Nigerian Catfish Pepper Soup (Point & Kill)

Ewedu soup

Ewedu soup is indigenous to the people of Yoruba, a very popular Nigerian ethnic group.


But then I am guessing you know that already so we are going to delve right into the matter of the day which is totally about making Yoruba ewedu soup.
I have had my own share of Yoruba foods after living in Lagos state for over ten years, I know virtually everything that goes into the stomach of a Yoruba person (I am talking foods), so sit tight, you are at the right place if you are looking to make delicious Yoruba foods.
Are you married or dating a Yoruba person? majority of members of the Nigerian kitchen are ladies that are either dating or married to a Nigerian man, if you are in this group sit tight too!
If you are living outside Nigerian you might wanna start looking up the easy to make Nigerian foods, I doubt you would find all the ingredients for preparing ewedu in your location, except of course you know where to look.
There are simple Nigerian recipes like jollof rice, fried rice, Tomato Stew and White Rice, that is just where to start if you are new to the whole “Nigerian food thingy”. Thank you.
My first encounter with this food – ewedu soup amid stew and assorted meat – was a memorable one, it was a Saturday evening, I was siting right at this same spot when I heard a knock by our neighbor’s daughter. They were having a dedication ceremony and the foods was making rounds, the usual Yoruba way.
She presented a plate of amala and deliciously made ewedu soup in its usual form, the way the yoruba people like it best – Ewedu soup/stew and amala.

OK, this image was taken on a different occasion and not the exact one she presented to me although they look alike.
As you can see above, ewedu soup is not usually served alone in a yoruba setting, but this is of course not etched in stones. You can always experiment wildly on Nigerian foods to find your favorite combination.
Over the months that followed I learned more about Yoruba foods and even added some of them to my menu, I learned to make the ewedu soup and lots of other Yoruba recipes. So if you are looking to make a delicious pot of ewedu soup follow me, let’s get started already.
Ingredients for making ewedu soup is as follows; this would make a simple pot of soup for about six people. You can increase or decrease the ingredients depending on the number of people you are looking to feed and of course their stomach sizes.
Ingredients:
Ewedu leaves (corchorus olitorius) 300g
1/2 teaspoon of powdered potash
1.5 cups of water
Ewedu Broom or a blender
Salt to taste
Maggi (1 or 2 cubes)
Chilly Pepper to taste
4-5 spoons of ground crayfish
There are more simple ways to prepare this soup without the use of the mashing broom. You can slice the leaves to tiny bits and commence cooking
or you can follow the process below with a mashing ewedu broom, the normal way.
One of the qualities of the the ewedu leaf is the ability to draw, perhaps the reason you can not make this soup with any other leaf.

How to Prepare Ewedu Soup

Nicely pick just the leaves (no stem allowed), then go ahead and wash properly with a lot of water to remove any sand left on it.
Pour 1.5 cups of water to a cooking pot and heat to boiling point, add the washed ewedu leaves, soak the half teaspoon of potash in half cup of water and filter into the pot (to soften the leaves), cook for 7-10 minutes.
Then use the cooking broom to mash (more like pound) continuously inside the pot, this will turn the leaves to tiny bits after mashing for about five minutes.
Alternatively, You can also transfer into a blender and pulse a couple of times, I think this way is easier and better. That was how I made the soup above, couldn’t find the ewedu broom.
Transfer back to the pot and add the ground crayfish, maggi, salt and pepper to taste. Allow to simmer for just five minutes and you are done with making ewedu soup.
Serve ewedu soup plus stew and meat with either amala, eba, semo or pounded yam, the exact way a Yoruba man would love it.

How to Cook Nigerian Ewa Agoyin

Nigerian Catfish Pepper Soup (Point & Kill)

Nigerian Catfish Pepper Soup (popularly known as Point & Kill) is that Nigerian pepper soup that is usually eaten at exclusive Nigerian bars and restaurants.
Nigerian Catfish Pepper Soup [Video Ativity
]
Even if you can get Nigerian Pepper Soup in any road side restaurant, you'll need to dig deep to find restaurants where you can have the correct Point & Kill.
So why is it called Point & Kill? LOL Usually when a group of guests arrive at these exclusive bars and order Catfish Pepper Soup, at least one of the group will need to go to a big bowl where some live catfish are swimming around and point out a catfish. The catfish will then be killed in the guest's presence and taken away for preparation. So you see; you point and it is killed for you! lol

Ingredients for Catfish Pepper Soup

• 500g Cat Fish
• 4 Ehu or Ariwo or Calabash Nutmeg seeds
• Habanero Pepper or chilli pepper (to taste)
• A few scent leaves
• 2 medium onions
• Salt (to taste)
• 2 big stock cubes

Alternative Ingredients for Catfish Pepper Soup

1. Conger Eel (Congrio in Spanish) is a good alternative to catfish. When buying the Conger Eel, ensure you buy the part towards the tail so that the fish cuts will not have big holes in them.
2. Parsley is a good alternative to scent leaves.

For grinding the ehu seeds, you will need:

• A spice/coffer grinder: 

Before you cook the Nigerian Catfish Pepper Soup

1. To prepare Cat Fish Pepper Soup, wash and cut the cat fish into 1-inch thick slices. Boil some hot water and pour on the pieces of fish, stir and remove immediately. This toughens the skin of the fish so that it does not fall apart during cooking.
   
2. Now it is time to prepare the 'secret' ingredient. Using an old frying pan, roast the Ehu seeds (stirring constantly) till you can smell it. Don't worry you will know when it is OK to take it off because it has a distinctive aroma. Another way to know that it is OK is to take one of the seeds and try to remove the outer membrane. If the membrane comes off easily, then the Ehu is done.
   
3. Peel off the membrane from all the Ehu seeds and grind with a dry mill.
4. Cut the onions into tiny pieces.
5. Wash and pick the scent leaves and tear them up with your fingers into small pieces.

