Okay team #fitfam, this is not for you 🙂
This is what I call a hearty and comforting stew; which when combined with rice, yam or potatoes does the body a lot of good. I remember trying this stew while growing up in Nigeria and LORD have mercy it felt like heaven. It was so comforting and had this rich taste to it. It had been over a decade I made or had this stew so, I decided to go back to the basics and make some and my ajebutters both said “Mommy this is good.” with smiles
This is the Queen of stews. She is the mother of Nigerian stews. The flavors are amazing. I always believe that in most dishes, less is actually more and that was how I built the flavors into this stew. After eating this stew, you must take a good nap to complete the cycle and you must wake up feeling refreshed 🙂 This is not the stew for fitfam, you could make it coconut oil if you wish to. I just wanted to do it in a more traditional way. I could go on and on about this stew, but all I have to say to sum up the story is, today this stew is “bae” 🙂
- 1 boiler hen
- Bouillon
- salt to taste
- 10plum tomatoes
- 2 red bell peppers
- 4-6 habanero peppers or ata-rodo
- 2 purple onions
- 1 crushed garlic clove
- ¼tsp of fresh ginger
- 1tbsp of dry grinded pepper or red pepper flakes
- 1tbsp of thyme(divided)
- 1tbsp of curry powder(divided)
- oil for deep frying chicken
- 1cup of the fried chicken oil
- Into a blender, chop one onion, the tomatoes, and peppers and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a pot and boil until the water is dry and it forms a paste and set aside(Do not burn)
- in a pot, season chicken with half of one of the purple onion, the garlic clove, the ginger, salt, half of the thyme, half of the curry and the dry pepper. do not add any water. Let the chicken cook in it's juices until almost dry; then pour in some water and adjust the seasoning with salt if needed. Cover tightly and let it cook until soft. Remove the chicken from the stock (while saving the stock) and set it to drain to remove any excess liquid
- in a deep frying pan or pot, heat up some oil to 350degrees. put in a few pieces of onion and fry until brown but not burnt(this helps to season the oil); then remove the onions and discard
- Fry the chicken until golden and crisp but not burnt. Drain unto a paper towel. Fry the chicken batch by batch until done(Alternatively, steaming and grilling is a healthier option)
- heat up about ½ to 1 cup of oil(use oil from the one that was used to fry the chicken)
- chop in the onion and fry until translucent. Break in the onga seasoning(optional), pour in the remaining thyme and curry and stir. Keep frying for another 5minutes then pour in the boiled tomato mix and stir really well. let it fry for a little while until the oil starts floating to the top. Pour in the fried chicken and the chicken stock. Do not make it watery. It should be in between watery and thick. Check for seasonings(I did not need any because of my rich chicken stock). Slightly cover the pot and let the stew cook ie fry until the oil floats to the top. Check for seasonings and set aside. When the stew is cooked, you may decant some of the oil if it seems like it is too much
- Serve with any side.
