RICE RECIPES (RICE AND STEW)

Rice is one of the most common staple foods. Most families eat a rice dish at least twice a week, either for lunch or for dinner.

There are different  ways of cooking rice: White, served with stew or sauce, Jollof, which is where the ingredients are added into and cooked with the rice. We also have fried rice and coconut rice among other rice recipes.

Let us explore some of these recipes:

 RICE AND TOMATO STEW

With Tomato Stew, I mean stew used to prepare  Jollof Rice recipes: Jollof Rice, Coconut Rice, Rice & Beans, etc. This tomato stew also forms the base for the Beef & Chicken Stew.
Please note that this tomato stew does not have any seasoning and other ingredients because it is just a base.
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.

Ingredients for Nigerian Tomato Stew

• 1.5kg fresh plum tomatoes (referred to as Jos Tomatoes in Nigeria, tomate pera in Spanish and pomodoro pera in Italian)
• 600g tinned tomato paste (or watery tinned Tomato Puree: 1.2kg)
• Vegetable Oil: a generous quantity
• 1 to 2 medium onions

Important notes on the ingredients

1. Tomatoes: Plum tomatoes are the best for the Tomato Stew  because all the other types of tomatoes either have a very strong taste, have lots of seeds or contain lots of water.
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.
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.  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.

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.
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, 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. Add pepper, seasoning, chicken, beef, fish, turkey etc to get the beef and chicken stew, used for eating boiled white rice and other Nigerian staple foods.