Nigerian Inventory Recipe

Nigerian inventory is the spine of my Nigerian kitchen, an integral part of classics like jollof rice, fried rice, stew, Nigerian hen curry, and hen and meat pies, in addition to extra modern recipes and a number of different issues. It’s usually seasoned with Nigerian/Caribbean-style curry powder, dried thyme, ginger, pink onion, and garlic and might embody multiple kind of meat, usually a mix of two from choices like beef, hen, turkey, and goat. The flavors are totally different sufficient from Western-style shares, which regularly use just one kind of meat and often characteristic aromatics like celery, carrots, and white or yellow onions.

I nearly all the time make inventory as step one within the journey to a pot of Nigerian stew or jollof rice. This does add to the general cooking time, but it surely’s value mentioning that Nigerian inventory is not often simmered for so long as a Western-style inventory: the aim is to extract taste from the meat and bones, however to not construct a really gelatinous inventory by way of the lengthier technique of melting powerful, collagen-rich connective tissue into gelatin.

When making the inventory as half of a bigger recipe, I take advantage of stewing cuts, and favor ones which have bones connected like ribs, brisket, shank, and neck. This permits me to make use of the cooked chunks of meat after simmering them within the inventory, both within the dish itself (corresponding to for stew) or served alongside dishes like jollof rice after frying the meat in oil or roasting it within the oven or in an air-fryer till browned and crisp—an environment friendly, no-waste technique.

It was just a few years in the past that I began making inventory as a stand-alone recipe, in order that I may hold it frozen and have it readily available for comfort sake, particularly for recipes the place I do not in any other case want or plan to serve the meat from the broth alongside or within the completed dish. In these instances, I often use bones—most frequently half beef and half hen—which are sometimes cheaper than stewing cuts, and permit me to benefit from scraps saved from leftovers (although they’re simple sufficient to additionally purchase for affordable on the butcher). This manner, I can have a batch of inventory prepared for recipes the place I do not want the complete complement of meat as an accompaniment to the meal or the meat within the recipe itself will come from one other supply, corresponding to after I’m making meat pies, moinmoin, or Nigerian hen curry. 

For a few years, I’d discard the onions and bell pepper as soon as the inventory was cooked, however I’ve stopped doing that in favor of mixing them again into the inventory for a full-bodied, considerably thicker outcome. The completed inventory must be wealthy with spicy notes of ginger and garlic, vegetal ones from the inexperienced bell pepper, the heat of curry powder, and a few herbiness from the bay leaf and dried thyme.