Fresh tomatoes, peppers, and onions slowly stewed in tasty chicken broth and mixed with fresh vegetables, produce this light and hearty vegetable tomato stew. It is perfect as a healthy alternative to fried tomato stew and is sure to put a smile on your face.
Have you ever wondered why most Nigerian households eat rice and stew on Sundays? I mean, its like a tradition. Ask a hundred children living in Nigeria what their favorite meal on Sunday is, I am pretty sure 95% of them will tell you “Sunday rice”. Even when you go visiting friends or family on Sundays, you are almost certain to be served rice and stew there. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy rice and stew very much and I find myself regularly preparing it on Sundays too!. Not doing so will invite questions such as mummy why is there no rice? mummy when will you cook rice nah?
The common method of preparing tomato stew is by first frying pureed tomatoes, onions, and peppers in vegetable oil before adding other ingredients. Frying reduces the acidity of tomatoes and softens its taste. This is particularly important for tomatoes with high acidity. A lot of people (like me) enjoy the distinct taste of fried tomato stew. But the truth is that sometimes people over fry tomatoes, in fact, eh!!! they can fry the life out of the fresh tomatoes, and sometimes the tomatoes get burnt.
Presently, many Nigerians are becoming more conscious of their health and eating habits. As a result, there has been a shift in cooking techniques, with many people looking for healthier ways to cook traditional meals like tomato stew. Most times when I ask women how they cook their stew the first thing they say is “I don’t fry my stew again ooo, I just steam it”. Steamed tomato stew is quite tasty and requires less oil to cook.
What to love about this vegetable tomato stew?
There are many reasons you need to try this steamed tomato vegetable stew recipe.
- It requires less oil than traditional fried tomato stew
- It incorporates vegetables so you are getting your daily serving of vegetables
- There is less chance of the tomatoes getting burnt
- It is savory and flavourful
- It is light and hearty and loaded with the freshness of tomatoes and green veggies.
Have you ever tried to get children or even adults to eat steamed vegetables with their Sunday rice? It is not an easy task. But I am sure everyone will enjoy eating this stew because, with this recipe, the vegetables are added into the steamed tomato stew at the last moment, so they still retain their crunch and freshness. You will be able to get the kids to eat more vegetables with their Sunday rice.
There are many reasons you need to try this steamed vegetable stew. Above all, It is a lip-smacking delicious healthy alternative to fried tomato stew.
I have several recipes for non-fried tomato stew but I wanted to share this one first because it is my mother’s recipe and is dear to my heart. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Vegetable Stew::
- Chicken: You can use any part of the chicken you like. With this recipe, I used whole old-layer chicken, it has tough meat that gets tender by the time the stew is ready. it can be quite flavorsome too.
- Fresh tomatoes: Look for firm, ripe, red tomatoes
- Onions: Red onions are preferable
- fresh peppers: Fresh atarodo is best
- crayfish: Adds a depth of flavor to tomato stew
- Ugu leaves and Green Amaranth leaves: They are the hero of this dish, providing flavor, freshness, crunch, and fiber.
- salt and seasoning cubes
- palm oil: Palm oil is used in the original recipe but you can use vegetable oil if you prefer.
Directions::
Step 1: Wash chicken and season with half an onion and seasoning cubes, leave to marinate for 30 minutes
Step 2: Wash and slice tomato, pepper, and remaining onions
Step 3: Steam the chicken for 10 minutes
Step 4: Add the sliced tomatoes, pepper, onions, oil and crayfish
Step 6: Allow to boil for 30 to 45 minutes, until stew becomes thick
Step 7: While the tomato stews, wash and cut green vegetables
Step 8: When the stew has thickened to your desired consistency, pour in the green vegetables
Step 9: Stir well and remove from heat
Serve with hot white rice
Vegetable tomato stew
Precious
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 20 mins
Cook Time 45 mins
Course Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine African
Servings 6 people
Ingredients
- 1 kg Chicken Old-layer
- 1 and ½ Red onions
- 2 Chicken seasoning cubes
- 30 medium Fresh tomatoes
- 8 medium Fresh pepper
- 1 tbsp crayfish ground
- 1 cooking spoon palmoil
- 1 bunch Ugu leaves fluted pumpkin
- 1 bunch Green amaranth leaves
- salt to tatse
Instructions
- Wash chicken and season with half an onion and seasoning cubes, leave to marinade
- Wash and cut tomato, pepper and remaining onions
- Steam the chicken for 10 minutes
- Add the sliced tomatoes, pepper, onions, oil and crayfish into the pot of chicken
- Allow to boil for 30 to 45 minutes, until the stew becomes thick
- While the tomato stews, wash and cut green vegetables
- When the stew has thickened to your desired consistency, pour in the green vegetables
- Stir well and remove from heat
- Serve with hot white rice
