Recipe-1 › Curries of the world › Nigerian chicken stew
Nigerian chicken stew
The red stew of Nigerian homes: tomatoes, red bell peppers and scotch bonnet blended and fried down in oil, then simmered with chicken.
Too hot for you? Use half the chilli (powder, paste or fresh chillies) and leave out the green chillies.
New here? How this page works
Recipe-1 is one simple curry recipe in nine steps: fry onions and green chillies, add your vegetables or meat, add chilli powder and turmeric, then water and salt, and boil. With small changes the same nine steps make curries from all over the world.
This page takes those nine steps and shows what to change to make Nigerian chicken stew. You don’t need to read anything else first: every base step is written out below. The changes are worked out on paper from what is typical for this dish; not yet kitchen-tested. Cooked it? Tell others how it went.
Green: the base recipe step (crossed out = do not use it for this dish)Red: what to do instead for Nigerian chicken stew
See the full base recipe (with timers and tips) · See all curries on the world map
You’ll need
The amounts change with the number of people; cooking times stay about the same (use a bigger pot for more). Taste as you go: you can always add more chilli or salt, but you cannot take it out.
Main ingredient: 1 kg Chicken (or beef), boiled first with onion, thyme and stock cubes.
From the base recipe
- 2 Onions
Green chilliesnot used- 100 ml Cooking oil
Red chilli powdernot usedTurmericnot used- 1 tsp · 250 ml Salt and water
Ginger garlic pastenot usedCloves, cardamom and cinnamonnot usedGaram masala (optional)not used
Add for Nigerian chicken stew
- 4 · 3 Tomatoes and red bell peppers, blended
- 1 Scotch bonnet pepper
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 tsp · 1 tsp Thyme and curry powder
- 2 Bay leaves
Leave out
- Green chillies
- Turmeric
- Whole spices
The nine steps, with the changes
Where a step has a red line, do the red line and not the crossed-out green base step. Steps with only green are done just as in the base recipe.
Base step: do not use
Cut onions and chillies.Nigerian chicken stew: do thisSlice the onions; use scotch bonnet instead of green chillies.
Base step: do not use
Fry in some oil for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.Nigerian chicken stew: do thisFry in oil until soft.
Base step: do not use
Cut the vegetable(s) of your choice.Nigerian chicken stew: do thisBoil the chicken with onion, thyme and stock until almost done; keep the stock.
Base step: do not use
Add them and fry for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.Nigerian chicken stew: do thisFry the boiled chicken until golden, then add the tomato paste and the blended peppers.
Base step: do not use
Add red chilli powder and turmeric.Nigerian chicken stew: do thisAdd curry powder and thyme instead of chilli powder and turmeric.
Base step: do not use
Keep frying until just before they start browning.Nigerian chicken stew: do thisFry the pepper mix 20–30 minutes until the oil floats on top.
Base step: do not use
Add some water.Nigerian chicken stew: do thisAdd some of the chicken stock.
Add salt.
Base step: do not use
Boil until the gravy is as thick as you like.Nigerian chicken stew: do thisSimmer 10 minutes with the chicken and bay leaves.
Serve: With white rice, boiled yam or plantain.
For meat and seafood, make sure it is cooked through: chicken until no pink remains inside; mutton, goat and beef need long, slow cooking.
Food marks, as on packaged food in India: vegetarian · non-vegetarian (meat, fish or egg). Dishes with both marks can be made either way.
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