Nigerian Stews and Sauces

Stews and Sauces are essential to Nigerian gastronomy. Most staple foods are cooked plain and eaten with either stew or a sauce. This makes Nigerian foods one of the most versatile in the world. With one staple food, you can have up to a dozen different tastes. Really, there is always food for everyone in Nigeria.

How to Cook Nigerian Tomato Stew

 

Tomato Stew is very common in Nigeria. You will usually find that most families make this in considerable quantities and store in the freezer. This is because most staples can be cooked / boiled / fried and eaten with this stew viz:
Rice - Tomato Stew is the single most popular sauce when eating boiled white rice. The Jollof Rice Recipes are cooked with the simpler version of the tomato stew. This is the tomato stew with no added meat or chicken.
Plantain – It is not unusual for Tomato Stew to accompany Fried Plantain or Boiled Plantain.
Beans – Beans can be cooked plain and eaten with the Nigerian tomato stew.
Yam – You can bring out the best in the yam staple by eating it with tomato stew. Boiled Yam and Fried Yam go really well with this stew.
Tomato Stew is usually a tricky Nigerian recipe to prepare. If it is not sour, it is burnt or too oily. Not to worry, just follow the steps below and you will learn how to make the best Nigerian Tomato Stew.

Ingredients

• Fresh Plum Tomatoes (referred to as Jos Tomatoes in Nigeria) – 1kg
• Vegetable Oil – 30 cl
• Chicken/Turkey/Beef – 1kg
• Onions – 3 medium bulbs
• Chilli Pepper & Salt – to taste
• Seasoning – 2 cubes of Maggi / Knorr & Thyme (2 teaspoons)

Before you cook Tomato Stew

1. Wash and blend the fresh plum tomatoes. Remember to remove the seeds unless you are sure your blender can grind them very well.
2. Cook the chicken / turkey / beef with 1 medium bulb of onions (chopped), the 2 seasoning cubes and thyme till done. Fry or grill the chicken / turkey / beef if you want to. This is optional.
   

   Note: Remember to add water sparingly so that your tomato stew will not be watery when done. You can always add more water during the final stages of the cooking if the chicken / turkey / beef stock is not enough.
   If you want to make tomato stew that you will store in the freezer to be used in cooking Jollof Rice recipes then you will not need to add chicken / turkey / beef at this time. Cook these the day you want to prepare the Jollof rice recipes.

3. Grind / Blend the chilli pepper.

Cooking Directions

1. Pour the tomato blend into a pot and cook till almost all the water has dried.
2. Add the vegetable oil and the remaining 1 bulb of onions (chopped). For your tomato stew to fry very well and not have any form of sour/raw taste, you need to add a generous amount of vegetable oil. Don't worry about having too much oil because you can pour out the excess oil after frying the tomato puree.
3. Cook at low heat till all the water has dried. You can confirm this because the tomato puree starts to stick to the base of the pot.
4. Stir constantly till you notice that the vegetable oil is separated from the tomato puree. Unlike when you first added the oil and it formed a smooth mix with the tomato puree. Taste the fried tomato puree to make sure that the raw tomato taste is gone.
   

   Note: With time and experience, you can even tell that the tomato puree is well fried from the aroma.

5. At this time, if you think there is too much oil, pour out the excess and add the chicken / turkey / beef with the stock, and then add pepper and salt to taste.
6. Cover the pot and allow to contents of the pot to boil for 5 minutes.
7. That’s the way the best Nigerian tomato stew is made.

Use tomato stew to eat White Rice, Fried / Boiled Plantain, Fried / Boiled yam. Add it when cooking your Jollof Rice recipes and even to your Egusi Soup!