Cooking Directions

1. Place the pieces of fish in a pot and pour water to just cover the fish, add the stock cubes and bring to the boil.
2. Once it starts to boil add the ground ehu, onions and scent leaves and continue cooking.
3. Once the catfish is done, add salt to taste and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes and it's ready!

Catfish Pepper Soup should always be served hot. It can be eaten alone with a chilled drink. I love to eat it with Agidi, Boiled White Rice or Boiled Yam.

Nigerian Beans Porridge (with Yam)

How to cook Nigerian Ewa Agoyin

Ewa Agoyin simply means plain boiled beans eaten with a pepper sauce.
How to make Ewa Agoyin [Video Activity]
This is the perfect way for those who do not like beans to enjoy it. I can tell you that yours truly does not like beans yet, I can never get enough of Ewa Agoyin. I don't know what it is about it that makes it taste so good. Maybe it is the caramelized onions. All I know is that I enjoy eating it.

Ingredients

• 2 cigar cups (approx. 500g) brown/black eyed beans
• 5 cooking spoons red palm oil
• 5 big plum tomatoes
• 1 handful crayfish
• 1 big onion
• Pepper & Salt (to taste)
• 2 stock cubes

Before you cook Ewa Agoyin

1. Soak the beans in cold water for 5 hours. Boil the beans for 5 minutes and discard the water. Rinse the beans in cold water and set aside. This soaking and pre-cooking process will help reduce the gas inducing elements. For more on that visit: How to Reduce Beans Bloating.
2. Chop the onions, grind the crayfish and pound the pepper.
3. Blend the tomatoes and boil the tomato puree till all the water has dried from it.
4. Pre-cook the diced onions without any added water. The aim is to get it to caramelize a bit so that it will take less time to fully caramelize during frying.

Cooking Directions

1. Cook the beans till done. For Ewa Agoyin, the beans needs to be very soft.

   Note: If you have a pressure cooker, beans is one of the staple foods you will want to use it for. It considerably reduces the cooking time.

2. When the beans is done, add salt, leave to dry up all the water and set aside.
3. To cook the Agoyin, pour the palm oil into a separate dry pot. Allow to heat up till the oil starts smoking and the red colour changes to clear. It is better to do this at medium heat so that the oil does not get too hot too quickly. Remember to turn off your smoke alarm before doing this. :)
   To keep the smoke to a minimum and still have the traditional taste of Ewa Agoyin, I use vegetable oil and when it is very hot, I add a small amount of palm oil. Watch the video below to see how I do that.
4. Now add the precooked onions and stir continuously till the onions is fully caramelized. It should be very dark in colour.
5. Add the parboiled tomato puree and stir continuously till you cannot tell the difference between the tomatoes and onions.
6. Add the pepper, crayfish, stock cubes and salt to taste. You can also add a little water at this point if your want.
7. Stir very well and bring to the boil. The Ewa Agoyin is ready!

Serve by dishing the beans into a plate and scoop some Agoyin stew on it. Ewa Agoyin can be eaten on its own, with soft and stretchy bread (known as Ewa ati Bread) or with Fried Plantains.

Grilled Chicken

How to cook Nigerian Beans Porridge

Beans known as Ewa to the Yorubas are unpopular staple foods because it is associated with bloating, flatulence and indigestion. Most people have one reason or the other why they do not eat beans. Yet, it is advisable to to have beans in the family menu especially when you have young children in the family.
How to Cook Beans Porridge [Video Activity]
The cooking method detailed here will help eliminate the problems associated with beans. You can learn more about how you can prevent the problems associated with eating beans at: How to Reduce Beans Bloating.

Ingredients

• 3 cigar cups (approx. 750g) brown/black eyed beans
• Red palm oil (enough to colour)
• 1 medium onion
• Pepper & Salt (to taste)
• 1 big stock cube
• 500g Yam/Plantain/Sweet Potatoes/Baby Corn (Optional)

You can also add crayfish if you want but I prefer not to add it because it makes the beans have an over-seasoned taste.

Before you cook Beans Porridge

1. Soak the beans in cold water for 5 hours. Boil the beans for 5 minutes and discard the water. Wash the beans in cold water and set aside. This soaking and pre-cooking process will help reduce the gas inducing elements.
2. Chop the onions, grind the crayfish (if you are using it) and pepper.
3. If you will use yam/plantain/sweet potatoes, wash, peel and cut them into 1 inch cubes and set aside. If you will use baby corn, drain the preservation liquid, rinse and set aside.

Cooking Directions

1. Put the beans in a pot and pour water up to the level of the beans and start cooking.

   Note: If you have a pressure cooker, beans is one of the staple foods you will want to use it for. It reduces the cooking time considerably.

2. Cook till tender, adding more water from time to time, if necessary. Always keep the water at the same level as the beans so that when the beans is done, you will not have too much water in the porridge.
3. When the beans porridge is soft, add the onions, crayfish (if using it), pepper and seasoning.
4. Add the red palm oil, salt to taste and cook for more 5 minutes on medium heat.

   Note:To get the most out of beans, it is best to cook it with one of the following: sweet yam, ripe/unripe plantain, sweet potatoes or baby corn. If you will add any of these, this is when to do so. Then instead of cooking for 5 minutes, cook till the added yam / plantain / potatoes is done. The baby corn should be added when you turn off the heat in step 5.

5. Turn off the heat, add the baby corn (if you have chosen to use it), leave to stand for 5 minutes and turn the porridge with a wooden spoon.

The beans porridge is ready. If you cooked the beans porridge without any of the additions, serve with Fried Plantain, Fried Yam or fried sweet potatoes.

