Nigerian tomato stew is one of the most popular Nigerian food recipes, it is easy to make and I would include this recipe on my list of “easy Nigerian recipes”,
Reason for this would be that the ingredients needed could be found in almost every part of the world and almost anybody can put up this stew in less than 90 minutes.
Recently I also made a video about tomato stew and I think you are going to love it. You can find it at the bottom of this page.
What you have above is a large bowl of tomato stew, every thing you read below is exactly how I made this stew.
I promised to take you through the guide on how to lose the sour taste of tomatoes easily. Most people end up with tomato stew that has soured taste, it is a very common mistake that can easily be avoided. I am going to show you how to eliminate that taste, at least the way I go about it.
Ingredients For Making Nigerian Tomato stew (like I always say, these ingredients could be doubled or reduced depending on the number of people you are looking to feed and their stomach size).
Ingredients | Serving 6×2
2kg Meat of choice (fresh chicken, goat meat, turkey or beef)
Ground tomatoes – 1500ml
Ground Fresh Red Pepper – 50-100ml
1 cup of sliced onions
Teaspoon of ground nutmeg
teaspoon each of curry and thyme.
Vegetable (optional)(curry leaves, pumpkin leaves etc)
Vegetable oil – 400ml
stock cubes – 3
Crayfish – 2 tablespoons (optional)
Salt to taste.
The image above is that of fresh tomatoes, pre-cooked goat meat, curry leaves, peppers, and about 400ml of oil
STEP1
Wash the tomatoes and blend alongside the fresh pepper, also blend the crayfish alongside the nutmeg seed (1).
Wash the meat (Goatmeat in my case) and parboil with three stock cubes, a teaspoon of salt, teaspoon each of curry and thyme, a teaspoon of kitchen glory beef seasoning and half cup of sliced onions (I like to use lots of ingredients while parboiling the meat and then use little or none while making the real foods, this practice is necessary if you want to end up with very tasty meats. Beside you can then use the meat stock [water from the meat] for the main cooking.
Cook until the meat is soft enough for consumption
STEP 2
Most times I chose to fry the tomatoes in a frying pan separately and then add it to the cooked meat in the pot.
Slice the onion and set your frying pan on heat, add about 400ml of vegetable oil. Add the sliced onions and fry for about 2 minutes to release the scent into the oil then pour in the tomatoes and fry (stirring occasionally to avoid burning).
stir and allow to simmer for two minutes after adding the vegetables.
This is just where most people miss it, have you made a tomato stew with sour taste? Something that tasted less than what you eat at the restaurants? You can correct that now.
The secret to loosing the sour taste is just by frying with lots of oil (which could be reduced after frying) and then the use of onions. Then you have to keep stiring for the next 20-30 minute, you dont wanna end up with burned tomato stew.
Fry till the tomatoes boils in oil alone. Then you can transfer the pre-cooked meat and add the spices, add extra stock cube (optional), add the ground crayfish/nutmeg and allow to cook ten minutes before adding the vegetable (optional and you are done with the preparation of tomato stew.
This is how to make tomato stew, it could be served as you see below or with yam, beans, I even eat bread and stew often – it is delicious.
Here is an old video for making Nigerian tomato stew, follow this step by step video guide I suppose it would give you a visual image of all the things I said above.
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Learn more about other Nigerian stew Recipes, you can start with Nigerian Banga tew (ofe akwu)
Compare Tomato Stew & All Nigerian Foods
How To Prepare Yam Sauce
How To Make Yoruba Foods
How to Make River state Native Soup
Comments
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July 17, 2013
This seems a lot delicious! I live in a part of the world where much tomatoes are produced. Sometimes my problem lie on what to make with tomatoes. Thanks for the stew, I will give it a whirl
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July 17, 2013
Thanks for the recipe, you seem to be very good at what you do. I have been visiting your site for the past three months and I must confess that you are the best cook in Nigeria. Thanks for helping me, my food just got better (according to my husband), thanks to your site and emails. Joyce C
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July 17, 2013
Please I need to know if I can add ginger to tomato stew, my doctor recommended ginger to boost my health and I have been adding ginger to virtually every food that I eat and I want to know if I can also include ginger when making Nigerian stew. Thanks
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March 9, 2014
Yes, you can add ginger but it should be as a seasoning ingredient for the parboiling of the meat (goat, chicken) you are using.
