Ofada stew also known as Ayamase Stew is a delicious, hearty meal.
It’s a popular Nigerian dish made from fresh green colored bell pepper, green pepper, onions, assorted meats, and bleached palm oil.
The ingredients are simmered in the bleached palm oil with spices like seasoning, salt, locust beans, and pepper to make the stew.
It’s majorly an accompaniment to ofada rice, white rice, and white puna yam. Whenever I make this delicious soup in my home, cooked white rice runs out in a jiffy.
We consume them quickly because the stew is addictively delicious.
The recipe below will show you how to make this delicious Nigerian staple dish that your family will love!
How to bleach the oil
So many people usually avoid this delicious stew because of the bleaching palm oil, if not properly handled it could be dangerous.
What I normally do to avoid smoke all over my house is to cover the cooking pot with the lid while bleaching the oil.
I use a pot with a transparent lid to know when it’s fully bleached to my desire. When it’s properly bleached, the palm oil looks golden brown in color.
The heat should be very low, make sure you don’t open the pot until it’s properly bleached.
Then turn off the heat and wait until it’s cool before you remove the lid. Do not remove the lid when it’s still very hot as this could be dangerous.
Can I bleach my palm oil ahead?
Basically yes, You can bleach your palm oil ahead and keep it in a jar for future use, you can store it as long as you can. Just store it at room temperature.
How To Prepare Ofada Stew
1. The first thing to do is to wash and cook the assorted meat until they are tender and set them aside. In this recipe, I used cow stomach (saki) cow skin (ponmo) dry fish, and dry crayfish. You should also boil your eggs too.
2. On low heat, pour the palm oil into the pot and cover it with the lid to bleach the oil. You should regulate the heat from low to medium until the palm oil color turns to a honey brown color.
3. While the oil is undergoing the bleaching process, rinse your peppers and onions to blend coarsely. Do not blend them smooth. Slice a big onion and set it aside, if you want to enjoy your ofada stew, do not be stingy with your onions.
3. Sieve out the excess water from the blending with a siever, you can keep the excess water for later use should the need arises.
You can also boil the pepper until the water dries out. Whichever way, you’ll still get the same result.
4. When the oil is properly cooled, pour the sliced onions, and allow to saute for about 1 minutes on medium heat. Add locust beans and grounded crayfish and allow to simmer for another 1 minute.
5. Pour the sieved blended pepper and stir vigorously, then cover to cook for about 5 minutes but don’t forget to stir at a regular interval to avoid burning.
6. At this juncture, add the seasoning, salt to taste, and more grounded crayfish. Stir and cover for another 2 minutes.
7. Then start adding the assorted meats and the boiled eggs, stir everything, and allow to cook for 5 minutes or until you see the oil floating on the top.
8. When the oil starts floating over the pepper sauce, it means your ofada stew is ready for your ofada rice, yam puna yam or your white rice.
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Ingredients
- 2 Large Onions
- 6 Green ball pepper
- 4 Green scotch bonnet or habanero pepper (or as desired)
- 3 tablespoon locust beans
- 3 tablespoon grounded crayfish
- 5 eggs
- assorted meat of your choice
- 4 seasoning cubes
- salt to taste
Instructions
- On low heat, pour the palm oil in the pot and cover with the lid to bleach the oil, you can later regulate the heat from low to medium heat until the palm oil color turns to honey brown color.
- While the oil is undergoing the bleaching process, rinse your peppers and onions to blend coarsely. Do not blend them smooth. Slice a big onion and set it aside, if you want to enjoy your ofada stew, do not be stingy with your onions.Sieve out the excess water from the blending with a siever, you can keep the excess water for later use should the need arise.
- When the oil is properly cooled, pour the sliced onions with a pinch of salt and allow to saute for about 2 minutes on medium heat. Add locust beans and grounded crayfish and allow to simmer for another 1 minute.
- Pour the sieved blended pepper and stir vigorously, then cover to cook for about 5 minutes but don’t forget to stir at a regular interval to avoid burning.
- At this juncture, add the seasoning, salt to taste, and more grounded crayfish. Stir and cover for another 2 minutes.
- Then start adding the assorted meats and the boiled eggs, stir everything, and allow to cook for 5 minutes or until you see the oil floating on the top.
- When the oil starts floating over the pepper sauce, it means your ofada stew is ready for your ofada rice or your white rice.
Video
Nutrition
So, we hope you’ve enjoyed learning how to make this Nigerian dish and that you will give it a try. Let us know what your experience was like by commenting below!
