to go bad.
mac donalds fries i'm sure can probably last months without going bad . that's how u know that there's no nutrients in it. because even bacteria doesn't like it!! Besides it being un-nutritious, it is actually BAD and dangerous for you. deep fried foods taste good but contain free radicals that can lead to disease and damage to health. people eat fruits and salads (or lightly steamed vegetables) as anti-oxidants that fight free radicals.

OP has a seriously valid point. For me, I don't cook my stew for hours. mba. It tastes good yes. but I know it's not healthy. I only make those kind of stews on occasion or have them at naija owambe parties.

russianmob27: because of the world is coming to an end very stew-pid post

I have noted ya name, cos am researching ya comment and people who post this ya same comment

ogugua88: It has nothing to do with Nigerians taking long and everything to do with tomatoes taking long to cook through. I use tomatoes and red peppers for my stew. No canned anything. So, a long cooking time is inevitable, especially if I'm using a large pot.

If anyone wants quick stew, make them buy ready made stew in a jar. Better yet, blend tomatoes pour am on top rice. If I give you raw tomato sauce, you go chop?

Our food takes long. That's why e sweet die. If I want nutrition, I know where to find it. When I'm making Nigerian food, I make it the way I was taught. No time.

But it has everything to do with the Nigerians taking too long to cook, even u confirmed it in ur last sentences. Let me ask u, have u tasted stew or tomato sauce from other countries? If u have, u will notice that it is only the Nigerian stew that does not retain that raw tomato taste. Hence that stew does not have nutrients like the other stews from other countries which still retain the raw tomato taste. Tomatoes are vegetables if memory serves me well so cooking and over cooking them the way Nigerians do will definitely make them lose nutrients.
The way around it is to make either jollof and not over cook the tomato or if u insist on eating Nigerian (over cooking ur tomatoes) then u also make salad or Cole slaw by the side to eat with ur nutrient deficient rice and stew.

dats d way we were tot....end time tinz

Sugardiva: Very funny post. I agree that boiling the tomato paste kills all the nutrients but at the same time using it in its raw state makes the stew taste sour. So here is what I do;

I blend the tomatoes n peppers without adding water to a rough paste. Then I pour the paste into a colander to sit for maybe 15 mins. All the water drains out leaving just the tomato paste. Then I proceed to fry my stew. That way not much harm is done to the tomato nutrients.

This is how I prepare my stew too. I ground, drain and I dont cook for long

drnoel: But it has everything to do with the Nigerians taking too long to cook, even u confirmed it in ur last sentences. Let me ask u, have u tasted stew or tomato sauce from other countries? If u have, u will notice that it is only the Nigerian stew that does not retain that raw tomato taste. Hence that stew does not have nutrients like the other stews from other countries which still retain the raw tomato taste. Tomatoes are vegetables if memory serves me well so cooking and over cooking them the way Nigerians do will definitely make them lose nutrients.
The way around it is to make either jollof and not over cook the tomato or if u insist on eating Nigerian (over cooking ur tomatoes) then u also make salad or Cole slaw by the side to eat with ur nutrient deficient rice and stew.

Na lie. Italians cook their tomato-based sauces just like we do.

E be like say some people no sabi cook for this forum o. Uncooked stew. Alu.

If you no wan fat, then walk. If you you want nutrients, then supplement your diet with fruits, veggies, and daily vitamins. Simple.

ogugua88:

Na lie. Italians cook their tomato-based sauces just like we do.

no they dont. The sauce on your regular italo pasta has not been boiled for one hour and deep fried. You sir, are the liar here

whiteroses: no they dont. The sauce on your regular italo pasta has not been boiled for one hour and deep fried. You sir, are the liar here

So now stew is deep fried? How much oil are you using to consider stew deep fried?

Italian food is not quickly made food. They let their tomato sauces simmer for hours depending on the size of food. Keep trying to paint our food black.

whiteroses:

no they dont. The sauce on your regular italo pasta has not been boiled for one hour and deep fried. You sir, are the liar here

Err yes ALL pasta/marinara sauce was cooked thoroughly for approximately 1.5hr before they are jarred or served . I make fresh pasta sauce everytime.

The only uncooked Italian sauce is Pesto ( green sauce they make with fresh basil and olive oil base).

Nice try.

jidegirl12:

Err yes ALL pasta/marinara sauce was cooked thoroughly for approximately 1.5hr before they are jarred or served . I make fresh pasta sauce everytime.

The only uncooked Italian sauce is Pesto ( green sauce they make with fresh basil and olive oil base).

Nice try.

what do you mean nice try ? yes we hear you know about other stew. Whats the point of this argument anyway? i dont give a flying monkey! plus i wasn't talking to you, now run along!

The point is simple: no talk wetin you no know.

^^ Nicely put sweetie. You beat me to it.

jidegirl12: ^^ Nicely put sweetie. You beat me to it.

ogugua88: The point is simple: no talk wetin you no know.

monkey bananas

^^ Go and sin no more. Amen

Nigerians are happy, tough, strong and fun, etc... so, maybe "dead nutrients" are good after all...

Anoda method is wash ur tomatoes pour dem in a pot add a little water den boil for about ten to fifteen minutes den turn d tomatoes in a sieve den u blend u can fry and add ur meat sauce, u will notice wen u blend ur tomatoes will b thick and cooked DAT raw taste won't b der