Remember not to add too much so as not make it override the taste of the stew. -
June 29, 2014
Of course you can. I for one add ginger, garlic and nutmeg all blended up and it gives my stew an aroma to die for especially in my chicken tomatoes stew. Try it and see.
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February 23, 2019
I will give it a try .actually this is my first time here,I learnt a lot this night
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July 22, 2013
Can I use just tin tomatoes for this kind of stew? I got a carton of them from a friend and want to know I can just use them since I don’t have extra money for fresh ones… my bad!
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August 16, 2013
Hello! I use blend of tin tomatoes and fresh tomatoes and still end up with a little sour taste, is it bcus of d tin tomatoes?
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May 18, 2019
What I do sometimes whenever I want to use tin tomato is to fry it first for few minutes before adding anything else. I don’t usually have the sour taste.
This is an awesome site. God bless
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August 16, 2013
It is definitely not the tin tomato, just how you made the stew.
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August 18, 2013
i havent tried it yet but i think i can do it.i just want to please my nigerian boyfriend whom i adore.
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September 10, 2013
just discovered your site today! wonderful! wonderful!! love all the recipe i have seen…kudos to you! Thanks for the tomato stew.
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March 2, 2014
This is absolutely superb! I never knew that such a site exists. More grease to your elbow
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March 15, 2014
i love dis site!! it is amazing.am about to loose my lovely fiance just because i dont know how to cook. plz where can i get ur book in imo state. plz,help me!
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April 28, 2014
Mair, you need to blend fresh pepper and onions and fry along with the tin tomatoes to give your tomato stew that fresh taste.
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April 28, 2014
Hello everyone, here is the secret to making tomato stew without that soure taste! Wash and squeeze out the tomatoes seeds a little or simply cut them in halfs put them in a pot, cover and perboil for atleast 10 minutes or till you see them boiling and they have reduced in their original fresh size, bring down and drain in a sieve,blend and fry and the taste you’ll get will take you to heaven! Another method is: blend your tomatoes as usual, poure into a pot and sprinkle 2 pinches of salt and bring it down as soon as it starts to boil(dis method sepr8’s the water 4rm d tomatoes) pour the puree into a sieve, drain n fry and there wount be soure taste good luck.
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September 10, 2017
Oh tnx dear cus I do hv a problem of sour stew.
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May 24, 2014
My cooking has change for better ever since i adopted the recipe and cooking method of Chy Anegbu. It makes cooking so easy via her explicit step by step procedure. Thanks so much, at least I have stopped eating out. To everyone ‘ YOUR COOKING CAN REALLY IMPROVE with CHY ANEGBU’…….Thanks for showing me how to make tomato stew.
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May 27, 2014
I have a method i use in cooking my tomato stew…its simply by boiling…blend your tomato with pepper,onions,ginger and garlic(ginger and garlic optional)..season your meat with whatever spices you like,add water to cook,when its a bit done and the water is almost drying add the blended tomato and the tin tomato if ur using that,allow to boil till the water dries out,add your vegetable oil,sliced onions,maggi, curry and every other you wanna use and allow to boil for about 20 -30 mins… then its ready to eat ….. the taste is wonderful and hey you wont even notice the sour taste……*winks*
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August 23, 2014
Thank you ma,I rili enjoy these
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September 19, 2014
Hmm nice one, u re a genius ma, I will try that
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September 26, 2014
hmmmm. this is my 1st time of logging on to this site though, i once made a tomatoes stew with sour taste and my fiance complained abt it.but thanks so much for this information.just continue to do what you know how to do best and the good God will reward you abundantly.
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October 30, 2014
Dearest Chy,
hmmmmmm this is really nice, I know how to make tomatoes stew but i have not done this method before but i will give it a try.thanks for taking us all back to our various native root. it has really increased our cooking skills.
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December 20, 2014
Cn i use different maggi cubes for stew?