nigerian red stew with okra and plantain family meal

In partnership with Uncle Ben’s #DinnerBringsUsCloser

I’m half Nigerian and half Dominican. Growing up, Nigerian red stew with meat graced the dinner table at least once per week. It’s packed full of flavour, is a good way at using up different cuts of meat and is full of warmth. I didn’t appreciate the medley of flavours when I was younger, but this is a dish I crave as an adult. Luckily, it’s very easy to prepare and the rest of the family are massive fans of Nigerian food, so we have red stew with chicken regularly.

princess dishing out nigerian red stew dinner brings us close

There are many ways to prepare red stew, everyone has their own take on this classic Nigerian recipe. This is my way, it’s quick enough to be made on a busy, mid week work day, yet still bursting with flavour and spice. I love cooking with scotch bonnet peppers but have kept it to half of one pepper in this recipe so that it heats the dish without making it too hot for the kids to eat. I’m not about having to make separate dishes for each person in the family! As I have a much higher tolerance to pepper than everyone else in the house, I add some of my mum’s famous pepper sauce to my plate once we’re at the table.

close up of nigerian red stew and uncle bens ricefried plantains

Being able to sit down as a family, even in the middle of the week, with everybody’s busy schedules is important to us. It’s a great chance to catch up on current affairs, find out what’s important right now for each family member and touch base on weekend plans.

I choose to have my red stew with rice and plantains because they’re ingredients that are super easy to prepare and are universal. I also love chopped okra, as do the girls. It’s easy to prepare and it always reminds me of my Dad, he’d stand in the kitchen for what seemed like forever, finely chopping those little green fingers.

When I was a little girl, we would use different ‘swallows’ namely ebba, amala and semolina. I still love eating all of them, but the rest of the household much rather rice. My mum introduced me to Uncle Ben’s Ready to Heat Rice a few years ago and it just makes mid week, after work dinners one step easier to prepare. It’s easier for me to work on portion control too!

birds eye view of nigerian stew with chicken uncle bens rice fried plantain okra

Nigerian red stew chicken with rice and fried plantains

Ingredients
2 cans of plum tomatoes
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper (or more to taste)
2 large onions
1 sweet pepper
500g of chicken
2 bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons of curry powder
2 cloves of garlic
1 sprig of thyme
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
1 cup of water

2 plantains

Method

Season the chicken with the bouillon cubes, curry powder, garlic and thyme.
Cook in a large heavy bottomed pan in a tablespoon of oil.
Once browned, turn down the heat and cover with lid, leave to cook in own juices

For the stew;

Heat a table spoon of oil in a small saucepan.
Blend onions, scotch bonnet pepper, sweet pepper, water and plum tomatoes together until smooth.
Add tomato mixture to pot and cook, covered on a medium heat for 20 minutes.
10 mins in, stir in the tomato puree
Once the sauce is deep red, reduced to about half it’s sieand cooked through, add the sauce to the chicken pot.
Leave to cook for another 10 mins.

Serve with rice and plantain.

For the plantain;
Chop in thick sections, around 1cm – 2cm thick
Fry until both sides of the slices are golden brown

family eating dinner together red stew nigerian food

Have you made Nigerian red stew? How does your recipes compare?

For more on the Uncle Ben’s #DinnerBringsUsCloser campaign, click here, there’s a really lovely video on there too!

July 20, 2018
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