African Beef Stew is a well known mouth-watering stew. It is also a traditional West African Stew that is always prepared in most homes, in so many different ways in countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon. African beef stew is made with beef meat as the source of protein, fresh or tin tomatoes, onions, bell pepper, spices, oil.

There are few things and ingredients involved in the preparation of beef stew. Everyone has their own way of making this stew. A lot of oil is used to prepare beef stew. The oil is used in frying of the tomatoes for some time to reduce the acidity in the tomatoes.

You know what? A good West African stew is flavorful and is rarely acidic. You can remove some of the excess oil after cooking, before serving it.

Note: If you are on a weight loss journey, it is better you avoid using groundnut oil to fry your tomatoes. Just put enough water in it and cook it for a period of time, and you will get the same result.

Rice and stew were once seen as the quintessential West African Christmas meal. No Christmas table or children’s birthday party is complete without it and an array of sumptuous dishes. But times has changed drastically. People now go for fried rice as Christmas dish, but you will still see a little beef stew in the house.

This delicious beef stew has evolved into an everyday meal in basically every home, prepared with different cuts of meat and seafood and always available in restaurants and fast food menus. But to most people, Christmas would never be complete without stew.

Ingredients Used To Make African Beef Stew

• Beef
• Oil (groundnut or olive oil)
• Onion
• Fresh tomatoes or roma tomatoes(they are less acid)
• Garlic cloves
• Chopped parsley
• Celery leave
• Bonnet pepper optional
• Basil leaves
• Ginger
• Thyme
• Canned tomatoes sauce
• Curry
• Pepper
• Maggie powder or beef bouillon powder
• Salt to taste

Procedure To Prepare African Beef Stew

1. Wash and boil your beef with salt, pepper and some chopped onions in a medium pot until it is tender. It will take approximately 30 minutes or more, depending on the size of beef you cut and how you like your beef to be cooked. You can make use of a pressure pot to fasten the beef cooking process.
2. Reserve the stock for later use.
3. Add oil to the pot/pan and fry the beef for about 5-10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
4. In a blender, blend the onions, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, celery, thyme, basil  and scotch bonnet pepper tatashe
5. Gently pour out the blend of puree ingredients, and tomatoes puree in the saucepan, add curry powder, white pepper, smoked paprika and bouillon powder bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
6. Then return browned beef and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Stir the pot frequently to prevent the sauce from sticking to the pot. -Occasionally adding beef stock or water as needed to prevent burns
8. Finally, add green onions. Adjust seasonings and sauce consistency with water/stock and salt.
9. Serve warm with the desired side dish.

Read Also:The Best Okra Soup Recipe

Tips/Notes:

1. You are free to add vegetables such as carrots, carbage, green beans or green pepper
2. You can replace canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes but make sure you fry the fresh tomatoes paste until it has completely dried off before adding any stock or liquid. You may have to add more oil and watch out for burns.
3. You can leave out the roma tomatoes; it still works fine without.
4. If you don’t have beef cubes at hand, you can replace it with bone-in beef meat.
5. If you’re on a weight loss journey or you just want to cut back on the fat (oil), you can cook off the water in the tomatoes by boiling the tomatoes until all the water in it is gone. Once the water cooks off, add some oil like groundnut oil or olive oil works well to fry the tomatoes.
6. You can substitute maggi powder with chicken bouillon.
7. You can remove some of the excess oil at the end before serving.
8. You can have your stew base (tomatoes, pepper) prepared far ahead of time and store it in the freezer. It will save you a lot of time when you want to use it.
9. Alternatively, you can roast your tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and habanero peppers in the oven. This method gives your stew a more thicker colour and flavour just like this my chicken stew. Blend it and store for later use. See this how to roast peppers guide for tips and tricks.

Nutritional Information About Beef Stew

Calories = 254kcal (13%)

Carbohydrates =  5g (2%)

Protein = 25g (50%)

 Fat = 13g (20%)

 Saturated Fat = 2g (13%)

 Cholesterol = 70mg (23%)

 Sodium = 303mg (13%)

Potassium = 389mg (11%)

 Fiber = 1g (4%)

 Sugar = 2g (2%)

 Vitamin A = 705IU (14%)

 Vitamin C = 13.8mg (17%)

 Calcium = 24mg (2%)

 Iron = 2.8mg (16%)

What Can African Beef Stew Be Served With?

In most homes, African stew or beef stew is usually served with a steaming hot white rice. African beef stew is like multi-purpose. It can be served with different things below. Other recipes that go perfectly well with this African beef stew are:

• Boiled or fried yam
• Boiled or fried potatoes
• Boiled or fried plantains
• French fries
• Soft white or brown bread.
• Beans
• Spaghetti
• Macaroni
• Vegetable rice
• Garri (Eba)

 If you are serving with rice, a side of coleslaw, cucumber salad or Cobb salad would work perfectly in making the food more colourful and interesting.

How To Preserve.

Your African beef stew can be made well ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to i week but if in the freezer, it can be frozen for up to 4 months.

To freeze, let the beef stew cool off completely.

You can reheat it by microwaving it.

Read More: 10 Yummy Easy Yam Recipes For The Family

Conclusion

African beef stew is one of Nigeria’s classic dishes, one of the tomato stew recipes that must be in every household. Beef stew is made with tomatoes, red bell pepper, scotch bonnet (ata-rodo), onions and of course beef., we use soup and stew interchangeably so excuse me if I get carried away. This Beef stew is a delicious stew that you should try out. 

Thanks for reading this article up to the ending part. You can try this method and share your experience with me.

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