how to make Nigerian stew without fresh tomatoes
Budget friendly stew | Papaya stew
Who knew that papaya could be a good substitute for tomatoes. You could make a delicious pot of Nigerian stew with papaya. Once mashed, the papaya looks a lot like blended tomatoes. Though the papaya, has its own unique taste that could be prominent, adding more aromatics will minimize it and nobody would know that it was used. You can add some fresh tomatoes if you wish and yet again, you could use the papaya to increase the quantity of your tomato stew. The stew is delicious and tastes just like the regular tomato stew. It is a healthy and budget friendly stew. A trial will convince you and you will definitely love it.
Directions
- Peel and cut papaya into small chunks and mash them with a masher. Mashing the papaya gives it some texture that looks more like blended tomatoes. Do not blend it into a smoothie if not it will be very stressful to fry (makes the bottom of the stew burn quickly). Mash it until it looks like blended tomatoes then pour it into a strainer to drain the juice. Once the juice is drained out, use it to blend the peppers.
- Prep the bell peppers, habanero peppers, garlic, 1 1/2 onion then blend using the papaya juice as the liquid for blending. Pour the pepper mix into a sauce pan, add bay leaves and cook it down until most of the liquid is gone over medium low heat without stirring it.
- Heat up 2 or more cups of olive oil (any preferred vegetable oil) over medium heat. Once the oil is hot enough, saute 1 chopped onion until it is translucent. Then add the tomato paste and fry for about 10 minutes. Add the cooked down pepper mix and continue to fry for another 5 - 10 minutes. Stirring it frequently to prevent the bottom from burning. Add the mashed papaya, stir it in to combine. Then add curry, seasoning cubes, ginger, thyme, oregano and salt to taste (feel free to use any preferred spice). The more spices or aromatics used, the more it will taste like the regular stew, minimizing the taste of the papaya. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes. Add fried turkey and the stock, cook for another 5 - 10 minutes. The longer you cook it, the less visible the papaya becomes.
- Enjoy the stew with white rice, boiled or fried yam, bread, fries or with anything you eat the regular stew with. And nobody will know that you use papaya instead of fresh tomatoes.
Ingredients
1 medium - large ripe papaya/pawpaw
4 red peppers
2 1/2 large onions
4 habanero peppers
2 cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
2 cups olive oil (feel free to use more)
12 oz tomato paste/tin tomato
2 seasoning cubes
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
Salt to taste
3 - 4 cups turkey stock
Fried turkey