How to cook Nigerian Rice and Beans

How to Season and Grill Chicken

Chicken is used a lot when preparing Nigerian recipes, especially the Rice recipes and stew recipes. Chicken can also be eaten as a snack and washed down with a chilled drink.
How to Season & Grill (Broil) Chicken [Video Activity]

Ingredients

You want to season your chicken so that it will be very tasty and you also want to prepare it such that it will be presentable and appetizing.
Seasoning chicken is very easy and you only need a few ingredients. Most often, people think that you have to add all the spices and stock cubes in the world to make the chicken tasty. But what all these excess seasoning does to the chicken is to take away the natural flavour of the chicken. To season chicken, you only need these major spices and ingredients:

• Chicken: Hen (female chicken) is tougher and tastier than cockerel (male chicken) so when you go to buy chicken, ask your grocer or meat seller for the hen. This is called Gallina in Spanish. You should also buy a whole chicken and cut it up in pieces. Not only is it cheaper but you get the different parts of the chicken which adds to the flavour rather than just one part.
• Onions: White, yellow or red onions. Onions are very important when seasoning chicken.
• Thyme: This is very essential due to the aroma it adds to the chicken.
• Stock cubes: Maggi or Knorr are the brands that bring out the best taste in Nigerian recipes.
• Salt: Use salt sparingly when seasoning your chicken. Salt should be added when the chicken is done. Never add salt to raw chicken, see notes below for more information on what adding salt too early does to your chicken or beef.

You should also grill your chicken after cooking it rather than deep-fry it. If you have an oven, please grill your chicken because it is healthier. Grilling also makes the chicken taste better.

Directions for Seasoning and Grilling Chicken

1. Cut up the whole chicken to desired pieces. Most grocers or meat sellers will do this for you and save you the job.
2. Put the chicken pieces in a pot; add diced onions, thyme and stock cubes.
3. Pour enough water to just cover the contents of the pot and start cooking.
4. Since the hen is tough, it takes quite some time to get it well cooked. It usually takes me one hour 15 minutes on medium heat with a normal cooking pot to get it done to the way I like it. Depending on the heating capacity of your cooker, this may take less. Also if you use a pressure cooker, it will take even much less time so keep an eye on it so that it does not get too soft.
5. When the chicken is done, add some salt, cover the pot and leave to simmer for about 2 minutes. Adding salt at the beginning will make your chicken cook in more time because salt toughens the chicken and some other food stuff.
6. Transfer the chicken to a sieve to drain.
7. Then place them on your oven rack, place the rack as close to the grill (the top heater in your oven) as possible.
8. Switch your oven to "Grill" or if you are in the USA, "Broil" and set the temperature to 170°C or 338°F.
9. When the top side becomes brown, turn the pieces of chicken on the other side.
10. The chicken is well-grilled when both sides are brown.

Notes about cooking the chicken:

1. Add water up to the level of the contents of the pot when cooking the chicken.
2. When cooking chicken, I do not add salt to the raw chicken. This is because salt closes the pores of the chicken (and infact anything you are cooking), this prevents the natural flavour of the chicken from coming out into the surrounding water and prevents the seasoning from entering the chicken to improve the taste. The result is that your chicken stock will not have a rich natural taste. It will only have an artifical taste of seasoning.
   
   Salt also hardens the chicken hence it takes longer to cook.
   
   I only add salt when the chicken is done. A lot of people think that adding salt early makes the chicken taste better but there's a big difference between a salty taste and a rich taste. I believe that what gives food a rich taste is not salt but the natural flavour of the food so allow this natural flavour to come out into your stock by NOT adding salt too early. And remember, stock cubes already contain salt so you really don't need more salt.
3. I do not use Nigerian curry powder to season my chicken simply because it changes the colour of the chicken and gives it an artificial overpowering taste. You can add curry powder to stews that you use the chicken or beef for. But if you don't mind the colour and taste it gives the chicken, feel free to add it when steaming the beef or chicken.

Serve with all the Nigerian Rice recipes, Nigerian Moi Moi and Nigerian Salad. Feel free to snack on it with a chilled drink. Your guests will love you if you serve them grilled chicken.

Nigerian Jollof Rice (with Carrots & Green Pepper)

How to cook Rice and Beans

If you do not like beans when it is cooked alone like in Beans Porridge, then you need to try the rice and beans recipe.
How to cook Nigerian Rice & Beans [Video Activity]
One way to reduce the flatulence or indigestion associated with beans is to cook it with another staple and the rice and beans recipe is one of such recipes.

Ingredients

• 2 cigar cups (500g) long grain parboiled rice
• 1 cigar cup (250g) brown/black-eyed beans
• 500 mls Tomato Stew
• Chicken or Fish
• Pepper and salt (to taste)
• 2 medium onions
• 2 stock cubes
• 1 teaspoon thyme

Before you cook Rice and Beans

1. Wash and soak the beans for about 5 hours. Discard the water and rinse the beans.
2. Put the beans in a pot, pour some water and set to boil.
3. Once the beans starts boiling, turn off the heat, throw away the water and wash again. These steps will help minimize the indigestion associated with beans for most people.
4. Prepare the tomato stew. Visit the Tomato Stew page for details on how to do that.
5. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in Parboiling Rice for Cooking Rice and Beans.
6. Meanwhile, cook the chicken till tender with the chopped onions, thyme and stock cubes. If you will rather use fish, boil the fish for 5 minutes using the same amount of seasoning. Fry or grill the chicken or the fish and set aside.

Cooking Directions

1. Cook the beans till tender and set aside.
2. Pour the chicken/fish stock into a pot big enough to accommodate the rice and beans, bearing in mind that the rice will rise some more.
3. Add the tomato stew, the parboiled rice and the cooked beans. Check that the water level is just less than the level of the rice and beans.
4. Add pepper and salt to taste.
5. Stir, cover the pot and cook at low to medium heat till the water is dry.

Serve with the fried chicken or fish and Fried Plantain.

Turmeric Rice (Yellow Rice) with Onion Baked Chicken

Mixed Vegetables Jollof Rice

This Nigerian food is very similar to the basic Nigerian Jollof Rice. But it looks better and has a slightly different aroma and taste to it due to the added vegetables. Why not try something different for dinner by adding just 2 well-known vegetables?
Mixed Vegetables Jollof Rice [Video Activity]

Ingredients

• 3 cigar cups (750g) long grain parboiled rice
• 500mls Tomato Stew
• 5 medium carrots
• 1 big green bell pepper
• 1 whole chicken (hen)
• Chilli pepper (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• 2 medium onions
• 3 stock cubes
• 2 teaspoons curry powder (Nigerian curry powder)
• 1 tablespoon thyme

Notes on the ingredients

1. You can use only drumsticks or chicken breast.
2. You can use rooster or cockerel (male chicken) but hen (female chicken) tastes better.

