Why have i been pausing lately before calling a dish “soup”, “stew” or “sauce”?
Why does it all seem so confusing? Lol!
Jokes apart, if you question the angle i am coming from, just go to Google and check out the various definitions of soup, stew and sauce and if you are a Nigerian, you just might be as bewildered as i am and if you aren’t, biko nwanne’m, egbon mi, help clarify lol!
So while i was busy cooking, i seemed to be thinking about whether i was cooking a soup, a stew or a sauce and have always wondered about this.
Okay, so i chose to call it a stew and not bother my head too much.
So here i am silently thanking heavens for the liberty to call a dish whatever you well please as long as you prepared it right?
If i can use this my “delish” Egusi for swallow, yam, rice, pasta (trust me on this one!) and everything else in between, then it is a stew in my own dictionary. Lol!
…And the addition of the spring onions? Totally inspired by a dear friend, Gini, who had schooled in the North, Kaduna to be precise and she mentioned how they would sometimes use spring onions as the vegetable in their Egusi and it was really nice. Such vegetables grow in abundance in the North and are usually cheap so you would most definitely get much much more than “3 strands” of spring onions for 20 naira, no offence to my lovely city of Lagos where i was born and brought up by the way… Lol!
I liked the welcome break away from the basic ugu (pumpkin leaves), bitter leaf and spinach “like” vegetables and the flavor that the onions and spring onions brought into the “stew”.
To bring this “stew” together start with some good beef which should be cubed (i did about 1 inch cubes) and boiled with chopped onions, salt and ground or fresh ginger. I got some boneless beef chuck and also got beef neck bones mainly for eating and “cracking” but this turned out to also help the flavor of my stock. It took about 35 minutes on medium heat to be as soft as i wanted it.
While the beef is boiling, prep some tomatoes, pepper and onions and blend. Also chop some onions which would be fried in the palm oil.
Also soak you dried shrimps or big crayfish in water for a few minutes
Once all that is prepped and ready, pour palm oil into a saucepan and on medium-high heat, add the chopped onions, fry a while and then add the tomato blend, boiled beef with stock, seasoning and then later, the ground melon seeds and dried shrimp. Simmer that.
The spring onions is added at the end of the cooking time.
- For the Boiled Beef:
- 700 grams Boneless Beef Chuck (Cut into 1 inch cubes)
- 700 grams Chopped Beef Neck Bones
- 11/2 cup Water
- 1 Medium Onion
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Ground Ginger
- For the Stew:
- 6 Fresh Tomatoes (approximately 400 grams)
- 1 Large Red Bell Pepper (approx. 150 grams, deseeded)
- 1 Large Onion (approx. 420 grams)
- 25 grams Dried Shrimps soaked in water for 10 minutes
- 250 mls Palm Oil ( 1 cup)
- 2 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Ground Dry Chili Pepper
- 4 tbsp Ground Dry Crayfish
- 11/3 Cup Water
- 150 grams Chopped Spring Onions
- Place all the ingredients for the boiled beef in a medium pot or sauce pan and cook on medium-high heat for 35 minutes or until beef is soft
- Meanwhile roughly cut tomatoes, red bell pepper (deseeded) and half of the large onion. Place in a blender and blend until smooth. Finely chop the other half of the onion.
- Pour palm oil into a saucepan and on medium-high heat, add the chopped onions, fry a while, about 5 minutes and then add the tomato blend, boiled beef with stock, salt, dry pepper and crayfish, simmer for 10 minutes with the pot covered.
- Add ground melon seeds and dried shrimp ensuring a greater part of the melon seeds are covered in stew. Cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes or until the stew appears dried out and fried. Add the water and stir thoroughly, tasting and adjusting seasoning if needed. Heat through.
- Once sauce starts to simmer again and is properly heated, stir in chopped spring onions and immediately turn off the heat.
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