Saturday 8 June 2013

Kelvin's Kitchen (My Ayamase Stew)



Late last week I looked in my freezer and realised I had some green pepper that mustn't be wasted , so  I decided I was going to make ayamase (wife don't cook) stew.
You are probably thinking what a name right? Well, it comes from the 'spiciness' (very hot) of the stew, no tomatoes allowed!
The next step was to make a phone call to momma for a quick brief  that lasted only a few minutes. Little did I know it was going to take me five hours to make the magic happen in the kitchen.
Assorted meat is required for the ayamase stew, so I stopped at Birmingham indoor market to get some:

Cow leg (Bokoto)
Beef












Turkey Gizzard





Stripes (Saki)







Assorted Meat










(Mum will add crayfish, Cow skin [ponmo],  and other things but this isn't London so the latter are not easy to find around here)
Cow leg takes forever to soften up, so that was the first thing to go on the cooker.
Then the beef and gizzard, and lastly the stripes.
Boil them separately as some won't require as much time to cook as the rest.
I had to pour the stock water from the cow leg down the drain (too much fat, we are trying to eat healthy out here)
Keep the stock water from the stripes and beef as this will later go in the stew.
After boiling the meat to my satisfaction, I had to cut them to desired size (depends on the size of your mouth and maybe the strength of your teeth lol).

- With the assorted meat ready, blend the pepper
- Add palm oil to a hot pan, cut some onions and add it to the palm oil. Keep an eye on the onions and when they turn brown, take them out.
- Add fresh sliced onions to the hot palm oil
- Add the blended pepper and allow it to simmer.
- After about 5 minutes, add the assorted meat and the desired amount of stock water. -Allow the pan content to boil for a few minutes and taste the stew in order to know if more seasoning is needed.  I used knorr chicken, all purpose seasoning, mixed herbs and salt to season my stew. Feel free to use whatever seasoning you are used to.

Ayamase Stew