TOMATO KETCHUP STEW

EMERGENCY STEW. HERE IS HOW TO MAKE TOMATO KETCHUP STEW

Tomato ketchup is my emergency stew for now. Normally tomato paste comes in during emergencies like this but this time, we just got back home after two weeks of Christmas at the village. We arrived at night. No fresh ingredients to cook with but there’s tomato ketchup, baked beans and a few ingredients in the fridge. We just have to create something delicious with those. Aside noodles which no one wanted, the next quick thing to cook is boiled rice and fast stew.

Below is how the ingredients were combined to get a yummy pot of ketchup goat meat stew (Luckily, we found frozen goat meat in the freezer) and that took the stew to a different level of deliciousness.

 

TIPS FOR COOKING GOOD TOMATO STEW

Cooking tomato stew is easy if one knows a few tips like:

Boiling the tomato before or after blending;

Blending canned tomato paste with much onion and pepper before frying;

Adding well seasoned stock, whether beef stock, chicken stock, fish, goat meat, bushmeat or any stock at all is the secret to good Nigerian tomato stew.

So, below is how the tomato ketchup stew was born.

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 kg goat meat (you can use beef or any meat of choice)

1 cup vegetable oil

2 medium sized onion

1 cup tomato ketchup

2 tablespoons baked beans in tomato sauce (Optional)

3 large ripe tomatoes

1 large green pepper

One tablespoon ground fresh peppers (Scotch bonnets) or more to your taste

1 tablespoon mayonnaise (Optional)

Salt to taste

2 seasoning cubes (Bouillon)

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon oregano

 

 

TIPS FOR COOKING WITH GOAT MEAT

Goat meat is great for cooking especially Nigerian meals. That flavour is so unique. When you steam or oil goat meat to use in cooking, the following ingredients are important to help give a strongoat flavour. Unless you are making stock for Nigerian soups.  For soups, leave out thyme and oregano but make these two ingredients compulsory when you make goat meat stock for stews and sauces.

KETCHUP STEW PROCEDURE:

Before you place any pot on the fire to cook this stew, first get all the ingredients ready and set aside. Boil the goat meat with salt, thyme, oregano, seasoning cube and onion only. Let it cook till soft, then drain the stock and set aside in a separate bowl. Wash and chop the vegetables too and set aside as shown in the pictures above. Now, cooking can begin.

1. Stir fry the onion, thyme, oregano, pepper and seasoning cube for about a minute or till onion begins to brown.
2. Add the green pepper and fry for another minute
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for yet another minute before adding the mayo.
4. Stir very well to mix the mayonnaise. Add the ketchup and stir.
5. Check for taste and add the cooked goat meat. Let it simmer for two minutes before you add the stock and stir.
6. Add the baked beans if you like it. Stir gently and check again for taste. If it’s too thick, that is if the stock isn’t enough to make the stew as light as you want, you can add water. I did add some water because I like my stew with a light consistency.
7. Serve with an accompaniment; boiled rice, spaghetti or any carb of choice.