Before you prepare Mixed Vegetables Jollof Rice

1. Prepare the tomato stew. Visit the Tomato Stew page for details on how to do that. It is advisable to prepare tomato stew before hand and keep in the freezer. This is so that whenever you want to cook any jollof rice related dish, it is just a matter of adding it to your cooking.
2. If you will use whole chicken then wash and cut it into pieces. Cook with the thyme, Knorr cubes and 2 bulbs of onions (chopped). The cooking time depends on the type of chicken. The rooster or cockerel cooks much faster than the hen but the hen is definitely tastier. When done, grill it in an oven. You may also fry it. This is to give it a golden look which is more presentable especially if you have guests for dinner.
3. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking jollof rice. Rinse the parboiled rice and put in a sieve to drain.

Cooking Directions

1. Follow the cooking directions for the classic Nigerian Jollof Rice till Step 3.
2. When the water is almost dry, add the diced carrots, cover the pot and continue cooking.
3. When the water is completely dry, turn off the heat. Add the diced green pepper and stir the rice with a wooden spoon.

Why can't we add the green pepper when we added the carrots? This is because green pepper is a soft vegetable so even the slightest heat is enough to get it done. If added at the same time as the carrots (which are harder) they will become dull and unappetizing by the time the water is completely dry. So to keep the green pepper green and looking fresh, we need to add them when we have turned off the heat.
Do you see the change in your Jollof Rice? This we achieved by adding just 2 vegetables. Isn't it interesting?

Turmeric Rice a.k.a Yellow Rice

Turmeric Rice is one of the most basic yet delicious rice recipes to prepare in your kitchen. There's no tomato stew to make in this recipe so what can stop you from preparing this rice dish?
How to Cook Turmeric Rice [Video Activity]
Also check out:

Nigerian Party Jollof Rice

Nigerian Fried Rice

Coconut Rice

Mixed Vegetable Jollof Rice

Rice and Beans

Ingredients

• Long grain parboiled rice
  • If you are in the USA/UK, use 2 cups.
  • If you are in Nigeria, use ½ De Rica cup.
  • If you have a weighing scale, use 350g or 0.8lbs.
• 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon Nigerian curry powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 1 small red onion
• 2-3 cups chicken stock
• A small quantity of red pepper
• A handful green peas
• Salt (to taste)

Notes on the ingredients

This following image shows the quantities of some of the ingredients used.

1. Use enough turmeric powder to colour the rice. Please note that the rice may not look so yellow when you add the parboiled rice to the turmeric mix in the pot but when the rice is done, it will become very yellow.
2. Turmeric is known as yellow ginger in Nigeria. It is known as ajo or ata ile pupa in Yoruba and kurkum in Hausa. You can buy turmeric powder in big supermarkets eg Shoprite in Nigeria.
3. I used chicken stock for this recipe because I served the rice with Onion Baked Chicken. I used soft chicken which I baked from raw so no boiling of the chicken done to get some chicken stock. This means that for taste, I added chicken stock which I always have in my freezer. I get this chicken stock when I prepare side dishes like Peppered Chicken.
   
   If you want to prepare this with Fried Chicken or Grilled Chicken, cook the chicken with thyme, onions, stock cubes and whatever else you use to season your chicken. Then add the water from cooking that chicken (chicken stock) to the rice during Step 1 in the cooking directions.
4. If you are in Nigeria, red bell peppers are available in big foreign supermarkets. Use tatashe as alternative to the red pepper. The quantity of red pepper you need is so small, see the video below.

Before you cook Turmeric Rice or Yellow Rice

1. Rinse and cut the red onions into small pieces.
2. Rinse, remove the seeds and cut the red pepper into small pieces.
3. Prepare the chicken you will serve it with. You can serve with Peppered Chicken or Onion Baked Chicken.
4. Parboil the long grain parboiled rice. For the quantity of rice stated above, add to boiling water, stir, cover the pot and once it boils again, leave to boil for 10 minutes or till you can easily cut the grain of rice with your finger nails.

Cooking Directions

1. Pour the chicken stock into a sizeable pot.
2. Add the turmeric powder, Nigerian curry powder and black pepper.
3. Cover and cook till it boils.
4. Add the parboiled rice, stir and make sure that the liquid in the pot is at the same level as the rice. If not, top it up.
5. Taste for salt and add some if necessary. Stir, cover again and start cooking on medium heat.
6. If you parboiled the rice correctly as described above, the rice should be done by the time the water dries up. Taste to confirm. If not, you will need to add more water and reduce the heat to prevent burning. Continue cooking.
7. When you can no longer see the water in the rice, add the diced red pepper, onions and green peas. Stir only the top of the rice, cover and continue cooking.
8. The rice is done when all the water dries up.
9. Stir with a spatula till the vegetables and the rice are well combined.
10. That's it!

For meat, serve with Peppered Chicken or Onion Baked Chicken. For side dishes, serve with Fried Plantain, Nigerian Moi Moi, Nigerian Salad or Coleslaw.

Fry Your Best Tomato Stew

Corned Beef Stew (Spaghetti Sauce)

How to Cook Nigerian Tomato Stew

By Tomato Stew, I mean stew used to prepare the Nigerian Jollof Rice recipes: Jollof Rice, Coconut Rice, Rice & Beans, etc. This tomato stew also forms the base for the Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew. I always prepare a large quantity of this tomato stew and store in my freezer. This makes cooking my Nigerian Jollof Rice, Spaghetti Surprise and other meals where I use Tomato Stew so easy.

