African Beef Stew is a popular and mouth-watering traditional West African dish prepared in numerous ways across homes. I love having a big bowl of this stew in the fridge, so on busy days, I could make a quick side dish like some boiled rice, then I warm up the stew, and we have a complete meal! This tomato-based stew is so versatile.
In West Africa, what is called Beef Stew or Meat Stew is quite different from the Beef Stew in America. While American Beef Stew is made with just a little tomato and a mixture of carrots, celery, and other ingredients, the main ingredient in West African Beef Stew is tomatoes - lots and lots of tomatoes. Here is my take on this mouth-watering African beef stew.
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. 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 stew is very easy to make and has an amazing depth of flavour. It only requires basic ingredients that you probably already have at home, but has an amazing depth of flavour.
Welcome to my core! I am Precious Nkeih, the recipe developer and writer right here on my blog, Precious Core. My goal is to show you insanely delicious recipes you can replicate in your kitchen. And I love to tell stories too. Hope you find recipes here that will make cooking easier for you!
Read also: Baskets from Ghana
I am back with another out-of-the-norm recipe just like my Cameroonian Jollof Rice. African beef stew is made in a gazillion ways across Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries. Typically, the tomatoes are fried in oil to remove the acidity. My method doesn’t include all the frying. You simply combine the ingredients together with the meat and cook together.
Also, the meat is super flavorful as it takes on the flavors of the spices and herbs. I add the oil to the stew at the end. The oil still retains its fresh taste since it has not passed through a lot of heat as is the case with conventional West African stew. Here, we will explore a recipe that captures the essence of Ghanaian stew, highlighting the unique ingredients and cooking techniques that set it apart.
Quite a lot of oil is used to cook the stew - often used to fry the tomatoes for a period of time to reduce the amount of acidity present in tomatoes. 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.
How To Make A Tasty Beef Stew Recipe//A Simple Ghanaian🇬🇭 Beef Stew//@MasofsKitchen
Ingredients for the Best Tasting Stew
To make the best tasting stew use these ingredients: beef, tomatoes, onion, leek (or green onions), parsley, celery leaves, basil, garlic, ginger, white pepper, stock cubes, oil, and salt. Ginger and garlic pictured separately because I forgot to snap them with the other ingredients.
- Beef
- Tomatoes
- Onion
- Leek (or green onions)
- Parsley
- Celery leaves
- Basil
- Garlic
- Ginger
- White pepper
- Stock cubes
- Oil
- Salt
Feel free to add vegetables such as carrots, green beans or green pepper. In Nigeria, it’s most often paired with African yam - fried or boiled.
Read also: Ghanaian Business Profile: Franko Trading
Step-by-Step Recipe
This is such a tasty and easy African dinner recipe. I made a video to show you guys how to make African Beef Stew. Click below to watch and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you never miss a video.
Preparation
- Cut the beef into 1 1/2 inch slices and place in a pot.
- Grind the tomatoes and spices.
- Place the tomatoes, onion, basil, parsley, celery, garlic and ginger in a blender.
- Blend into a paste.
Cooking Instructions
- Add the ground ingredients to the beef.
- Then add the salt, stock cubes (or bouillon powder) and white pepper.
- Mix well to combine.
- Pour the blended mixture over the beef.
- Place the pot on medium high heat and bring to a boil.
- Stir then cover and let it cook while stirring from time to time for 30 minutes until the liquid reduces and the tomatoes assume a richer red color.
- Add oil to the pot, stir and let it simmer for 3 minutes.
- Add the oil and stir.
- Taste to ensure seasoning is perfect, At this point, adjust the consistency of your stew.
- If you want it thinner, add a little water.
- If you choose to add water, be sure to taste so you can add more salt as needed.
- I like it thick so I leave it without any added water.
Tips and Variations
- I used chuck roast in this recipe because it has a nice ratio of fat to meat and it yields great flavor.
- Feel free to use any cut of meat you like.
- You may replace canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes but make sure you fry the sauce until it has completely dried before adding liquid.
- I blend the ingredients in this recipe with no added water.
- The water from the tomatoes provides enough liquid for my blender to crush the other ingredients.
- Also, I blend all the ingredients at once because my blender can accommodate them.
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.
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.
This dish pairs perfectly with boiled or fried yam, boiled ripe or green plantain, or white rice. Typically, on the day I make this recipe, I eat it with boiled starchy vegetables, and the following day, I eat it with rice for lunch or dinner.
Additional Tips
- 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.
- 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.
- This recipe calls for one habanero pepper. If you think it might be too spicy for you, use half a habanero pepper.
What Is The Best Beef Cut For Nigerian Stew?
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. The best cut for this beef stew is the chuck which includes the shoulder, neck, and upper arm muscles of the cow.
Read also: Ghana Soccer Jersey
Is Nigerian Stew Spicy?
Nigerian stew is often spicy since it is made with scotch bonnet peppers or habanero peppers. These hot peppers help cut down on the acidity of the tomatoes and improve the flavor of the stew. You can use more or less pepper, depending on your preference.
Popular articles:
tags: #Ghana
