One of the most common foods eaten in every Nigerian home is stew. In every week, 80% of Nigerian homes Prepare this delicacy 2-3 times (for those who do not have fridge to cook in large quantities and store).
The common Ingridrients for stew is usually tomatoes, pepper and onions, then there are some cases where you can add crayfish, ogiri, little uziza seeds and the rest.
When some people get tired of tomatoes stew, they swap to sauce, onions sauce, chicken sauce, Jamaican sauce e.t.c but the problem is that sauce doesn't last as long as tomatoes stew.
Then some people enter our well known and ever delicious Banga stew, but this can still get tiring.
This article will teach you another stew alternative you can add to the list. Try this Carrot Stew and give a new taste to your buds.
Carrot Stew doesn't take long to prepare. Here is the recipe, read on and thank me later.
Ingredients
Carrot
Fresh yellow Pepper
Onions
Fresh tomatoes (optional), I don't add it
Crayfish (little), just for the flavor
Chicken
Green pepper(for special taste and flavor)
Ground Nut Oil
Curry leaves
Garlic and ginger
Salt and seasoning to taste
Prepare Your Ingredients before Cooking by:
1. Wash and blend your yellow pepper, green pepper(few), onions and little crayfish
2. Wash your chicken, season to taste and boil
3. You can fry after boiling, to give the stew a special taste and aroma (but this is optional as frying is not healthy)
4. Dice your onions and set aside
5. Blend your ginger and garlic and set aside
6. Wash and set your Curry leaves
Prepare Your Carrot By:
1. Wash and scrape your carrot to remove all the dirty and sand
2. Put the carrot in a pot, add water and steam
Note: You do this to make the carrot soft
3. Bring down, allow to cool, then blend with little water
OR
1. Wash your carrot and scrape to remove all dirts and sand
2. Grate your carrot
Note: You grate for easy blending
3. Blend with little water to form the paste/puree
I prefer this second method, because it prevents overcooking of my carrot and maintains the nutrients.
Set Your carrot paste aside
Frying Your Carrot Stew
1. Place a pot on the fire and allow to dry
2. Add your ground nut oil and allow to bleach
3. When it has bleached, add your Curry leaves and diced onions then fry a bit till you percieve the scent
Note: Do not fry all the Curry leaves, keep some for later
4. Pour you blend of onions, pepper and little crayfish and fry dry (to done).
5. Add your blended ginger and garlic, little water or chicken stock and fry more
6. Season to taste and add your chicken so the flavor of the stew can be absorbed by the chicken
Note: carrot has it's own salt content, be cautious of the salt and seasoning you add so you can make a perfect carrot stew
7. When you are sure your blended pepper, crayfish and onions is done, add your carrot blend and stir properly
8. Leave for a while to get done, taste to see if it will require any seasoning adjustment, add chicken stock or water if necessary and add your remaining Curry leaves
Note: The time you leave the carrot to cook is dependent on the method you used in Preparing tge carrot paste.
-If you used the first method (little steaming), you leave the carrot for a few minutes then bring down to maintain it's nutrients
-If you used the second method (grating) you leave for a longer time so the carrot can get done
-Carrot is a vegetable, so cooking time is the same as other green vegetable cooking time
9. Bring down your carrot stew and serve with freshly boiled hot white rice. Enjoy
Suprise your family, friends and loved ones with this different stew with a new different taste.
Note: Before I forget, addition of tomatoes in carrot stew is optional and most people add it to make the stew plenty because carrot can be expensive at times and it would cost a lot to buy the quantity that will cook a pot of stew for a large family
Thank you for reading. Do well to like, share and ask questions if any.
Cheers
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