How To Prepare Stew

My mother stopped by my apartment in Baltimore last week and left me some yam before heading to Nigeria.  My family usually boils it and eats it with corned beef and spinach stew.  unfortunately, I don't know how to prepare stew using these ingredients.  Can anyone help me?

I have:
3 Cans of tomato paste
3 Cans of tomato sauce
pepper (HOt, ground, black)
table salt
onions
garlic
ginger
seasoned salt
Chicken maggi cubes
2 Cans of corned beef
olive oil


and of course the yam and frozen spinach

I thought that this is all I would need to make it but when I tried to make it earlier it did not turn out properly.  Must I need fresh tomatoes or can I make do with what I have?  Maybe (Most likely) I did not know what I was doing.  Any suiggestions will be greatly appreciated.