'Patience is sweet food". (The words of a ‘not so patient woman elsewhere!’).
I've been opportune to not only learn but taste real Nigerian style stew. A stew that defies the sourness in tomatoes (I've had horrifying experiences with the humble tomatoes!).
My story starts, on a Friday again. Befitting though because I love Fridays and most of my foodie adventures for some odd reason happens on that day.
A very fashionable woman was going to teach me the best stew. (She got tired of the cook's crap I’m guessing). So we made a date to make a mean stew!
Stew is definitely a staple food in the Nigerian home. It’s the one dish that transcends tribe! Hausa! Igbo! Yoruba! Tiv! Fulani! And even foreigners have stew in there every day menus.
In Nigeria, stew is a mix of 3 veggies, tomatoes (although some say it’s a fruit, I say it’s a tomato!), red pepper (Bell pepper, capsicum, sweet pepper) and onions (I think that speaks for itself).
The key to a successful mix in a traditional, authentic, grade ‘A’ stew is the pepper! 'Tattase' (we call it in this part of the world). this is the gospel!
Hierarchy of the Ingredients in a stew mix:
· Tattase(Alpha dog)
· Onions. (Omega)
· Tomatoes (not so important!)
Reason for tomatoes being not so important is its acidity often makes the stew sour and it can dominate a dish rendering other ingredients useless almost; much like an opera singer and a tennis player, put them together in a place and ask them to make some noise and we all know who will win. By tennis player I mean the females obviously, you know the type that makes it uncomfortable for you to watch a game in the same room with your dad because of the weird sounds coming from hitting a ball! (Get your minds out of the gutter people that is not what I mean.)
Method:
There is a technique to this dish you see. First of all you have to bleach your palm oil. What that means is, you fry the oil till you are literally choking to death if you're in an enclosed area, matter of fact not so enclosed and you'll still choke. I advise you do this outside, not in doors. If you live in a flat then go and beg your neighbor with the backyard to let you cook there! Make sure you give them some of the stew for future purposes if you know what I mean. Don’t be stubborn, if you want good stew you have to do this!
OK, fine, you can still fry the palm oil lightly but be warned it won’t be the same thing.
Separately cook the blended mixture of Tattase (pepper),onions and tomatoes on low to medium heat, basically you are trying to dissolve excess liquid (this stew is very thick you see); now I know you are thinking what quantity of what should you add?? Here is the response I got "person wey wan use quantity or time to cook no sabi cook!", means if you need to measure your ingredients, and time your food, then you can’t cook!. Most of our grandmothers believe this actually.
That said, make sure your pepper is the boss in this mix, then your onions and a small quantity of tomato, we need this for moisture and texture too. After cooking the mixture separately and bleaching, I can't get the picture of the typical 'Fanta' face and coca cola body! out of my head when saying this, but I digress.
Pour in the pepper mix into the oil, cook for further 40 min at least! ( I did not mention time! It’s an approximation!) Do not let it dry out to the point its burning keep an eye on it and keep stirring.
Before I forget, (some cook I am), season your stew or palm oil the moment you bring the two together (Now, my teacher swears by a particular seasoning, a cube to be precise, starts with a K. That's all I'll say.) And that's all she uses! Amazing, how you put that stew in your mouth you start conjuring up all kinds of possibilities of taste but its only 1 type of seasoning and couple of veggies and condiments like smoked fish (cat fish) and sometimes iru (gotten from locust bean) very smelly but delicious( that’s what I call irony). You can add in stock if its too thick for you. Any kind of stock will do.
Let that cook then add in boiled meat or whatever protein you prefer and I don’t mean egg, the meat kind is what I mean.
Put different parts of the animal please, (orisirisi). Let that simmer for some minutes more and either serve directly with white rice or turn it into Efo riro!
That is Efo leaves, Riro means to keep turning! So as u pour in the leaves you turn and turn and turn (well you get the idea or maybe I should say 'stir' considering it’s not a motor wheel!
PS: you stop adding the leaves when you think it’s enough! God forbid I tell you the quantity! I'm no amateur! *talk to the hand*.
Now, some women might be crying foul! Saying things like ‘she didn't even mention you can add garlic, what of attarugu (chilli). And I’ll say, this is a story of the best stew I've had and either while I was not watching (I was watching every action of hers) she added all that in or she performed some magic but that’s what she did and it turned out delicious.
That said, cooking is all about expermenting, dont let anyone deceive you into thinking you need a superior skill. practice and trials makes you perfect, just dont think you are Wolf Gang Puck please. That one is from a different breed, the genius kind and you need superior skills!
I dedicate this to my special Aunt. Aunt Rita. She is one person I know I've been learning from, a pool of information both culinary and life. I call people like them 'lifers'!
Because they have lived, experienced, learned and above all transcended the impossible.
May your stew be cooked with patience till it is sweet!
