How to prepare "the Nigerian stew"
Nigerian tomato stew is a favourite in every Nigerian home and there’s nothing as tasty and simple as white rice and tomato stew. I have always loved tomato stew and white rice as we fondly call it in Nigeria. Stew is very versatile as it can be served with different types of sides such as steamed rice, boiled or fried yam, plantains, potatoes, egusi soup, okra soup and even bread…Yes, I love stew and fresh ‘out of the oven bread’

Serves: 5 -10
Recipe level: Medium
Preparation time: 40 mins
Cook time: 40 – 45mins
Total time: 1 hrs 20 mins to 1 hr 25mins
Meal type: Stew, Sauce, Side Dish
Region/country: Nigeria
INGREDIENTS

6 large fresh tomatoes
1 small size canned/tinned tomato paste/puree (optional)
2 large onions
1 large red bell pepper/tatashe
2 scotch bonnet peppers/atarodo
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 tablespoon dry thyme
2 seasoning cubes, knorr or maggi
Salt, to taste
Knorr cubes
1/2 to 1 cup vegetable oil
Meat stock (likely stock from the chicken)
4- chicken pieces (you can use beef , lamb, goat, turkey etc)
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1-hot pepper
2 seasoning cubes
1 teaspoon curry
1 teaspoon dry thyme
Salt, to taste
DIRECTIONS

Cooking Nigerian tomato stew involves 3 major steps, I have arranged the recipe in that order:

Precooking the tomato blend
Parboiling the meat, in this case chicken
Frying and cooking the stew
STEP 1- REDUCING TOMATO BLEND

Wash,chop and blend with a little water the tomatoes, bell pepper or tatashe, hot peppers, garlic, ginger and 2 onions. Try blending small quantities at a time so that the mixture blends properly and that you don’t overwork your blender Pour your blended tomato mix into a medium pot; cook and reduce mixture by 2/3. (This process of cooking down the tomato mixture does 2 things; it reduces the acidity of the tomatoes thus reducing the cooking time in final stewing step; it helps the stew fry better by cooking off the water. This can also be achieved by just sieving the tomato blend and draining out the water)

STEP 2- PARBOILING MEAT

Pre cook your chicken or meat pieces with the spices, herbs, and seasoning of your choice. (Do not completely cook the meat pieces because you will complete the cooking process in the final stewing step)

STEP 3- STEWING

Heat up oil in a medium pot on medium heat; add 1 sliced onion and fry for about 3-5 minutes. Let the onions brown a bit, you don’t want them to burn cause it will give your stew a burnt taste. Add and fry tomato paste for 2 – 3 minutes; pour in reduced tomato mixture and fry for about 10 mins before you pour your beef/chicken stock. (I poured in about 1/2 cup of my chicken stock. I usually prefer my stew thick, but you could pour more stock if you want your stew to be lees thick and more watery) Add meat pieces, seasoning cubes, curry, thyme, and some salt Cook at low-medium heat and stir at short intervals till the oil has completely separated from the tomato blend. Taste the stew to make sure that the raw tomato taste is gone then turn off the heat

SOURCE:http://cookfornaija..com

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