Nigerian Tomato Stew
Tomato stew is the most popular stew in Nigeria. As there are plenty of tomatoes and peppers grown here, it makes perfect sense that Nigerians would create a delicious and nourishing stew based on these two staple local ingredients.
Nigerian tomato stew can be customized to suit your taste. It is prepared using a variety of proteins, including chicken, turkey, fish, ram, and goat, each one giving the dish a quite different taste.
The stew is best accompanied by rice, spaghetti, plantain, or either boiled or fried yams.
Enjoy!
Tips for cooking the tomato stew:
Tip 1: When frying tomatoes, use more vegetable oil than you think you need. This will prevent burning until the tomatoes have completely lost their sour flavor and all of their water has evaporated.
When the tomatoes are well cooked, you may dump away the extra oil. Even if you stand there stirring fervently, your stew will burn if you don’t have enough vegetable oil. But don’t worry; you can drain the excess oil when you’re done cooking.
Tip 2: Take note that some tomato species are simply not suitable for this stew. The ideal tomatoes for the Nigerian tomato stew are fresh plum tomatoes since all the other local varieties either have a lot of seeds or have a lot of water in them. Roma tomatoes and plum tomatoes are both great choices.
Tip 3: Tinned tomato paste and puree. The tinned tomato paste sold in Nigeria is usually very thick and concentrated. If you try to fry this tomato paste as is it, it will burn straight away, unless you are using enough vegetable oil. What is normally done is to add some cold water to it, to bring it to the softer consistency but, if you are using tomato puree, don’t add in water to mix it. Note that, adding little water to mix your tinned tomato is optional.
Tip 4. Whenever you are making your stew, tinned tomato is always added first, before adding your boiled, blended tomato mixture.
Tip 5: The general practice is to blend/grind the tomatoes, peppers, and onions, boil and use for frying, while some will fry the blended/ground tomatoes mixture straight without boiling it. The challenge with the last method is that, frying time is more longer, as the oil prevents the water from evaporating fast.
Enjoy this classic Nigerian tomato stew recipe!
Nigerian Tomato Stew
Ingredients
Main ingredients:
- chicken or fish (of choice)
- fresh tomatoes 20 plum
- tatashe 6 ground medium size
- fresh peppers to taste
- tinned tomatoes
- garlic 5 crushed cloves
- ginger ground half finger
- onion 2 large, chopped
- chicken goat, or fish flavor (of choice)
- curry powder 1 tbsp
- thyme 1 tbsp
- vegetable oil of choice
- stock cubes of choice
- salt to taste
Optional Ingredients:
- nutmeg ground, 1 tsp
- crayfish ground, 2 tbsp
- red bell pepper 2 medium size
- black pepper ground, 1 tbsp
- paprika powder 1 tsp
- bay leaves 4 leaves
- scent leaf a handful
- curry leaf a handful
- stew mix spices 1 tbsp (optional)
Alternative ingredients:
- chicken goat, beef, or fish
- curry powder or curry leaves
- fresh or tinned tomatoes
- dry or fresh garlic/ginger
- thyme or rosemary
- stock cube or bouillon powder
- vegetable oil or palm oil
- seasoning flavors of choice
Instructions
Preparation before cooking:
- Chop some of the onion into big chunks and slice the rest finely.
- If using it, grind the crayfish.
- Wash the vegetables and de-seed the tatashe.
Procedure for cooking the stew:
- Cooking Nigerian tomato stew involves 3 major steps:
- Precooking the blended/grounded tomato mixture.
- Parboiling the meat (chicken, goat, lamb, beef, or fish).
- Frying and cooking the stew.
Precooking the blended/grounded tomato mixture:
- Wash, chop, and blend/grind the fresh tomatoes, fresh peppers, tatashe or bell peppers, chopped onion, garlic, and ginger until smooth. If you are using a blender, blend small quantities at a time so that the mixture blends properly and that you don't overwork the blender.
- Pour the tomato mixture into a pot and boil on high heat until the water evaporates, then set aside. Do not allow it to burn. You can also boil the tomato mixture halfway and then sieve it to get rid of the water if you don't want to wait till it evaporates.
Parboiling and frying the meat (chicken, goat, lamb, beef, or fish):
- Wash and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and place in a pot. Add some of the sliced onions, the thyme, curry powder, ground pepper, crushed garlic, and ginger. Do not add any water. Let the meat cook in its juices until almost dry, then pour in some water and adjust the seasoning. Cover and let cook until soft. Remove the meat from the stock and set aside to drain any excess liquid.
- Heat some vegetable oil in a deep-frying pan or pot and fry some of the onion until brown, but not burnt (the onion helps to season the oil and add flavor to the meat). Remove the onion and discard. Fry the meat until golden and crisp, but not burnt.
- Remove the meat and drain on paper towel.
- Fry the rest of the meat in batches until done.
- Alternatively, for a healthier option, steam, roast or grill the meat.
- To roast the chicken, place on a rack in the oven at 330° F/ 165° C for 10 to 15 minutes or until it has become golden brown, and set aside.
- The time for steaming chicken depends on the type of chicken you are using. Rooster or cockerel cooks much faster than hen, but hen is definitely tastier than the rooster.
- Also, the time for cooking time the meat will depend on the type of meat you use, but it is important you allow your meat to boil until it is tender.
Frying and cooking the tomato stew:
- In a pot, heat the vegetable oil on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes (you can use the vegetable oil that was used to fry the chicken or meat). When the oil is hot, add the chopped onion and garlic and fry until the onion is translucent for about 3 to 5 minutes on low heat.
- Pour in the remaining thyme and curry powder, and stir-fry for 3 minutes. This step is very important for giving the stew, and your kitchen, an excellent aroma.
- Add the tinned tomato paste and stir fry for 5 to 7 minutes. Make sure you fry your tinned tomato before adding the tomato mixture.
- Add the tomato mixture and let fry for 10 to 14 minutes on low to medium heat or until the oil separates from the tomato mixture and starts floating on top of the stew. Make sure you cook the stew on low heat.
- Add the nutmeg, stock cubes, salt, curry powder, thyme, and other spices. This step is what will give your stew the perfect taste.
- Pour in the chicken stock. Use as much as stock as you need for the consistency you want, but do not make the stew too watery.
- Add the fried or grilled meat and cook for 7 to 10 minutes on low heat, so that the flavors absorb into the meat.
- Taste for seasoning and other spices like nutmeg, curry powder, peppers, or stock cubes. Taste to ensure the raw tomato taste is gone.
- When the taste and consistency are to your liking, turn off the heat.
- When the stew is cooked, you may remove some of the oil if there is too much.
Notes
If you love Nigerian cuisine, check out our story on the most popular foods in Nigeria.
