West African beef and tomato stew, also called red stew, is a widely eaten stew in many parts of West Africa. The popularity of red stew is well earned as it’s simply delicious. This stew is very easy to make and has an amazing depth of flavour. This tantalizing beef stew has evolved into an everyday meal, cooked with different cuts of meat and seafood and always present on restaurant menus.
This African Beef Stew is a popular, mouth-watering dish, a traditional West African stew that is often prepared in most homes in a number of different ways. Here is a take on this mouth-watering African beef stew. Nothing screams warmth and comfort like a bowl of hearty and rich beef stew. Better yet, served with some vermicelli rice for a delightful weeknight meal that the whole family will enjoy.
This Instant Pot African Beef Stew is rich in flavor and spice, with tender chunks of beef and veggies cooked in a spiced tomato sauce. This recipe is inspired by African cuisine, but does not claim to be perfectly authentic. You can also just put all of this into a pot on the stovetop if you don’t have a crockpot.
Rice and stew was once considered the quintessential West African Christmas meal. Of course, no Christmas table would be complete without it and an array of sumptuous dishes.
Nigerian stew is by far the most popular dish in Nigeria. It is traditionally eaten with rice or boiled yam. I like that I can come back home after being gone all day, and quickly warm up some low carb rice and have it with this delicious stew. Nigerian beef stew tastes much more flavorful if the blended mixture does not contain a lot of water.
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Let’s dive into the ingredients and steps to create this flavorful dish.
Ingredients You'll Need
The best cut for this beef stew is the chuck which includes the shoulder, neck, and upper arm muscles of the cow. Here are the key ingredients for making African Beef Stew:
- Beef: 1 ½ lbs. stew meat in bite sized cubes
- Vegetables:
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 2 celery sticks, diced
- 3 plum tomatoes
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 habanero pepper
- Spices and Seasonings:
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 dried chili (optional)
- ½ tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1 ½ tsp. smoked paprika
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- 1 tbsp. curry paste
- Liquids:
- 1 cup water
- 1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
- ½ cup beef stock/broth
Feel free to add vegetables such as carrots, green beans or green pepper.
Step-by-Step Cooking Instructions
To make this stew, you’ll need to start by marinading the beef either overnight or a few hours ahead of time. Follow these detailed steps to create an authentic African Beef Stew:
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Step 1: Marinating the Beef
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together in a small bowl. Place the beef in a large mixing bowl and add the marinade to the beef. Use a spoon to coat the beef with the marinade. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge to let the beef marinade overnight or a few hours before you make the stew.
Step 2: Preparing the Beef
Heat a deep sauté pan with ½ of the oil on the stove over medium heat. Take the beef out of the fridge, and brown the beef on each side in the sauté pan; you might need to do this in batches. Be sure to shake off the green onions from the beef before placing the beef in the sauté pan. Preserve the green onions for the stew.
Once the beef is browned, remove the beef from the pan and set aside on a clean plate. Scrap the bottom of the pan to remove the browned bits and set the bits aside for the stew.
Step 3: Blending and Sautéing
Put the chopped tomatoes, red bell pepper, ginger, ½ of the chopped onions, scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, and 2 tablespoons of water in a blender, and blend until smooth. Pour the rest of the oil into the sauté pan. Add the remaining onions and the minced garlic to the pan and sauté until the onions are translucent (about 1 minute).
Step 4: Combining and Simmering
Pour the tomato mixture into the pan. Add the preserved green onions, thyme, bay leaves, nutmeg, whole cloves, beef bullion cube (crushed), black pepper, and ¼ cup of water to the tomato mixture. Mix everything together and cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5 minutes.
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Add the beef and the browned bits to the stew, cover the lid and bring the stew to a boil. Turn the heat to low, and let the stew simmer for 1 hour or until the beef is tender and the stew is reduced to your liking. If the stew gets too thick for your liking before it's been 1 hours, add a bit of hot water to the stew, and cover the lid and continue to cook on low heat.
Instant Pot Instructions
- Begin by adding oil to your Instant Pot and turning it on to saute mode.
- Once the oil is hot, add your chunks of stew meat and let brown, turning every few minutes for even cooking.
- Once the meat starts to brown, add onions, garlic, carrot, and celery.
- Saute for 3-4 minutes, or until the onions start to become translucent.
- Add in dried chili pepper, spices, and curry paste and stir well. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Pour cup of water over top, scraping up anything that's stuck to the bottom. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Pour tomatoes and tomato sauce into the pot but do not stir.
- Secure the lid. Turn on Instant Pot to High Pressure for 32 minutes.
- When it finishes cooking, allow to natural release.
Sometimes when cooking with tomatoes and tomato sauce in the Instant Pot, you will get a "burn notice" during the pressure cooking process. To avoid this, pour the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes into the center of the stew, so it doesn't touch the outer walls.
Tips and Variations
- Spice Level: Nigerian stew is often spicy since it is made with scotch bonnet peppers or habanero peppers. You can use more or less pepper, depending on your preference. If you think it might be too spicy for you, use half a habanero pepper.
- Beef Cuts: For this Nigerian stew recipe, it is better to go for tougher, less expensive cuts of beef. Tougher cuts have lots of collagen-rich connective tissue, which becomes nice and chewy after cooking. You can buy pre-cut stew meat but take a good long look around your meat counter before you do. Why pay someone else to cut meat into chunks when you can do it yourself?
- Vegetables: Feel free to add vegetables such as carrots, green beans or green pepper.
- Tomatoes: You may replace canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes but make sure you fry the sauce until it has completely dried before adding liquid. For the tomatoes, it is best to use plum tomatoes (also known as Roma tomatoes). These are best for Nigerian stews because they are denser and have less juice.
As suggested by one of the comments below, if you’re cutting back on the fat (oil), you can “cook off the water in the tomatoes by boiling the tomatoes until all the water is gone.
Serving Suggestions
This stew is usually served with cooked white rice, but it can also be served with boiled yams or plantains, garri, or couscous. Top with loads of fresh herbs like parsley, dill, or green onions. This Nigerian stew is a side dish that can go really well with a lot of dishes. It is usually eaten with white rice or jollof rice.
Here is my take on this mouth-watering African beef stew. Enjoy!
Nutritional Information
Each serving contains 3 net carbs and serves 8.
Storage Tips
Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days. This stew actually gets better after a day or two of the flavors melding together.
One way to do this is to blend the tomatoes and peppers ahead of time and freeze them in sizable portions. This stew base can remain frozen for many months. Let it thaw overnight before you use it to make stew.
Additional Tips
- When blending the vegetables, it helps to blend the tomatoes first because they release enough moisture, which helps to blend the other vegetables.
- Nigerian beef stew tastes much more flavorful if the blended mixture does not contain a lot of water.
Variations
The beef can be replaced with chicken (which is actually the most popular version), fish, eggs, you name it.
Can this stew be made in the slow cooker?
Yes, it can. Brown the meat first and then add everything to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 5-6 hours.
How do you make the stew thicker?
If you find this stew is too thick for you, you can do a few things. You can turn the Instant Pot back to saute after pressure cooking and simmer the stew for a few minutes to boil off extra liquid. Or you can whisk in a cornstarch slurry.
