Nigerian Tomato Stew

A basic Nigerian tomato stew

Ingredients:

🍅 1.6kg fresh Plum Tomatoes 

🍅  200g tinned tomato paste: (or watery tinned Tomato Puree: 400g) - optional

🧅  1 onion

Vegetable Oil: a generous quantity (see the video below)

Directions:

Wash and blend the fresh plum tomatoes. Remember to remove the seeds unless you are sure your blender can grind them very well.

Cut the onions into small pieces.

Pour the fresh tomato blend into a pot and cook at high heat till almost all the water has dried. If you have the watery tinned/boxed tomato puree, add these to the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook till the water in the tomato puree have dried as much as possible.

Add the vegetable oil, the chopped onions and the thick tomato puree that you mixed (if it's the puree you are using). Stir very well.

Fry at very low heat and stir at short intervals till the oil has completely separated from the tomato puree. A well fried tomato puree will also have streaks of oil, unlike when you first added the oil and it was a smooth mix of the tomato puree and oil. Taste the fried tomato puree to make sure that the raw tomato taste is gone. With time and experience, you can even tell that the tomato puree is well fried from the aroma alone.

If you are happy with the taste and you are sure that all the water has dried as much as possible, pour out the excess vegetable oil, then add the well fried tomato stew to your cooking.

If you are not using it immediately, leave to cool down, dish in containers and store in the freezer.