Recipe: How to Prepare Ofada Stew

Ofada stew is enjoyed in every part of Nigeria, it is mostly paired with ofada rice. Ofada stew  is a popular dish amongst the Yoruba tribe from Southwest Nigeria. It’s made with green Paprika peppers and the green hot Scotch bonnet peppers. This delicious sauce can be served with white rice and/or ewa (beans).

Ingredients:

• 6 Green Bell Peppers (Green Tatashe)
• 3-4 Scotch bonnet (Ata Rodo)
• 1 Big Red Onion Chopped
• Palm Oil ( Not specified because you’ll  be frying the meats with it as well)
• 1 Cup Chicken or Beef Stock (optional)
• 4 Cups Boiled Assorted Meats( cut into bite size chunks)
• 2  Tablespoons Locust Beans (Iru)
• 1 Cup Shredded Boiled Stockfish (Panla)
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Crayfish
• 2 knorr Chicken Cubes or your preferred bullion cube
• Salt to taste

Before you begin

• PREP! PREP! PREP!!
• If you’ll be roasting your peppers, do so by placing them on a foil tray or roasting tray, place in a preheated oven, 200 degrees and roast them for about 45 minutes. When they’re roasted, blend coarsely and set aside.
• Place a big pot on a hob on medium heat, pour in palm oil, enough quantity to fry your meats. Leave to bleach for 15-10 minutes thereabouts, when the oil is bleached, pour in your meats and fry till slightly crisp. When they’re all fried, scoop out the meat and side aside.
• Wash and dice the beef, goat meat and optional tripe (shaki) and (cow skin) ponmon into small pieces .Place the meat in a medium sized pan, slice and add in ½ an onion, salt, 2 stock cube(Maggi) and 1 chilli pepper.Cook the meat for 30 minutes until tender

Method:

1. Wash the peppers and peel the onions.
2. Blend the peppers and onions  in a Food Processor or Food Blender.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a Pot and once hot add the Palm oil.
4. Add the salt and Maggi cubes.
5. Add the Stock fish, cover pot and cook for about 5 minutes to soften.
6. Add the meats and stir them into the stew.
7. Add Iru/Locust beans.
8. Cover pot and cook for a further 10 minutes.
9. Turn down the heat and allow the sauce to simmer and a little water ,preferably meat stock instead of water.
10. Serve with white rice or Ewa/Beans and rice.

TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS

• On a day you are not too busy, buy your meats and precook them with absolutely no seasoning except salt. You can add onions to the beef or onion powder.
• You also need to precook the Stock fish for at least 30 minutes.
• Allow them to cool down and portion them into small freezer bags and freeze until you need them.
• This reduces your preparation time when cooking stews or soups because all you have to do is blend your mixture and just take out the required amount of precooked meat out of the freezer.
• You can also do the same with the Stock fish which you can also freeze.
• Cray fish can also be used in Ofada but this is optional
• You can use any meats you want for Ofada if you do not like the assorted meats suggested.