My people! I hope y’all are good.
To my surprise you can’t find a good Yoruba online translator besides google translate. I would like to hope that’s not the case on the internet in Nigeria. I almost said I stand corrected. I found this website Glosbe and they had common words, the closest I could get to something good. Not enough to impress me though.
Nigerian Stew Recipe below ↓
While I was typing… I glanced at the two scars on my left wrist. I have to give context, so bear with me. When I was 12, I ran into a glass window at school! How obnoxious of me. It was Sports day. I was a big lover of sports at the time and I mostly ran track. I was practicing with the relay team because Inter-house sports1 were coming up. We were practicing short 100 meter drills, with a supervisor not present. That was our first mistake. It was time for me to tag in and the direction I was running in was facing a classroom. With all that adrenaline and excitement, I ran as fast as I could with the goal of beating my teammates and showing off my skills. I got so caught up in the idea of winning that I forgot I was running straight to the demise of such a wonderful day. I jumped and hit the window with my two palms up like I was under arrest. The glass shattered over me. How embarrassing! Especially with the entire school outside to watch. Everyone was having such a wonderful time and here comes this girl running into a window???
I didn’t intend on narrating the full story, but here we are. Anyways. My point is, when I glanced at my wrist, the scars reminded me of pain but most importantly they reminded me of how different I am from the next person. I have my own scars, trauma, experiences and they have theirs too. I have my own story, but growing up I never felt like my story would be significant enough to tell. I lacked confidence. I wasn’t brave enough to take chances. Looking back its crazy to think that I used to be that girl, but I was.
As a creative, I occasionally experience creative blocks…
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received - in regards to my craft, is to travel. It’s one thing to see something inspiring on TV, it’s another thing to experience it [in real life].
I took a trip to New York recently and I was so motivated by how carefree and real the people were. It was my first time there as a fully grown adult and my experience was a solid 10/10. From walking in the streets from shop to shop, to riding the subway from borough to borough, (If you’re from Texas and you’ve been to New York, you’d understand the culture shock) it felt surreal.
I people watched a lot. They were so expressive and unapologetic. I felt inspired. I felt like I was a part of so many people’s stories just by being around them.
My takeaway from the trip was that there are no limitations to what you can do in life. When you experience new places, new people or new food you have a new found appreciation for what life can show you.
Not sure what my next destination is but,
If you could travel anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would you go?
The journey to get to where I am today has been a long one, but it’s not until I began to understand where life was taking me that I truly started to appreciate the journey. I had to remember not to loose myself in the process. Seek happiness in everything I do, and take risks. Let’s not forget, I am still a work in progress as anyone else. The confidence that I possess now... Everyday I think about the woman I’m becoming and I’ll say this to you- Be very afraid. Jk, but seriously I see big things coming.
“If you want to handle anything and everything, you have to go through anything and everything”
The connection between food and memories is why I love food so much.
For as long as I can remember I have been eating Rice and Stew. But let me come clean, it’s because my mom can cook a bad a** pot of stew. It has to be my favorite thing she makes. A native Nigerian dish that comes in many variations but when it comes down to it, I’ll always choose the OG Recipe. Obe Ata. Ata pupa. Obe Ata is a blend of red peppers including, red tomatoes, red bell peppers, scotch bonnets with the addition of aromatics like red onions, garlic and ginger. The OG Trinity. Note: your stew doesn’t have to be spicy, but it doesn’t come close to the original if you aren’t hissing and your nose is running when you’re eating it. What differs a little about MY recipe is that I add Chile Arbol (A dried Mexican chile). It gives this extra level of smokiness to the stew words can’t describe. If you haven’t tried this before, WYD? Another foodie friend of mine actually put me on to this- Teefah's Kitchen. Shout out to her, it took my stew to the next level. The peppers are roasted then blended together to produce this rich and thick red sauce. It is then cooked down to produce one of the most delicious stews you will ever taste. I allow my stew to cook on low heat for a while until that raw flavor from the peppers are gone. You can use any protein of choice; beef, chicken, turkey, goat meat, tripe, fish and even snail. If you can find it, you can use it. My personal favorite would be turkey or goat meat, but i don’t discriminate. If the sauce is sweet2, i'm devouring that plate. A few weeks ago my friend Ari called me up and asked me what I was up to. I told her I was about to whip up a simple pot of Chicken Stew and of course she was on her way with no hesitation. I love her, she’s always down to try some Nigerian food. A Naija babe by association. Anyways, I decided to share that piece of me with you guys. Here's the recipe:
Obe Ata
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: ~ 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: ~ 3 hours
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
2 roma tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
2 red scotch bonnets
1 large red onion
6 chile arbol
5 garlic cloves
1 nub of fresh ginger
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1.5 cups vegetable oil
1 cup water
2 cups meat stock (from boiling 2lbs protein of choice)
6 oz tomato paste (I use Hunt’s)
2 cubes chicken, beef or vegetable bullion.
