A vegan take on a popular Nigerian stew. Tempeh and mushrooms in a rich and spicy tomato sauce with a deep umami flavour.
4.41 from 5 votes
Prep Time 15 minutesmins
Cook Time 1 hourhr
Course Main
Cuisine Nigerian
Servings 4
Ingredients
Tomato Sauce
2tins tomatoes2x400g
1brown onionroughly chopped
1red bell pepperroughly chopped
1Scotch bonnetmore or less depending on preference
4clovesgarlic
20gfresh ginger
Stew
20gporcini mushrooms
300gportobello mushroomscut into bite-sized pieces
250gtempehcut into bite-sized pieces
½teaspoonsmoked paprika
6tablespoonsvegetable oil
1brown onionthinly sliced
1medium carrotcut into thin disks
1teaspoonsweet paprika
2teaspoonsNigerian curry powderor Jamaican
1teaspoonfreshly cracked black pepper
1teaspoonsalt
1teaspoondried thyme
1red bell pepperthinly sliced
300mlvegan beef stockor vegetable
Instructions
Add all the ingredients for the tomato sauce to a blender and purée until smooth. If you want less heat in the sauce, remove the seeds from the Scotch bonnet.
Soak the porcini mushrooms in 100ml of boiling water and set aside to rehydrate.
Season the tempeh cubes with salt and pepper and ½ teaspoon smoked paprika.
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, fry the tempeh until golden all over, around 8 minutes.
Remove the tempeh from the pan then add the portobello mushrooms and stir to coat them in the oil. Let the mushrooms cook, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has been released. This will take 10 to 15 minutes.
Optional step: to remove more liquid from the mushrooms and to give them a meatier texture they can be pressed using a flat bottomed potato masher.
Remove the mushrooms from the pan and add the remaining oil with the sliced onion and carrot. Add a pinch of salt and sauté until the onion is soft and translucent, around 4 minutes.
Now add the blended tomato sauce along with the sweet paprika, curry powder, black pepper, salt and dried thyme. Remove the porcini mushrooms from the soaking liquid and cut them into small pieces then add to the pan. Carefully pour the soaking liquid into the pan watching not to add any grit that's settled on the bottom.
Stir everything together then bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Partially cover the pan and let the sauce reduce until it's thick and the oil is starting to pool at the sides of the pan, stirring occasionally. This will take around 30 minutes.
Add the sliced red bell pepper, cooked mushrooms, tempeh and the vegan beef stock. Depending on how reduced the tomato sauce is more or less stock might be needed.
Let the stew continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning then serve hot with some white rice.