STEW RECIPES (OFADA STEW)

STEW  RECIPES (OFADA STEW)

Ofada Rice and stew is one of the delicious meals, found mainly in South West Nigeria.  It very tasty and mostly prepared by the Yorubas, but in recent times, everyone, especially those in Lagos and environs, has been bitten by the Ofada Rice bug. It has a unique aroma and flavor . In the East, it's known as Abakiliki rice while in the west, it's known simply as Ofada rice, names coined from the towns it is being produced (Ofada and Abakiliki).

Ofada Rice is not as posh as the long grain parboiled rice. The "best" part? It has this strong pungent smell when it is being cooked yet everyone wants to eat it! Or maybe it's the stew; because the Ofada Stew adds a delicious twist to Ofada Rice.

Ingredients for Ofada Stew

• Assorted meat (beef, shaki (cow tripe)
• Dry fish and Stock fish
• 40 pcs unripe habaero peppers
• 2 green tatashe peppers or green bell peppers
• 1 locust bean seasoning (Iru, ogiri okpei or dawadawa)
• 20cl red palm oil (at least)
• 1 big onion                        
  
• 1 handful crayfish

Before cooking Ofada Stew

1.     Wash and blend the peppers and the onion. Remove the seeds from the green tatashe or the green bell peppers.

2.     Grind the crayfish and the locust bean seasoning with a dry mill.

For bleaching of the red palm oil

1.     Bleach the palm oil with a clean dry stainless steel pot. Aluminium pots work well too. Never use non-stick pots or enamel pots when bleaching red palm oil.

2.     If possible, use a free flowing pure red palm oil. The congealed almost yellow ones contain some water.

3.     Use low heat when bleaching the oil. This ensures that the oil is not very dark when done.

4.     Do so in a well ventilated area. Turn on your kitchen extractor to remove the smoke as much as possible. Turn off your smoke alarm if any. You don't want everyone to know that you are cooking Ofada Stew.

5.     Do not leave the pot unattended because the oil will catch fire if overheated. Check it constantly and turn off the heat once the bleaching is complete.

6.     Do allow the oil to cool down a bit before adding the ingredients. This will prevent hot splashes of oil and will keep your food from burning due to the high temperatures.

                                                                  

Cooking Directions

1.     Cook all the meat and fish with the stock cube till well done.

2.     Pour the pepper blend into a separate pot and cook on high heat till all the water dries up.

3.     Pour the red palm oil into a clean dry pot and bleach till it turns clear. It should look like vegetable oil when done. It may take you 10-13minutes depending on the type of heater you have and the quantity of oil.

4.     Leave the oil to cool down a bit then add the boiled pepper puree. Fry till all the water has dried from the pepper.

5.     Add the crayfish and locust bean seasoning, the assorted meat and fish and stir well.                                              

6.     Add salt to taste, leave to simmer and it is ready to be served.

Serve with Ofada Rice. To get the full effects, line the plate with uma leaves. You can also use banana leaves