Nigerian Fish Stew Recipe
Fish stew! This simple and delicious West African stew recipe is packed full of flavour and uses a handful of everyday ingredients you may already have in your pantry. This easy Nigerian fish stew is versatile and can be served with boiled rice or paired with vegetable soups like Efo riro to accompany Nigerian swallow.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 kg fish steaks: I am using red headless but you can use hake mackerel or croaker fish.
- 2 large red bell pepper mix:
- 1 canned chopped tomatoes substitute with 6 medium Roma tomatoes
- 1 Scotch bonnet chilli
- 2 medium onion reserve ¼ of 1 onion for later
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup vegetable oil: swap with palm oil or groundnut oil
- 1 ½ tablespoon chicken bouillon powder: substitute with any stock cube of choice
Fish marinade
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Prep the fish: de-scale fish and cut into steaks, add to a bowl and rinse with water and lemon juice. Then transfer the fish to a colander to drain excess moisture.
- Marinate the fish: add garlic granules, onion powder, ginger powder, parsley and 1 teaspoon of bouillon powder to the fish and mix to combine. Cover it with a cling film and marinate for at least 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, grill the fish for a total of 20 minutes, 10 minutes on each side
- While waiting for the fish to finish grilling or frying, blend the peppers and bring to boil on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
- Cook the stew: place a pan on medium heat, add vegetable oil and heat until hot. Add chopped onions and stir fry until translucent. Then carefully add the boiled pepper to the oil and bring to boil for about 10 minutes.
- Season the stew with salt and bouillon powder to taste, stir to combine and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or until you can see the oil floating on top of the stew.
- Add the grilled fish to the stew and carefully mix to combine. Shred fresh basil or scent leaves to the stew and cover the pan with its lid. Continue to cook on low heat for another 5 minutes. Take it off the heat and serve immediately.