Fry Your Best Tomato Stew Ever! [Video Activity]

Please note that this tomato stew does not have any seasoning and other ingredients because it is just a base. If you watch my Nigerian Jollof Rice, Nigerian Coconut Rice and my Nigerian Spaghetti Surprise videos, this is the tomato stew that I added while cooking those meals.
I get a good number of questions about what I mean by tomato stew and how I make it, that's why I made this page and the video below.
Add beef/chicken or both, thyme, curry, Knorr, salt and pepper to Tomato Stew to get the Beef & Chicken Stew used to eat boiled white rice. For the recipe on how to prepare that, visit this page: How to Cook Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew

Ingredients for Nigerian Tomato Stew

• 3.2kg (7lbs) fresh Plum Tomatoes (referred to as Jos Tomatoes in Nigeria, tomate pera in Spanish and pomodoro pera in Italian)
• 400g (14oz) tinned tomato paste: (or watery tinned Tomato Puree: 800g)
• Vegetable Oil: a generous quantity (see the video below)
• 2 onions

Important notes on the ingredients

1. Tomatoes: Plum tomatoes are the best for the Nigerian Tomato Stew (and other Nigerian recipes) because all the other types of tomatoes either have a very strong taste, have lots of seeds or contain lots of water. You can also use Roma Tomatoes because it is very similar to plum tomatoes.
2. Vegetable Oil: There's always a debate about this one. But I will insist that you need more than enough oil when frying the tomatoes. This is so that the tomatoes will not burn till all the sour taste is gone and the water has dried from the tomatoes. You will pour out the excess oil when the tomatoes are well fried. Just think about this as "sort of" deep frying the tomatoes. Not that you'll need that much oil but you get the gist.
   
   If you don't use enough oil, your stew will have a sour taste and it will burn even if you stand there stirring frantically :( Cooking should be fun, not tedious. And why worry when you'll pour out the excess oil when you are done? In my opinion, anybody worried about his/her health should stay away from this stew because it is fried.
   
   This oil you pour out is red hence it is perfect for cooking Egusi Soup, Okra Soup and Ogbono Soup for those who cannot buy or do not want to use palm oil. Once it has cooled down, put it in the fridge or freezer because it will go bad if left on the kitchen counter.
3. Tinned tomato paste/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 will burn straight away. What I normally do is to add some water to it to bring it to the softer consistency as I did in the video below. There are other types of tomato purees sold in Europe and the rest of the world and these are usually watery. If that is the only type you can buy, then you need to cook it with the fresh tomato puree (as explained below) to get it to dry up a bit and get rid of the sour taste before frying.
   
   One more thing; the tinned tomato paste/puree is optional. Its job is to improve the redness of the tomato stew, making it look richer and more appetizing. If you don't want to use it, replace with fresh plum tomatoes. In Nigeria, it is common to use tatashe (Nigerian big red peppers) to improve the redness of the tomato stew. Please note that tatashe is not the same as bell peppers.
4. Feel free to vary the ratio of fresh plum tomatoes to conc. tomato paste. If you want the stew very red and conc. especially if you want to use it too cook Jollof Rice for a large crowd, increase the quantity of tomato paste you will use for a specific quantity of plum tomatoes.

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. If using the thick tinned tomato paste that is common in Nigeria, mix it with cold water to get a softer consistency. See the video below for how I did this.
3. If you are using the watery tinned tomato puree that is common in Europe and other parts of the world, open the tins or packets and set these aside, you'll need them soon.
4. Cut the onions into small pieces.

Cooking Directions

1. Pour the fresh tomato blend into a pot and cook at high heat till almost all the water has dried. If you have the watery tinned/boxed tomato puree, add these to the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook till the water in the tomato puree have dried as much as possible.
2. Add the vegetable oil, the chopped onions and the thick tomato puree that you mixed in step 2 above (if it's the puree you are using). Stir very well.
3. Fry at very low heat and stir at short intervals till the oil has completely separated from the tomato puree. A well fried tomato puree will also have streaks of oil, unlike when you first added the oil and it was a smooth mix of the tomato puree and oil. Taste the fried tomato puree to make sure that the raw tomato taste is gone. With time and experience, you can even tell that the tomato puree is well fried from the aroma alone.
4. If you are happy with the taste and you are sure that all the water has dried as much as possible, pour out the excess vegetable oil like I did in the video below, then add the well fried tomato stew to your cooking.
5. If you are not using it immediately, leave to cool down, dish in containers and store in the freezer.

To use, bring out from the freezer and allow to defrost at room temperature and use in your Nigerian Jollof Rice, Nigerian Coconut Rice, Nigerian Rice & Beans, Spaghetti Surprise. Add pepper, seasoning, chicken, beef, fish, turkey etc to get the Nigerian Beef & Chicken Stew used for eating Nigerian Boiled White Rice and other Nigerian staple food.

Nigerian Corned Beef Stew (Spaghetti Sauce)

Corned Beef Stew is simply Nigerian Red Stew prepared with tiny pieces of corned beef instead of lumps of meat. You can also prepare it with minced beef if like me, you are not a huge fan of corned beef.
How to Make Nigerian Corned Beef Stew [Video Activity]
Corned Beef Stew is most commonly used to eat boiled pasta (spaghetti, macaroni) but it goes really well with Boiled yam and Boiled Potatoes. My kids love it and it is a great way to get them to eat more meat. They usually abandon the lumps of meat in their foods. I prepare it with minced beef though.

Ingredients for Nigerian Corned Beef Stew

• 700ml Tomato Stew
• 450g corned beef or minced beef
• 1 onion
• I teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon curry powder (turmeric)
• 1 cooking spoon vegetable oil
• 1 big stock cube
• Pepper & salt (to taste)

Important notes on the ingredients

1. Tomato Stew is fresh tomato puree and the tinned tomato paste that has been boiled and fried to remove all traces of water and the sour/tangy taste of tomatoes. Please note that this stew does not contain spices or seasoning. It only contains tomato puree, then onions and vegetable oil that was used in frying it.
2. If you do not like corned beef, use minced beef instead. Minced beef is simply ground beef and can be purchased from all major supermarkets in Nigeria.
3. The curry powder mentioned here is not the hot and spicy curry powder rather much closer to turmeric. We call it curry powder in Nigeria.

