Nigerian Beef Stew Recipe

Once you speak about “stew” in Nigeria, you are not referring to a normal recipe class however as a substitute a selected group of pepper-and-tomato–primarily based dishes made with meat, seafood, or poultry. Stew is a mainstay of many Nigerian meals, served at any time of day from breakfast to dinner. It is usually umami personified, with a steadiness of candy, barely salty, savory, and recent flavors, layered with the distinctive character of the meat itself.

Stew exists on a spectrum with variations in thickness and consistency, in addition to differing ratios of tomatoes to peppers, though the outcomes are typically crimson in look. Rising up in Nigeria, I observed two important varieties: a thicker stew constructed on a properly fried fragrant base for rice, beans, and/or bread, and a lighter, soup-like consistency standard when served with swallows like eba. 

Throughout Nigeria, stew can go by many extra particular names, which correlate with every rendition’s particular consistency, components, and regional origin. As an illustration, in Yoruba, the language of the southwest, a really liquid, easy stew known as omi obe (the literal translation is “stew water”) versus a thicker, at occasions chunkier obe ata (“pepper” stew,) and ata dindin (“fried” pepper stew). Please word that in these cases, pepper does not point out an intense warmth degree, however somewhat is supposed to explain one of many main stew base components.

Relying on the model of stew and one’s predilection, it may be paired with gentle, white bread for dipping; spooned over or alongside rice, beans, cooked roots, tubers, or greens; served along with different stews—gbegiri (creamy beans), ewedu (inexperienced jute leaves), or plain steamed okro (the Nigerian title for okra), with eba alongside; and stirred into different dishes from egg sauce to Jollof rice and Jollof pasta. 

Due to how typically it options on the Nigerian desk, some Nigerians cook dinner a big batch, portion it into containers, after which refrigerate or freeze it to make use of as desired.

There are 4 key parts to creating stew. First, there’s the fragrant base, which is often a mix of recent tomatoes, crimson onions, and peppers (scorching and/or candy); typically tomato paste can be added to deepen the tomatoey taste and shade. Today, significantly within the diaspora the place dwelling ovens are more and more used to imitate the smoky flavors of Nigerian outside cooking, you will discover folks roasting the greens earlier than mixing to create a smoky, barely creamier base.

Second, there’s the protein, whether or not a single meat or a combination, together with beef, rooster, goat, numerous kinds of offal, fish (recent and dried), mushrooms, and extra. Many individuals cook dinner the protein forward, typically boiling, frying (right now additionally airfrying), roasting, or grilling it, earlier than including it to the stew base to cook dinner additional. The strategy of cooking the protein comes down to non-public desire. Right here, I begin by cooking beef chuck in a seasoned broth after which reserve the ensuing inventory to cook dinner the stew; to deepen the meat’s taste, I subsequently roast it earlier than including it to the stew.

The third essential part of stew are the seasonings, which may embody conventional fermented nuts and seeds or extra colonial or imported seasonings like curry powder, dried thyme, and bayleaf; aromatics like ginger and garlic typically characteristic as nicely. Typically, these two approaches to seasoning govern the end result, in order that historically stews are wholly conventional, that includes basic indigenous seasoning, and sometimes are cooked with palm oil, which brings me to the fourth ingredient: oil.

The cooking oil is essential. In some instances, the oil’s personal taste contributes to the general completed dish, like in conventional recipes the place crimson palm oil (or a smoky model of it) is used. In different instances, flavorless and colorless oils are used and contribute to the feel, not a lot the flavour.

As you may see, there are numerous methods to make Nigerian stew, however that is what makes it so nice. Be happy to make variations of your individual utilizing this stew recipe as the bottom, attempting totally different proteins, totally different seasonings or cooking oils, and even stirring in greens like amaranth or callaloo. Whereas the time period “stew” in Nigeria is probably not fairly as expansive a time period as it’s in lots of different locations, the chances are nonetheless infinite.