How to prepare Pepper Stew (8 Easy Steps)

Where is the Pepper lover, those who like to cook their meals with much pepper, I know they would love to make pepper Stew? Pepper stew is a Yoruba stew popularly called Obe Ata Din Din and it is a Nigerian stew prepared with only peppers. It is red like Tomato Stew but very peppery. It is for the strong-hearted, those who can endure the hotness of the pepper, very funny. Do you want to prepare this delicious hot stew, all you have to do is to use use the ingredients listed and follow the instructions below.

 Ingredients for cooking Peppered stew

These are the ingredients for preparing pepper stew.

• 10 tatashe peppers 
• 3 cooking spoons sunflower oil (vegetable oil)
• 1 tablespoon red palm oil
• 2 medium onions
• Habanero pepper (to taste)
• 500g Shaki (Cow tripe)
• 3 pieces dry fish (mangala)
• Ogiri Okpei (iru, dawa dawa, locust beans)
• 1 handful crayfish
• 1 tablespoon Nigerian curry powder
• Salt (to taste)

Important notes on the ingredients and alternatives

It is important to take note of these before preparing the stew;

1. Tatashe is a hot and tapered Nigerian pepper. You can use sweet peppers (fresh paprika) as alternative. The difference is that sweet peppers are not spicy.
2. I decided to use only shaki and dry fish for this stew. You can add beef if you wish.
3. By choice, I used only ogiri okpei (iru, dawa dawa, locust beans). Ogiri Okpei is a traditional seasoning. You can add seasoning cubes if you wish.
4. The curry powder listed above is the Nigerian curry powder not the Indian curry powder.
5. You can use only palm oil (bleached) to prepare this stew but it is not advisable to bleach palm oil so I normally use a combination of vegetable oil and palm oil to get the bleached effect (see directions and video below).

Before you cook Pepper Stew (Obe Ata Din Din)

1. Soak and debone the dry fish.
2. Clean and cut the shaki into medium pieces.
3. Grind the ogiri okpei and crayfish with a dry mill.
4. Dice one onion and slice the other.
5. Rinse and remove the seeds from the tatashe. It is advisable to deseed the tatashe peppers because the seeds have a tendency to make your stews bitter. Also, there is a tendency that your blender cannot grind the seeds and this is unsightly when you serve your stews.
6. I also deseed the habanero peppers. I am an Igbo gal and usually the spiciness in the flesh of these habanero peppers is enough to give me the desired bite. But if you wish to set your mouth on fire, like you are eating Vindaloo please add as much habanero peppers as you wish. lol
7. Blend all the peppers till smooth. I usually cut them up a bit to help my blender.

How to prepare pepper stew

These are the steps you need to take to make pepper stew

1. Boil the shaki with the diced onion till done.
2. Pour the blended peppers in a pot and boil till all the water evaporates.
3. Pour the vegetable oil into a clean dry pot and heat it up.
4. Once very hot, pour the palm oil to give the bleached effect.
5. Add the sliced onion and stir for about half a minute.
6. Add the boiled pepper and fry (stirring from time to time) till there is no trace of water in the stew. You will also notice that the stew is streaked (see video below).
7. Add the crayfish and ogiri okpei blend, dry fish, shaki, curry powder, and salt to taste.
8. Stir very well and it is done!

Serve pepper stew with:

• Boiled White Rice
• Boiled Plantains (ripe and unripe)
• Fried Plantains
• Boiled Beans
• Boiled Yam
• Fried Yam
• White Agidi