Nigerian Chicken Stew (Tomato Based stew)

Nigerian Chicken Stew is a delicious stew made with tomatoes, peppers, fried/grilled chicken & spices.
   If you love chicken soup, you'll love the Nigerian Chicken Stew.
Below is a detailed written recipe, and for the video lovers, here is a video on How to Cook Nigerian Chicken Stew.

Ingredients for Nigerian Chicken Stew
- 1.5kg Fresh Tomatoes or tinned tomato puree(the watery type)
- 100g Canned tomato paste(the smallest De Rica brand thick tomato paste(optional)
- 1 litre Vegetable Oil(don't worry you won't be leaving all this oil in your stew. Read recipe to see how to re-use the oil)
- 600g Chicken
- 2 OR 3 medium bulbs Onions
- 5 Habanero Pepper (atarodo)
- 2  stock cubes
- Thyme and curry (1 tablespoon each)
- Salt to taste

Cooking directions for Nigerian Chicken Stew  
1.  Open the thick Canned tomato paste(e.g De Rica ), scoop content into a bowl and dilute with a little water.Set aside.
 Blend the tomatoes, peppers and onions. 
Tip: If you are making use of only the thick tomato paste(e.g De Rica ), simply dilute it a bit in little water and go to step 4.

2. Pour the blended tomatoes into a pot and let it boil until the consistency is thicker and  the excess water is dried up.
 
3. In another pot, add the cleaned cut chicken ,add a little water, thyme, curry ,1 stock cube and salt to taste.Cook the chicken until done and fry/grill, then set aside and reserve the liquid(Chicken stock).

4.  Now, heat up the vegetable oil, add some onions(optional, because the blended tomatoes already has onions). 
Add the dried tomatoes and tomato puree and fry for about 25 minutes or until the tomato loses it's sour taste. Stir constantly to prevent burning at the bottom.
 
5. Add the Chicken stock and cook for 10 minutes.
 
6. Next, add the fried chicken, stock cube and salt to taste. Cover and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.  (You'll notice at this stage that the oil has risen to the top of the stew).
And the Nigerian Chicken Stew is ready.Enjoy.

Tip: When the stew cools down a bit, scoop out the excess oil, pour into a bottle and preserve in the fridge. This  oil, can be used for Nigerian soups, stew, beans recipes and yam recipes too.

The Nigerian Chicken Stew is served with boiled and fried yams, Boiled rice, plantain recipes and beans recipes. Enjoy!


*****The question I often get is ''Why do you  make use of a lot of oil while frying the tomatoes,even though you scoop it out at the end,to use for other recipes''?

  It's a personal preference and  I think the excess oil helps to prevent the tomatoes from burning while been fried. It also helps to subdue the sour taste of the tomatoes faster than it would if you use less oil.
  But this is an arguable fact, all that really matters is that this method works for me and my Nigerian Chicken stew comes out tasty and delicious .
 And another cool thing is that I get to re-use the ''red stew oil'' for recipes that call for palm oil, such as beans porridge, yam porridge and  other Nigerian stews and soups.



Other Related Recipes

* Bitter leaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu) 
* Nigerian Mixed Vegetable Sauce
* Nigerian Beef Stew
* Banga Soup : Urhobo Isoko Banga Soup Recipe
* Nigerian Chicken Stew
* How to Cook Okazi Soup (Ukazi Soup)
* Obe Ata Dindin : Nigerian Fried Pepper Stew
* How to Cook Edikang Ikong Soup 
* Nigerian Tomato Stew(Vegan Stew)
* How to Cook Afang Soup
* Nigerian Pepper Soup
* Nigerian Ogbono Soup :How to Cook Ogbono  Soup
* Nigerian Fish Stew (Obe Eja Tutu) 
 * How to Cook Nigerian Egusi Soup(Ofe Egusi/Obe Efo Elegusi)

By Nky Lily Lete