1 tbsp curry powder
2 tsp seasoned salt (any salt of your choice)
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried thyme
Directions:
First and foremost, preheat your oven to 400°F
Grease a large baking tray.
Cut your tomatoes, red bell peppers, and half a red onion into chunky squares. Spread them out on the baking tray.
Throw your ginger, garlic and scotch bonnets on the baking tray.
Spray the vegetables with oil and toss with your hands to make sure they are fully coated. Set the oven to Broil on Low.
Place the baking tray on the top rack and let the vegetables roast for 35-45 minutes.
While your peppers are roasting, boil 2lbs of a protein of your choice until tender.
I usually season my protein with the same things I season my stew with and a few additional seasonings (If you want the recipe or steps on how I boil and fry my proteins, leave a comment).
While your peppers are roasting, the aroma should engulf your throat.
Once the peppers have roasted for about 20 minutes you can flip them to make sure they get an even roast.
While your roast is cooling down, heat a deep sauté pan (w/ a lid) and add half cup vegetable oil to the pan.
Add your roast to a blender and blend till smooth and no chunks are left. It should have a pale red colour almost a red-orange.
Allow the vegetable oil to get very hot, and carefully add your pepper mix to the pan.
Careful! The pepper mix should be splashing everywhere. Cover the pot immediately. If it’s splashing, you’re doing it right.
Add 1 cup of water after five minutes, mix to incorporate then cover. Allow the pepper blend to boil on medium heat for 30 minutes.
While your pepper is boiling away, slice/dice the other half of your red onion. In this step you can add some more scotch bonnets if thats what you want. That’s your business.
Once your pepper is boiled, it should be thick and take up a darker red colour.
Transfer your pepper blend into a bowl. Add the rest of your vegetable oil to the pan. You can fry your protein in this oil (it gives extra flavour), but you’re more than welcome to air-fry your meat (which is healthier).
If you decided to skip out on frying your meat; once the oil is hot add your sliced red onions and stir.
Once the onions have sweated out for about 3 minutes, add the fresh thyme. Sauté for another 2-3 minutes.
Add your tomato paste to the pan and mix to incorporate well. Fry the mixture for a few more minutes, until the paste takes on a darker red color.
Now add your pepper blend back to the pot. Add all the seasonings and dried herbs.
At this point it is entirely up to you to season how you like. My measurements are a guide, a starting point.
Add your strained meat stock. Mix then cover the pot and allow the stew to fry on med-high heat for another 20 minutes.
Depending on how thick your stew is you might need to add more stock to loosen up the stew.
Add the protein to the stew then taste for seasoning! Adjust to your liking.
Cover the pot and let the meat cook in the sauce for about 10-15 minutes.
At this point, your stew should be ready to be devoured.
Serve with boiled basmati or long grain rice.
And there you have it, Nigerian Rice and Stew.
How did you do? How did it come out? Send Pictures to info@tokeplusfood.com
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Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, O dabọ!
Coming up NEXT:
Holiday season is upon us and I don’t know what to make… so leave a suggestion in the comment section.
Song of the week LIVE LIFE by Show Dem Camp & Tems
Album of the week NATIVEWORLD by NATIVE Sound System
Enjoy this playlist my oat milk frosted flakes by toke2.0
Inter-house Sports: Activities that give all students the opportunity to participate in representative sports such as Athletics, Soccer, Table tennis, March-past… etc (this was obtained from google)
Sweet: slang for delicious/tasty in pidgin.
I can’t wait to read the next one :)