How To Make Fish Stew

Fish Stew is a nutritious Nigerian stew that is made with fresh fish. It is a great substitute for the Beef and chicken stew especially if you are watching your weight or on a diet.

It is easy to make and fish stew can be prepared with any type of fresh fish you have, be it tilapia or catfish. Any fish will do just fine.

The Nigerian fish stew is eaten mostly with boiled rice, boiled yams, boiled and fried plantains, beans
recipes and a whole lot more.

Ingredients for Nigerian Fresh Fish Stew
• 1kg Fresh Tomatoes or canned tomato puree
• 100g Tinned tomato paste (optional)
• 1 litre Vegetable Oil
• 300g Fresh Fish
• 2 OR 3 medium bulbs Onions
• 5 Habanero Pepper (atarodo)
• 2 Stock cubes
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• 1 teaspoon Curry
• Salt to taste

Cooking directions
• First blend the tomatoes, peppers and onions. If you are making use of the thick tomato paste, simply dilute it a little bit in water and set aside.

• Pour the blended tomatoes into a pot and let it boil until the consistency is thicker and the excess water is dried up.

• In another pot, add the washed cut fresh fish, add a little water, thyme, curry, 1 stock cube and salt to taste.

• Parboil for 2 minutes, this helps to toughen the skin of the fish and make it tasty. Or you can marinate the fish with these spices overnight or for about 1 hour if you don't want to parboil it.

• Sieve the fish from the pot (and fry if you want to) then keep the stock aside (fish water). Now, heat up the vegetable oil, add some onions and fry then.

• Add the cooked tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes then add the diluted tinned tomatoes and fry for about 20 minutes or until the tomato loses it's sour taste.

• Stir constantly to prevent burning at the bottom. Add the fish stock and cook for 10 minutes. Next, add the parboiled fish, stock cube and salt to taste.

• Cover and leave to simmer until the fish is properly cooked. That's it, the Nigerian Fish Stew is ready. Enjoy.

• When the stew cools down a bit, scoop out the excess oil, pour into a bottle and preserve in the fridge for later use.

• This fish stew oil, can be used for Nigerian soups, stew, rice recipes, beans recipes and yam recipes as well.

The Nigerian Fish Stew is usually served with boiled rice, boiled and fried yams, plantain recipes and beans recipes.