Ayamase aka Ofada, Designer Stew

Ayamase also known as Ofada or designer Stew, is a special type of Nigerian stew. The word "Ayamase" means wife don't cook it in yoruba. This recipe used to be the best kept recipe. Stew is originally native to the yoruba's but now eaten across most tribes in Nigeria due its recent exposure (well lets say some let out the secret). It is also called ofada stew as it is eaten with ofada rice which is the local unrefined rice (brown rice). This stew has a distinctive look, taste and aroma and  its arguably the best contribution of the yoruba's to Nigerian foodosphere(my word lol!). You will find this stew in most Nigerian parties these days accompanied by Rice.

This is how I cook mine, I am aware that there are different methods of cooking this (And I tried a few recipes before finally getting which works for me). Some recipes add fish, but I don't add fish as I find out fish changes the taste of the stew when I add it. The quantities for each ingredients will vary depending on the quantity you are cooking. I usually use a mix of both red and green peppers, you can use either its just personal preference. 

Ingredients (For a pot feeding about 6-8pple)

• 10 Tatase Ripe and 2 Unripe paprika i.e Green & Red pepper
• 4 Rodo Scotch bonnet (I like mine spicy)
• Locust beans (Iru, ogiri,or dawadawa)
• 1 cup of Palm oil (I mixed with vegetable oil later)
• 1 large Onions 
• 1 tablespoon Crayfish (You only need a little be careful)
• Boiled Eggs (Optional)
• Salt to taste
• Seasoning cubes
• Curry and thyme (optional)
• Assorted meat of your choice
  • Beef
  • Shaki(Tripe)
  • Bokoto(Cow Foot)/Pomo
  • Gizzard

Please note:

• Be cautious with onions, i.e don't use a lot of onions as I find out that this makes the stew slightly bitter. For a box of Pepper I will use a maximum of 2 large onions and half chopped. 
• The amount of Rodo you use is entirely up to you and how spicy you want it. For a box of pepper, I use about 15pieces todo, I like it spicy.
• Turn on your kitchen extractor to extract the smoke as much as possible. Switch off your smoke alarm, don't be like me. We used to live a court converted into flats(8 flats in total) and our flat was designed in a way that my kitchen had no windows and I used to dread cooking ofada. There are fire alarms in each flat, linked to all other flats for safety, so if the fire alarm in flat one went off it will trigger the central system so all other flats would hear it and we had a central alarm board where you would see  where the fire originated from. It was always very embarrassing. So please whether or not you are in the same situation please switch off your smoke alarm if you have one.

Preparation
Boil your selection of meat and set aside.

• Add seasoning of you choice (I add onions, ginger and garlic, salt and seasoning cubes when boiling. I spread on an oven tray and grill till slightly crisp or you can deep fry them if you prefer. 
• Dice them into bit size pieces and set aside.

 

Roughly blend the peppers 
Blend green peppers, red peppers, rodo and onions. I use  a food processor to get the consistency I want, plus I don't need to add any water to it. You can use a blender as well but you will need to add some water which can be later drained. Some will boil the pepper to get rid of the water and precook it at the same time. I only drain the water when I cook a family size pot, but I also pre-cook for larger quantity. Either way I always drain the water,you will be surprised how much water you can get rid of by just draining.

Roughly blended Green Pepper

Roughly blended Red peppers Rodo and Onions

Drain the excess water in a sieve, the will cut your cooking time. 
If you want to pr-boil your pepper you can start that now

Bleach the palm oil (Important to get this right or close to) 

• Place the palm oil in a pot, its best to use an aluminium pot.Its also better to have a special pot for this (if you cook ofada stew often)and place on the burner at medium heat.
• PLEASE keep the pot covered at all time. I can see through the lid of my pot because its glass if you cannot see through the lid of your pot you can time this process. Between 10- 12mins should be fine.
• This process can be tricky as you want it bleached at the same time you don't want to over bleach it. Just enough to take that redness and the  palm oil taste away. Check the pictures below to see the process. After the bubbles are gone, then you are almost there. You don't want to over bleach the oil as the process still continues during the cooking process (I did this on my first attempt and my stew tasted more like ago yin than ofada. Don't worry after a couple attempts you will be a Pro!
• DO NOT open the pot whilst the oil is still hot. If you think the oil is ready turn off the heat and leave it in the pot until its totally cooled down. 
• Please be careful if you have children and pets around, keep them away whilst doing this.
• Your oil should look like the last picture below when its done.Once you are done with this set aside. 

Now that all prep is down lets start cooking, yes are you wondering that we have not started cooking? Well Yes and No! All we have done so far is just the preparation (Lol!)

Cooking

• In a pot place the bleached oil, at the stage I add some vegetable oil. I usually mix my palm oil with some vegetable oil, so for a cup of palm oil I will add like a cooking spoonful of vegetable oil. 
• Chopped half onions and fry in the hot oil, until almost burnt but not burnt.

• Add the Iru (Locust beans) into the oil and stir.

• Next pour in your drained or pre-cooked pepper 

• Allow to cook for for at least 30- 40mins(this will vary depending on the quantity you are cooking). Stir regularly to avoid burning.
• At this point add the ground crayfish, crayfish can be over-powering so use this sparingly.

• Add your seasoning, I use knorr cubes, I then add a little curry and thyme (this is optional)
• Leave to cook till the water is almost dried. Keep stirring at regular intervals. See the difference between the 2 pictures below.

          

• Finally, add your diced orisirisi Meats, shaki, pomo, gizzard etc. 
• Add the boiled eggs at this point if you are using. TIP: I use a fork to poke the boiled eggs on both sides before throwing in the stew, this allows the egg to soak in the stew.(Yum)
• Do a final tasting add more salt or seasoning  if needed.

I tell you, I no longer take lightly the efforts of people who take time to to write a recipe or step by step of cooking something. This is no joke o. Qudos to them, it aint no easy thing to do.

Please feel free to add your comments,or questions. If you try this recipe, I would love to hear your experience. Your comments will be appreciated.

Thanks for your support.