I am calling this multi color ayamase, desiner stew for a reason. At first when I think of the differnt colors I start thinking of Yusef (Allah Salam) as we Muslims call him, Joseph is what Jews and Christans call him. His father loved him very much and made him a coat that had many colors in it. Yusef (Allah Salam) aka Joseph went through hell. He had brothers that was jealous of him and they threw him in a pit because he was their father’s favorite son. He can also interpret dreams. Later his brothers sold him in to slavery and he was taken to Egypt. They also had killed an animal and taken their brother’s coat and dipped it in the animal’s blood to take back to their father so they can decieve him. From here Yusef (Allah Salam) aka Joseph was raised to promenence because of his interpetation of dreams. He was made in to a leader.
His father was lied to by his older brothers telling him their brother is dead. Later they went to Egypt to get some food because they had a surplus to find that their brother they sold in to slavery and lied to their father about being dead who they found in a position to grant their request for food. Yousef (Allah Salam) aka Joseph seen them and I know he was hurt that they came and inspite of that forgave his brothers for their treatchery.
With this story I can relate all too well because it is hard to forgive people who has done things to you in your own family or someone that you are supposed to trust. He indeed did forgive. S0 this dish is very colorful indeed just like Yusef (Allah Salam) Joseph’s coat.
Ok I told you my favorite story from the Torah, Bible and Quran. I have studied extensivly from the time I was a little girl. I was even telling my bestie just now about how I can relate.
Now I am going to tell you how I made this dish. In my big oster blender I added 1/4 cup of water for ease of blending, 1 roma tomato cut in to chunks, either 1 habenero or scotch bonnet that has been deseeded, 1 clove of garlic, 1 onion or shallot, 1 bell each of bell pepper of every color, I cut in small pieces 1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 orange and puree them all in a blender after removing their seeds and cutting in to small chunks.
The protein of choices are tripe, goats’s feet because I can’t eat cow’s feet. You can add if you want to but cow’s feet does not like me so I use goat’s feet. You can also add liver, kidneys, turkey, chicken, beef, lamb, goat, veal, cow’s or lamb’s tongue and oxtails. Clean and precook your meat ahead of time. If using tripe put a tiny drop of dish soap in a huge bowl of water and wash very well after taking the fat off of it. There are still some fatty things on the smooth side of the tripe and wash the tripe very well and use a drop of white vinegar in the water and rinse a couple of more times to finish the cleaning process of the tripe.
Also make sure your butcher cuts it for you because it can be a huge piece. If it is that big then it is more of a pain unless you have kitchen shears that it takes two people to cut tripe. I never ate tripe until I met Mr. Riaz. He held it and I cut it. There is a pakistaini dish called ojri and I will cover this in future post Inshallah.
Kidneys you have to cut them away from the yucky white part and throw the white part away in the garbage. Actually you have to take these outside after tying them up because they can cause a big stink in the house. Soak the kidneys in cold salt water wash and add white vinegar and to the bowl of water and rinse very well. Also if you are using liver wash with cold salt water and then white vinegar in water and rinse throughly. For kidneys and liver, fry them ahead of time, for chicken and turkey bake it in a preheated oven of 350F or 180C for 1 hour and turn every 3o minutes or until they are done.
For the rest of the tougher meats like lamb and cow tongue poke all over with a fork and cook in for 30 minutes in pressure cooker with 3 cups of water after the safety button pops up. Let the pressure valve lower after timer goes off and when the pressure is gone and open the cooker. If the meat is still a little tough add 2 more cups of water if the water level is low and cook for another 20 to 30 minutes. When the pressure is gone again and the meat is soft, peel the skin from the tongue and cut the meat up to use for the stew. If using lamb or goat’s tongue use up to 6 to 8 and one only for a cow’s tongue.
The rest of the meat of choice if using Is tripe, goat’s and cow’s feet add 3 cups of water to the pressure cooker and cook for 3o mintues after the safety button pops up. When time is up and the timer says time is up turn off the burner and let the pressure escape and the button lower. Open it to take a peak then you have to add 2 more cups if there is not enough water and cook for another 20 to 30 minutes after the pressure valve pops up. Then when timer dings again open it up and set this aside.
If you want beef, lamb, goat, veal, cook in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes after adding 3 cups of water. When time is up shut off the stove and let the pressure escape. After the pressure is gone. open it up and set aside.
This is how you precook your meat for this stew. You can use assorted meats if you want or just one type of meat that you wish. Not everyone is gaga about assorted meats. In this one I used tripe, goat and goat’s feet. It is totally up to you that is why it is called a designer stew.
Also do not throw the stock because you need this for the next step. What I described above is that you do not have to use every type of meat that I described it is just mearly and options with instructions on how to cook these types of meats. Once you precook your meat of choice the bulk of the job done. Without a pressure cooker this dish would be more labor intensive.
In a pot add 3 tbs of red palm oil. Some bleach it but I don’t because the smoke will make me choke. My lungs are already shot because of my asthma. Plus I have a hair trigger smoke detctor that goes off for nothing.
Add the blended pepper stew base to the pot and fry it. Add 1 pinch of dawadawa which you can buy it from an African store. Add the meat stock and cook it until It reduces. I added 1 bullion cube, 1 pinch of crayfish, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma and stir. If the stew is a little too thin add 1 tbs of tomato paste to thicken it up and add cooked meat of choice and cook for another 15 minutes on low.
Since the meat is preecooked ahead of time there is not much you can do but enjoy your meal over brown rice. Trust me if I see ofada rice I would snap it up in a hurry.
I substitue for short grain or long grain brown and also brown basmati rice. This is how I do ayamase.
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