Before you cook Nigerian Corned Beef Stew

1. If you already have Tomato Stew in your freezer, bring it out to defrost in good time before you need to use it in the recipe. If not, prepare some Tomato Stew by following the steps at: How to Prepare Tomato Stew. Remember to pour out the excess oil when done.
   
   I usually prepare large quantities of tomato stew and store in my freezer. That way, I can prepare such Nigerian recipes as Corned Beef Stew in no time. All I need to do is bring out the stew early enough to defrost and food is ready in 15 minutes.
2. Bring out the corned beef from the tin and use a tablespoon to separate it into small pieces.
3. Cut the onions into tiny pieces.
4. Pound the pepper (if fresh) or grind if dry.

Cooking Directions

1. Start cooking the staple food you will serve with the stew: yam, rice, pasta or potatoes.
2. Pour the vegetable oil into another (dry) pot.
3. When the oil is heated, add the diced onions and fry for a bit.
4. Add the corned beef or the minced beef and fry till the beef turns pale. Ensure you stir constantly so that the beef will not form lumps. Tiny pieces is the best..
5. Add the thyme and stock cubes. image: http://www.allnigerianrecipes.com/images/spaghetti-sauce.jpg
6. Add water to the same level as the contents of the pot and cook till the meat is done. This should take about 7 minutes on medium heat.
7. Add pepper, curry powder, tomato stew and salt to taste.
8. Stir very well, cover and leave to simmer and it's done! So so easy!

Serve with the following staple food of your choice: Pasta, White Rice, Boiled Yam and Boiled Potatoes

Tomato Omelette

Nigerian Egg Stew

How to Make Tomato Omelette

Tomato Omelette is one of those recipes that I overlooked thinking that it is so easy to make that everybody will be able to make some. How wrong I was because this is one of the most requested recipes by the visitors to this website.
How to Make Tomato Omelette [Video  Activity]
I have seen that I can no longer put it off so whether you call it Tomatoish Fried Egg, Reddish Fried Egg or Fried Egg with a red something, here it comes! ;-)
On this page and in the video below, I'll try as much as possible to answer these questions/requests that I often get about Tomato Omelette:

1. Flo, please show us how you make your Tomato Omelette?
2. Flo pls can you show us how you flip your Tomato Omelette so that it does not scatter?
3. Flo please can you make a video of that reddish fried egg?
4. Flo please can you show how to make that tomatoish fried egg? lol
5. Flo please can you show a video on how to make that fried egg where tomatoes are integrated into the egg? This one goes scientific. :)

Ingredients you will need to make Tomato Omelette

I usually go with the ratio of 1 egg to 1 plum tomato but you can use 2 eggs to 1 tomato if you want. If you decide to go with the latter please note that you may not be able to fry it in one go as I did in the video below.

• 1 egg
• 1 medium plum tomato (Tomato Jos)
• 1 small onion
• A small cut of butter (for frying)
• Salt (to taste)
• Dry Pepper (optional)

Notes and tips about the ingredients

1. You can also use vegetable oil instead of butter when frying the tomato omelette.
2. A bit of ground pepper helps curb nausea that some people get when eating fried egg.

Important pan for Tomato Omelette

• A non-stick frying pan is best for making omelettes:

Before you make the Tomato Omelette

1. Cut the tomato into small pieces. I prefer to remove the seeds.
2. Cut the onion into small pieces. The onions should be the same quantity as the tomato (after cutting them).
3. Beat the egg, add a pinch of salt and the ground dry pepper if you are using this, stir well and set aside.

Preparation

1. Set your frying pan to heat up.
2. Melt half of the piece of butter and add the onions. Fry for a few seconds and add the tomato.
3. Fry till they are well heated up, this should take a maximum of 5 minutes on medium heat.
4. Pour this into the egg. Mix well and add more salt if necessary.
5. Set the frying pan back on the stove and melt the other half of the butter.
6. Once the butter melts, slowly pour the egg and tomato mix making sure that it is evenly distributed in the frying pan.
7. Turn the heat down to low. On a scale of 1 to 10, the heat should be at 4.
8. Then wait.
9. Wait till you see the tomato omelette caking. Once the heat is low, it will not burn so you need not worry. Also, using a non-stick frying pan helps ensure that your tomato omelette will not burn.
10. Once it has caked considerably, shake the frying pan and the omelette moves on its own. If it doesn't then it is either the heat is too much or the inside of your frying pan is too rough or both.
11. Gently transfer the omelette to a very flat wide plate. This step is best seen so watch the video below to see how I did that.
12. Cover the omelette in the plate with the frying pan and flip is such that the top side is now at the bottom of the frying pan. Again, see the video for how I did that.
13. Set the frying pan back on the stove and fry till the bottom side is well fried.
14. Once it cakes, it's ready!

Serve with slices of bread or any of the following:

• Nigerian Fried Plantain
• Nigerian Fried Yam
• Boiled Yam

Fried Plantain or Dodo

How to Cook Nigerian Egg Stew

Egg stew is often mistaken for Tomato Omelette. Both are not quite the same. Yes, they are both prepared with the same ingredients, just not in the same quantities. While Tomato Omelette consists mainly of eggs, Egg Stew has more of tomatoes. Also, Egg stew is not "set" like Tomato Omelette.

How to Make Nigerian Egg Stew [Video  Activity]
Egg Stew is very easy to prepare and it spices up some Nigerian staple foods.

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs
• 4 medium plum tomatoes (Tomato Jos)
• 1 medium onion
• Salt & Dry Pepper (to taste)
• 1 stock cube
• 2 cooking spoons of vegetable oil

Before you Cook the Egg Stew

1. Remove the seeds from the tomatoes and cut into big slices (see video).
2. Also cut the onion into big slices (see video).
3. Beat the two eggs, add a pinch of salt and set aside.

