Nigerian Stew

My brother has a friend from NYIT who is from Nigeria. His name is Lucas and he came over on the weekend and cooked a recipe from his childhood in Nigeria. Being in the US, we had to improvise with American spices, but the end result is still wonderful! It's also a great dish to feed a crowd - we fed 10! I am going to scale it down a bit here to make it more user-friendly. I am also cutting and pasting most of this from an email I received from Lucas with the recipe.

I would recommend cooking the rice, potatoes and veggies ahead of time (just boil or steam everything) and keep them warm in the oven for when it comes time to serve.

1 1/2 lbs stewing beef, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 onion plus another onion to cook with the meat
2 large tomatoes
2 bell peppers (one green and one red)
Habenero peppers (optional, use for spice)
8 oz tomato paste
1 tsp thyme, curry powder and powdered ginger (two batches of this mixture)
2 Maggi bouillon cubes
Olive oil

Cooked rice
Cooked small Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and halved
1 lb string beans
1 package frozen corn

Puree the onion, tomatoes and peppers in a blender until smooth. Set aside.

Slice the second onion into small strings. Add some olive oil to a pan and brown the meet with the sliced onion and the dried herb mixture. Make sure to reserve the all the juices!

In a medium pot, heat 6 TBSP of oil over medium heat. Add the tomato paste to the oil and cook for about 3 mins, then slowly mix in the blend of onions, tomatoes and peppers. Then cook the mixture for about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add about half a cup of water to the mixture and leave to cook at slightly more than medium heat for about 15 mins.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl with a tiny amount of warm water, mix the dried herbs. Add the mixture to the stew and mix thoroughly. Cook lidded for about 3 minutes and then add 2 large cubes of Maggi seasoning dissolved in a very small amount of hot water. You can also add the juices from cooking the meat at this point.

** This is a good time to taste the stew to see if it's turning out as it should. Also, at any time while cooking the stew, go ahead and add a bit of hot water if you feel it needs some.

Pan-fry the cooked meat in some olive oil until nice and golden brown, add to the stew and cook, lidded, for an additional 20 minutes.

Serve with the rice, potatoes, beans and corn.

Note: Lucas also recommends doing this with salmon!!