More pictures below:
I've been opportune to not only learn but taste real Nigerian style stew. A stew that defies the sourness in tomatoes (I've had horrifying experiences with the humble tomatoes!).
My story starts, on a Friday again. Befitting though because I love Fridays and most of my foodie adventures for some odd reason happens on that day.
A very fashionable woman was going to teach me the best stew. (She got tired of the cook's crap I’m guessing). So we made a date to make a mean stew!
Stew is definitely a staple food in the Nigerian home. It’s the one dish that transcends tribe! Hausa! Igbo! Yoruba! Tiv! Fulani! And even foreigners have stew in there every day menus.
In Nigeria, stew is a mix of 3 veggies, tomatoes (although some say it’s a fruit, I say it’s a tomato!), red pepper (Bell pepper, capsicum, sweet pepper) and onions (I think that speaks for itself).
The key to a successful mix in a traditional, authentic, grade ‘A’ stew is the pepper! 'Tattase' (we call it in this part of the world). this is the gospel!
Hierarchy of the Ingredients in a stew mix:
· Tattase(Alpha dog)
· Onions. (Omega)
· Tomatoes (not so important!)
Reason for tomatoes being not so important is its acidity often makes the stew sour and it can dominate a dish rendering other ingredients useless almost; much like an opera singer and a tennis player, put them together in a place and ask them to make some noise and we all know who will win. By tennis player I mean the females obviously, you know the type that makes it uncomfortable for you to watch a game in the same room with your dad because of the weird sounds coming from hitting a ball! (Get your minds out of the gutter people that is not what I mean.)
Method:
There is a technique to this dish you see. First of all you have to bleach your palm oil. What that means is, you fry the oil till you are literally choking to death if you're in an enclosed area, matter of fact not so enclosed and you'll still choke. I advise you do this outside, not in doors. If you live in a flat then go and beg your neighbor with the backyard to let you cook there! Make sure you give them some of the stew for future purposes if you know what I mean. Don’t be stubborn, if you want good stew you have to do this!
OK, fine, you can still fry the palm oil lightly but be warned it won’t be the same thing.
Separately cook the blended mixture of Tattase (pepper),onions and tomatoes on low to medium heat, basically you are trying to dissolve excess liquid (this stew is very thick you see); now I know you are thinking what quantity of what should you add?? Here is the response I got "person wey wan use quantity or time to cook no sabi cook!", means if you need to measure your ingredients, and time your food, then you can’t cook!. Most of our grandmothers believe this actually.
That said, make sure your pepper is the boss in this mix, then your onions and a small quantity of tomato, we need this for moisture and texture too. After cooking the mixture separately and bleaching, I can't get the picture of the typical 'Fanta' face and coca cola body! out of my head when saying this, but I digress.
Pour in the pepper mix into the oil, cook for further 40 min at least! ( I did not mention time! It’s an approximation!) Do not let it dry out to the point its burning keep an eye on it and keep stirring.
Before I forget, (some cook I am), season your stew or palm oil the moment you bring the two together (Now, my teacher swears by a particular seasoning, a cube to be precise, starts with a K. That's all I'll say.) And that's all she uses! Amazing, how you put that stew in your mouth you start conjuring up all kinds of possibilities of taste but its only 1 type of seasoning and couple of veggies and condiments like smoked fish (cat fish) and sometimes iru (gotten from locust bean) very smelly but delicious( that’s what I call irony). You can add in stock if its too thick for you. Any kind of stock will do.
Let that cook then add in boiled meat or whatever protein you prefer and I don’t mean egg, the meat kind is what I mean.
Put different parts of the animal please, (orisirisi). Let that simmer for some minutes more and either serve directly with white rice or turn it into Efo riro!
That is Efo leaves, Riro means to keep turning! So as u pour in the leaves you turn and turn and turn (well you get the idea or maybe I should say 'stir' considering it’s not a motor wheel!
PS: you stop adding the leaves when you think it’s enough! God forbid I tell you the quantity! I'm no amateur! *talk to the hand*.
Now, some women might be crying foul! Saying things like ‘she didn't even mention you can add garlic, what of attarugu (chilli). And I’ll say, this is a story of the best stew I've had and either while I was not watching (I was watching every action of hers) she added all that in or she performed some magic but that’s what she did and it turned out delicious.
That said, cooking is all about expermenting, dont let anyone deceive you into thinking you need a superior skill. practice and trials makes you perfect, just dont think you are Wolf Gang Puck please. That one is from a different breed, the genius kind and you need superior skills!
I dedicate this to my special Aunt. Aunt Rita. She is one person I know I've been learning from, a pool of information both culinary and life. I call people like them 'lifers'!
Because they have lived, experienced, learned and above all transcended the impossible.
May your stew be cooked with patience till it is sweet!
More pictures below:
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| Unbleached palmoil. |
 |
| Bleached palm oil. |
 |
| What happens when you add in 'efo leaves' |
Right after they put me on a diet ......you had to go and write this!!! Diariz God ooo!
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