Cooking the Nigerian Egg Stew

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a pot, when hot, lower the heat to medium.
2. Add the onions and stir for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes, stir for a bit and cover the pot. This is so that the tomatoes and onions do not dry up too quickly. Stir from time to time though.
4. After about 5 minutes, add the ground pepper, salt and seasoning.
5. Keep stirring till the tomato is completely soft and separated from the oil.
6. Slowing pour the egg in a circular motion. Do NOT stir. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low to allow the egg to "cake". You want the egg to form lumps in the stew rather than look mushy.

Egg stew is the best thing that ever happened to Boiled Yam and Boiled Potatoes. You can also serve it with White Rice, Fried Yam, Fried Plantain or Potatoes. And it does many things to plain sliced bread. :)

Tips on How to Fry Perfect Golden Plantains (Dodo)

The following are tips on how to fry perfect golden plantains known as Dodo in Nigeria.

1. Make sure you use plantains not bananas.
2. The plantains MUST be ripe but still firm. If soft, they will absorb oil, become soggy and will have burnt crunchy edges when done.
3. Use deep frying. It creates a better overall golden look than shallow frying.
4. Use clean vegetable oil. This means do not use oil that you have used to fry plantains many times. Do not use oil that have been previously used to fry such food items like fish, chin chin etc for plantains.
5. The oil MUST be very hot when you add the plantains. The hot oil shocks the plantain slices on contact and seals them so they hardly absorb any oil. Cooking is science!
   But if your plantains are soft, this cannot happen, the plantains will absorb oil anyway.
6. Do not overcrowd the plantains because this will reduce the temperature of the oil. The plantains will absorb oil and become soggy. At low temperatures, you are “cooking” the plantains in oil not frying them.
7. After adding the plantain pieces, stir for a bit and reduce the heat a LITTLE bit.
8. Stir from time to time for an even golden look.
9. Once golden, remove and place in a paper-lined sieve. Plantains will go 1 shade darker even after taking them off the oil so bear this in mind when deciding the time to take them off.

How to cook Nigerian Coconut Rice

Nigerian Fried Plantain (Dodo)

Fried Plantain is one of the easy and fast Nigerian food recipes. It often features in Nigerian breakfast meals.
How to Make Fried Plantains [Video in video activity]
It is also a major side dish to all the rice recipes and can be enjoyed by people from all over the world.
For tips on how to fry the best plantains, see 9 Tips for Frying Perfect Plantains.

Ingredients

• Ripe Plantain (The plantain should be ripe and hard, it is not advisable to use plantain that is soft)
• Vegetable Oil: enough for deep frying.
• Salt to taste

Before you fry the plantains

1. Wash, peel and slice the plantain as shown. Place in a bowl and add a little salt. Toss the plantain to ensure that the salt is evenly distributed.
   
2. Pour a generous quantity of vegetable oil into a frying pan and allow to heat. If using a deep fryer, preheat the oil to 170°C.

Frying Directions

1. When the oil is heated, add a considerable quantity of the plantain slices to the oil, leaving enough room for the slices to fry evenly.
   
2. When the underside of the slices starts to turn golden, flip the slices on their other side.
3. Fry till a desired browning is achieved.
4. Remove and place in a sieve to drain out the oil.
5. Fry the next batch of the plantain slices following steps 1 through 4.

For breakfast, serve with:

1. Akamu, Pap or Ogi Meal
2. Custard Meal
3. Tomato Omelette
4. Fried Eggs

For brunch or as a light meal, serve with:

1. Beef & Chicken Stew (Nigerian Red Stew)
2. Egg Stew
3. Corned Beef Stew
4. Garden Egg Stew
5. Chilled soft drink

Watch me fry plantains in the video activity.

White Coconut Rice The sister to Jollof Coconut Rice

How to cook Coconut Rice (Jollof)

This Nigerian food is called the Jollof Rice with a twist! It feels good to see the looks on your guests' or friends' faces when they think you are serving them the good old Jollof Rice but bam, the moment the first spoon enters the mouth, you are sure to get the looks of pleasure! It makes you feel good, doesn't it?
How to Cook Coconut Rice [in Video Activity]

White Coconut Rice
Yes, it looks the same as the Jollof Rice you know but the aroma and taste is different. Why don't you surprise your guests tonight by preparing this easy dinner recipe?
This recipe is for Jollof Coconut Rice, there's another version of coconut rice known as the White Coconut Rice.

Ingredients

• 3 cigar cups | 750g long grain parboiled rice
• 500mls Tomato Stew
• 600 mls Coconut Milk
• Chicken (whole chicken or drumsticks)
• Chilli pepper (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• 1 medium onions
• 3 stock cubes
• 1 tablespoon thyme

Before you cook Coconut Rice

1. Prepare the tomato stew if you don't have some in the freezer. Visit the Tomato Stew page for details on how to do that. It is advisable to prepare tomato stew before hand and keep in the freezer. This is so that whenever you want to cook any jollof rice related dish, it is just a matter of adding it to your cooking.
2. If you will use whole chicken, wash and cut the whole chicken into pieces. Place the pieces in a pot; add water till it just covers the pieces of chicken, add the chopped onions, stock cubes and thyme and start cooking. The cooking time depends on the type of chicken. The rooster or cockerel cooks much faster than the hen but the hen is tastier.
   
   Cooking till done and add salt to taste. Put the pieces of chicken in a sieve to drain, then fry with vegetable oil. You can also grill it in an oven. This is to give it a golden look which is more presentable especially if you have guests for dinner. Read how to season and grill chicken for more one this.
3. Now is the time to extract the coconut milk. This is quite an easy task if you follow the procedure detailed in How to Extract Coconut Milk. Set the coconut milk aside.
4. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking coconut rice. Wash the parboiled rice and put in a sieve to drain.

