How To Make Ofada Sauce!


Ayamase stew which is also known as Ofada stew or designer stew is native Yoruba stew served with ofada rice (unpolished brown rice), it is usually prepared with green peppers and sometimes with the combination of green and red bell peppers.

Bleached palm oil is also an important ingredient for making ofada stew or ayamase stew as it is used for frying of the veggies and it adds a very nice aroma to the sauce as well.

Locust beans or Iru (dawadawa) is also used in this stew, it is a type of fermented spice that is commonly used as a taste enhancer in soups, sauces and stews and this adds a very pleasant taste to Ayamase stew.

To make this delicious Ofada stew you will need:

1. 6 large green bell peppers (green Tatashe)
2. 10 green chilli peppers, deseeded
3. 2 medium red onions, thinly chopped
4. 3 green scotch bonnet peppers (Ata Rodo)
5. 1 kilo of assorted meat (goat meat, beef shaki and chicken)
6. Boiled eggs, as desired
7. 4 Tablespoons locust beans (Iru, dawadawa)
8. 1½ cup palm oil
9. 1 tablespoon of ground crayfish
10. 1 cup of stockfish or dried/smoked fish
11. 2-3 seasoning cubes (maggi)
12. Salt to taste
13. Ginger and garlic to taste, optional

The above is ofada stew (ayamase stew) video please watch to the end and also follow the steps below on how to make this.

How to prepare Ayamase stew (ofada stew)

1. Add onions, pepper, maggi, and salt to the assorted and cook until tender. Set aside.
2. Combine all the peppers, onions into the blender with a little water and blend into a chunky consistency.
3. Pour the pepper mix into strainer to remove excess liquid, this will save a lot of time, however, you can simply boil this in a pot until the
water dries.
4. Add palm oil into a stainless steel pot, cover the lid and place on heat to bleach on low heat for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, put off heat
and let the oil cool completely before you open the pot. The palm oil must not turn black, once you notice a clear texture, that should be
fine.
5. Add the cooked meat into the oil and fry until golden and then remove from the oil and set aside.
6. After taking out the meat, add ginger, garlic, chopped onion and locust beans and stir fry for 1 minute or until translucent and you could
perceive a sweet aroma.
7. Bring the pepper mix into the oil and stir-fry until it is soft and you notice patches of oil at the top, this should take about 10 minutes.
8. At this point, the pepper may have absorbed all the oil, you can add 1 cup of the meat stock to it instead of adding extra oil.
9. Once the stew has come to a boil, season it with some seasoning cubes, 1 tablespoon of ground crayfish, stir, and then cover to cook
gently for 5 minutes more.
10. If the sauce appears too thick, add a little water more meat stock and stir to combine, if you have a very rich broth, you won’t need much
of the seasoning cubes so that your sauce don’t turn out salty at the end.
11. Add the boiled eggs, stir and taste for salt and adjust if need be, then put off heat; Ayamase stew is ready.
12. Serve ayamase stew/ofada sauce with boiled ofada rice or regular white rice and enjoy your meal.

from Bola Esho's Blog

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