Oil Free Nigerian Stew – Healthier Option

A few weeks ago, I went visiting relatives. We were offered a meal which we accepted and I proceeded to eat what I considered really tasty stew with some rice. It wasn’t until after I had finished eating that I was told that there was no oil used in the making of the stew. That was literally the point at which I looked down at my plate and realized that there was absolutely no oil at the bottom of the plate.

I was shocked!! Gobsmacked!!! My mother had always spoken about making oil free stew and I didn’t jump on the bandwagon as I thought that it would be totally tasteless. Good thing no-one told me that was what I was having until I had cleaned my plate…

Being that I am always thinking of ways of eating and living healthier, I decided to replicate the stew on my own when I got home. I did this and posted the picture below on the Natural Nigerian facebook page a few days ago. I am retaining the original caption as on facebook.

Eating lunch at my desk today. 90% oil free stew and brown rice. Nutritious and still tasty. Completely Guilt Free.

It garnered some attention and drew for calls of a recipe which was provided by someone I know has been cooking this stew for years. For those who want to try it out, here is the recipe as she put it up:

 Just like you make your normal Nigerian stew but no oil (oh well probably very little from the meat) but no frying involved, so will only make important points 🙂

1) Boil your meat with spices as you usually do.
2) Cook your tomato blend till almost all the water has dried. 
3) Leave the pot of boiled meat to cool then drain the fat / oil that comes to the surface
4) Pour your boiled meat with the stock into the reduced tomato blend add your spices as you do 🙂 (if the meat stock is not much then add little water to the mix)

Cook at low heat and stir at short intervals. Taste the mix to make sure that the raw tomato taste is gone. Cooking ends when you are satisfied with the taste and happy with the stew’s consistency.

The End!

*Some prefer not to use the stock from the boiled the meat – they replace this with just plain water.

Thank you Chinelo!

Someone mentioned that the stew didn’t look pretty (or perhaps it was my brown rice). You will get used to the look and the taste and when you do, it will do wonders for your health.

I took to this new recipe pretty quickly – I added about 10% of the normal quantity of oil I would usually use and will gradually transition to 0%. You may wish to start at 50% less oil and then transition downwards with time.

[I bought the brown rice from Sherese Ijewere of Carib Health]. Tomatoes for the stew came from my local market ;). 

Related Posts
Shopping Cart
Scroll to Top