Buka stew

Buka stew as the name implies is a tomato-based stew popularized by street food vendors.

Though Buka stew shares a lot of similarities with the typical Nigerian stew.

But there is a stark difference bleached palm oil and palm oil is used in preparing buka stew.

Bleaching palm oil can be such a chore, the smoke gets everywhere.

You can expect a lot of cough and tears once you open the pot after bleaching the palm oil.

If you are particular about how your house smells, and wouldn’t want anything to mess it up, you can consider buying from the store instead of making it yourself.

Another trick is to add salt while bleaching palm oil, the smoke it produces is significantly less.

All that stress is worth it, because Palm oil has a way of making everything tastes better,

It’s no wonder most people especially me is obsessed with this stew.

Achieving smoky flavour

Another key feature of Buka stew is its distinct smoky flavour.

When you think of Buka stew the first imagery you get is a woman in front of several large pots of soups simmering on firewood.

That firewood is what gives Buka stew its distinct, flavour. Cooking with firewood is not only inconvenient

But for a lot of us cooking with firewood is impossible, when you consider you’re living conditions.

Grilling the soup base is an easier alternative to get that smoky flavour.A little bit of char and you’re well on your way to make a fabulous tasting buka stew.

Buka stew is so versatile, it goes well with okro soup, ewedu, rice.

In most typical Buka’s beef, assorted meats, pomo are usually used in preparing it.

Once you order any soup, from a buka joint

Be it Egusi, ewedu, okra or vegetable soup, then your protein of choice is usually drenched in buka stew.This proves its versatility.

Part of the reason it goes with any soup is that the ratio of tomatoes to pepper is lower than the traditional stew.

It almost feels like you’re eating peppered beef or assorted meat but the taste is distinctly different from peppered meat.

With regular stews, adding spices like curry, thyme, is pretty common.

But when it comes to Buka stew less is truly more

The only spice I added was Cameroon peppers, which complements the flavour of the stew.

Why you need to make your own buka stew at home

There is good reason to make this stew at home.

Most buka vendors are known to use sour and rotten tomatoes to make this stew.

They use it because it’s cheaper,though they might claim it gives better taste.

Those rotten tomatoes popularly reffered to as baje tomatoes are usually fungi infested,

This fungi are sources of potent mycotoxin that can induce cancer

Unfortunately they don’t die even when subjected to heat from cooking.

So if you’re conscious of your health, this is a good reason to save this recipe and make it with fresh ingredients.

This buka stew recipe also goes well with our plain okro soup recipe.

Ingredients needed to make buka stew

Tomatoes
Scotch bonnet peppers
Bell peppers
Chilli pepper
Palm oil
Onion
Offals
Beef
Cow hide(pomo)
Cameroon pepper
Seasoning cube
Water

How to make buka stew

1) Wash and scrape the surface of the pomo and offals with a mix of warm water and vinegar and rinse.

2) In a pot bring to a boil pomo, offals and beef cuts. Add a rough blend of onion and scotch bonnet peppers

3) Season with Cameroon pepper and bullion cubes. Set aside when meats are cooked through.

4) Bleach palmoil with a pinch of salt. And allow to cool.

5) Fry onions in bleached palmoil, and fry the beef, offals and pomo for 10 minutes.

6) Lightly oil grill pan and grill tomatoes, bell peppers, scotch bonnet peppers, chilli peppers and onions until it chars a little. Then blend with quarter cup of water.

7) Add the blended soup base into the pot with assorted meats and fry some more until the soup reduces.

8) Add in the assorted meat stock and simmer for five minutes. It’s ready

Buka stew

Buka stew as the name implies is a tomato-based stew popularized by street food vendors. This recipe shows the easiest ways to achieve authentic and smoky flavour

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Soups

Cuisine African cuisine

Calories 500 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 4 medium-sized Tomatoes
• 7 Scotch bonnet pepper
• 3 Bell peppers
• 4 Chilli peppers
• 1/3 cup Palm oil
• 2 medium-sized Onions
• 500 grams Offals
• 500 grams Beef
• 2 medium sized Cow hide pomo
• 1 tbs Cameroon pepper
• 2 bullion cube
• Salt
• 3 cups Water

Instructions

 

• Wash and scrape the surface of the pomo and offals with a mix of warm water and vinegar and rinse.
• In a pot bring to a boil pomo, offals and beef cuts. Add a rough blend of 1 onion and 3 scotch bonnet peppers,
• Season with Cameroon pepper and bullion cubes. Set aside when meats are cooked through.
• Bleach palmoil with a pinch of salt. And allow to cool.
• Fry onions in bleached palmoil, and fry the beef, offals and pomo for 10 minutes.
• Lightly oil grill pan and grill tomatoes, bell peppers, scotch bonnet peppers, chilli peppers and onions until it chars a little. Then blend with quarter cup of water.
• Add the blended soup base into the pot with assorted meats and fry some more until the soup reduces.
• Add in the assorted meat stock and simmer for five minutes. It’s ready

Keyword Buka stew