Cooking Directions

1. Now we need a pot big enough to accommodate the rice till it is done. Bear in mind that the rice will normally rise by at least one quarter of its quantity from the parboiled state to the done state.
2. Pour the chicken stock, coconut milk and the tomato stew into the selected pot. Set on the stove to boil. Add the drained parboiled rice, salt and pepper to taste. If necessary, top up with water to bring the water level to the same level as the rice. This is to ensure that all the water dries up by the time the rice is cooked.
3. Cover the pot and leave to cook on medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up.

If you parboiled the rice as described at parboiling rice for cooking coconut rice, the rice should be done by the time the water is dry. Confirm that the rice is done by tasting it. That's the way coconut rice is cooked.

Serve with Fried Plantain, Nigerian Moi Moi, Nigerian Salad or Coleslaw.

White Coconut Rice

We have seen the Jollof Coconut Rice, this page is for the White Coconut Rice.
check video sections
There's always a war about how best to prepare Nigerian Coconut Rice with team White Coconut Rice always fighting with team Jollof Coconut Rice. You don't have to fight for these two meals because they are both delicious. Prepare the two of them and decide which is best for you and continue with that one. ;)

Ingredients for White Coconut Rice

The following quantities of ingredients served 4 people.

• 420g (~1 lb) long grain parboiled rice
• 400 mls Coconut Milk
• 400 ml chicken stock/broth
• 20 small shrimps
• 1 tatashe pepper (alternative: Tribelli peppers)
• 1 red onion
• A handful of diced sausage
• 1 big seasoning cube (optional)
• Habanero peppers (Atarodo: to taste)
• Black pepper (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• Green peas (quantity shown in video)
• Green beans (quantity shown in video)

Notes about the ingredients

1. I recommend the long grain parboiled rice because it is the rice that works best with the recipe detailed on this page. It is the best rice for all Nigerian one-pot rice recipes.
2. You can use tinned coconut milk but I prefer coconut milk that I extract from the coconuts myself: How to Extract Coconut Milk.
3. You get chicken stock by cooking chicken with seasoning cubes, thyme and onions and any other seasoning of your choice. Sometimes, I prepare Peppered Chicken or Grilled/Broiled Chicken for snacking on and I save the liquid (chicken stock) from boiling the chicken for recipes like this White Coconut Rice.
4. We do not like shellfish in my home but those shrimps work well with the coconut taste.
5. I recommend red onions for this meal because it adds some colour. Apart from that, any onions will work.
6. The sausage I used here is the Spanish tasty sausage known as chorizo (hard pork sausage). You can use any other type of dense sausage including hotdogs (Satis) which are more common in Nigeria. Chorizo really adds a delicious flavour to this meal. Use it if you can.
7. The seasoning cube is optional because I already used seasoning cubes when cooking the chicken from where I got the chicken stock/broth.
8. The green ingredients (peas and beans) are for colour. Feel free to use your favourite similar ingredients.
9. If you want the coconut rice to be completely white with no single tint of colour like the one in the image above, do not use any ingredient that transfers colour. In that case, skip the tatashe peppers and hard port sausage. You can use pale looking sausages and hotdogs because they do not transfer colour.
10. If you can, prepare the White Coconut Rice with all these ingredients listed above, please do so. It is so delicious!

Before you cook White Coconut Rice

1. Get some chicken stock from cooking chicken.
2. Extract the coconut milk.
3. Parboil/Precook the long grain parboiled rice. Add it to a pot of a generous quantity of boiling water and cook on medium heat for 8-10 minutes. This time is for the quantity of rice stated in the list of ingredients. If yours is more, you will need more time. When done with the parboiling, you should be able to cut the grain of rice with your finger nails: no resistance or rubbery feel.
   
   The science of parboiling long grain parboiled rice:
   • Long grain parboiled rice contains lots of starch and is hard. When you cook this rice as is without first of all parboiling it (especially with rice recipes where ingredients are cooked in the same pot as the rice (one-pot rice recipes), the starch content will make the rice sticky and soggy. The hard nature will hamper its absorption of water, again leading to sticky, soggy and burnt rice when you are done.
   • When we parboil/precook the rice, we reduce the starch content as some of it is poured away.
   • Precooking also softens the rice to enable it absorb water easily.
   • If parboiled correctly, the long grain parboiled rice will completely absorb the quantity of water that is at the same level as the parboiled rice. This is science. A practical example is when you want to use a bone dry rag to mop up water; what quantity of water can it absorb compared to when you are trying to mop up the water with a damp rag?
4. When happy with the rice, pour in a sieve/colander and rinse with plenty of cool water to cool it down. Leave in the sieve/colander to drain.
5. Cut the sausage into small cubes.
6. Dice the peppers and cut the green beans into about 1 inch long pieces.
7. Chop the onions.
8. Precook the shrimps and peel them or not depending on how you like them.

Cooking Directions

1. Pour the chicken stock and coconut milk into a sizeable pot. Bear in mind that the rice will normally rise by at least one quarter of its quantity from the parboiled state to the done state.
2. Add the black pepper and seasoning cube. Cover the pot and start cooking till it boils.
3. Add the precooked rice, Stir and add salt to taste. At this point the liquid should be at the same level as the rice. If not, top it up with water. If the liquid is much more than the rice, you will end up with soggy coconut rice. If you used long grain parboiled rice and you parboiled/precooked it correctly, the Coconut Rice will be done by the time the level of water dries up. There will be no need to add more water.
4. Cover the pot and start cooking on medium heat.
5. Once it boils, add the hard pork sausage. The hard pork sausage needs to be cooked but if you are using another type of sausage that does not need much cooking, add it in step 6.
6. When the water dries to exactly the same level as the rice (see video below), add the shrimps and continue cooking.
7. When the water is almost dry, add the soft ingredients: onions, green beans and green peas and the tatashe and habanero peppers.
8. Cover and continue cooking till all the water dries up. If you parboiled the rice correctly, it should be doen by now.
9. Stir with a spatula till all the ingredients are well combined. That's it!

The White Coconut Rice is best served on its own but feel free to serve it with Steamed Leafy Veggies or any other Nigerian Rice Accessory you like.