It was Sunday afternoon, and I was just in the mood to eat some ‘swallow’and Light Fish Stew. This dish is also called Imoyo in Lagos . Now this is after about two weeks break from Nigerian soups.I am talking about the soups that requires meat, smoked fish, Pomo and the rest of the ‘orishirishi’ (entrails of the cow). What have I been eating? Well more of whole cereals, fish and vegetables. You know that feeling of wanting to eat with your hands and lick each finger one by one after the meal? That was where I was on Sunday when I decided to cook my Light Fish Stew paired with boiled Okro.
I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel Sunday is the shortest day of the week. You have barely gone to church and come back, one or two visitors drop by, and the day is gone. I hardly have time to just sit and relax and its evening. Is this just Lagos or is it the same everywhere?
So I decided it was going to be as little time in the kitchen as possible and it was going to be a meal that will fill me up till the next day. So I made Light Fish Stew with Okro with a dash of bitterleaf in the Okro which I paired with Semovita for brunch and rested my case for the day. The flavor of the caramalized onion, and the pre-cooked tomato, pepper and onion mix makes so much difference to the taste of this stew.
See if you can treat your self to this dish over this weekend.
Recipe for Light Fish Stew
Ingredients
Fresh Fish (4 -6 chunks)
Whole medium size Onion
8 pieces Scotch Bonnet Pepper (adjust based on your taste)
3 pieces fresh Tomato
Seasoning cube to taste
Curry leaves or Partmenger
1/2 teaspoon dry pepper (to season fish)
2 cooking spoons Palm oil
Salt to taste
Method
1. Clean, wash and season the fish with salt a little chopped onion and dry pepper, a little seasoning and allow to marinade for about 15 minutes the steam on low heat till the surface of the fish looks cooked, turn off the heat
2. Boil the pepper, tomato and half onion till all vegetable are soft. Initially allow the vegetable to steam in its juice, if not soft then add a little water till all the vegetables are soft. Allow to cool then blend. This method gives a nice smooth and soft taste to the vegetables
3. Heat up the oil till it starts to smoke and fry the onion till it is caramelized , that is browned.
4. Add the tomato/ pepper mix and fry . Add the seasoning and salt and cook till you get a nice tasty stew.
5. Pour in the fish stock and the fish, add a little water to the stew to bring the consistency to light and bring to boil till the fish is cooked right through. Kitchen tip: to prevent the fish from breaking up shake the pot instead of stirring with a spoon.
6. Taste and correct seasoning and voila! The stew is ready.
Recipe for steamed Okro for Light Fish Stew
Ingredients
8-10 pieces Okro
1 teaspoon ground crayfish
A little dry or chopped fresh pepper
1 table spoon finely chopped bitter leaves
Seasoning
Salt to taste
Method
1. Chop the Okro into tiny pieces
2. Bring 1cup of water to the boil, add the crayfish, pepper, seasoning and salt and boil for about 3 minutes
3. Add the Okro and bitter leaf and cook for 3-5 minutes
4. Serve with the Fish Stew and and ‘swallow’of your choice. I opted for Semovita.
Devine
Lovely! You can substitute the bitterleaf with utazi. Please what type of camera do you use? the pictures are very clar.
Hello Ngozi. It’s a Sony camera.
I will try ds without my usual iru on in d stew at least to Av a diff taste….. U mentioned curry leaves initially bt didn’t use it. And now in d okro sauce u used bitterleaf. Love the introduction of seasoning, crayfish and pepper into d okro. It will surely b a great taste…
Hi, Chichi.Thank you for the observation, I will correct this. The curry leaves is actually for the stew.
Mouth is already watery. Can’t wait to get my hands on it!
please what is the name of the fish?
Hello Aijay. The fish is white snapper. But you can use any other fish of choice.
Can I add water to steam the fish? If yes, what quantity of water do I add?
Hello Shola. Yes you can add very little water and steam on low heat.
Hi ma, you know why I’m fascinated and always glued to your blog when I’m less busy, even in the office. The ingredients are the same you will see in any market, regular ingredients that we see in the market everyday and yet, for me, I never thought I could make all these wonderful dishes with. There are some blogs out there, by the time you check the ingredients, out of 10, you will know only 4, the names are out f this world and they expect that you know them and cook with them. Secondly, I love the step by step clear pictures that shows the color and everything, so if I decide to try out something that your picture shows red and I’m seeing purple, then, there is an error somewhere lol. All the same, this is the best blog on Nigerian food that I have ever seen. You made cooking adventurous for me. I stumbled on this blog a month ago, since then, Im yet to exhaust all the menu which keeps coming daily! God bless you. I wish I could see you someday to celebrate you personally. Like I always say ma, please don’t stop posting.
Dear 1q, I just recently “re-discovered” your website yesterday – thanks to Instagram. I made okro for my husband this evening using the above steps and he told me “Babe this your okro is sweet”. In fact he lapped up the fish soup and the Okro. Yes! The pepper, crayfish and seasoning made the difference (although I went ahead to add my good old iru into the mix) 🙂
Can’t wait to try out the chicken and mushroom sauce on Sunday. And of course yamarita for breakfast tomorrow.
Thank you for keeping things simple and real nice. The pictures also help a whole lot.
PS: It’s a bit difficult searching items/recipes on the site due to the placement of the search bar. Or is it just me?
Hi Tt, . Thanks for coming back with your comments. This means so much to me. I will look at the search bar again and see. Really appreciate your comments. Thank you for following my blog.