This vegetarian spinach stew is completely easy. Traditionally, this spinach stew is made with boiled eggs, dried fish, beef or grilled chicken. However I omitted adding lots of meat and stuck to just dried fish. I used dried crayfish because we use that a lot in my country. Other great substitutes could be dried shrimp. This adds flavour to the spinach stew without being overwhelming. Other kontomire recipes may also use eggs, and it goes great with boiled plantain or boiled yam. It’s a very layered recipe so enjoy!
Using palm oil for this stew is highly needed. Palm oil is derived from palm nuts and is a reddish colour with a distinct flavor which is used in African soups and stews. It makes the stew taste a hundred times better. You start off by frying the onions in the palm oil until it browns. Next up is vegetable stock, a blended tomato puree, seasonings, herbs, dried crayfish and the chopped spinach. The more herbs you add to this the better! Some also add Maggi cubes for extra flavor instead of stock. The most commonly used spinach is baby spinach leaves. Alternatives for dried crayfish are dried shrimp or anchovies. These all add a lovely flavor and smell to the stew. Once the spinach wilts, the stew is basically ready.
Other similar, layered stew recipes include this tomato beef stew and beef chili. Love spinach? Check out my 3-cheese spinach dip and spinach & arugula alfredo.
Ingredients
2-3 large tomatoes, trimmed
1/4 cup palm oil or virgin oil
2 large onions
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 habenero or scotch bonnet pepper
6 garlic cloves, peeled
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon basil/rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon parsley, chopped
2 teaspoons dried thyme or oregano
1 &1/2 cups water or vegetable stock
1/2 cup dried crayfish/shrimp (optional)
277g/8 oz spinach leaves, rinsed and roughly chopped
Instructions
- Cut one of the onions into chunks, and blend with the tomatoes, habenero/scotch bonnet pepper, 3 of the garlic cloves and 1/2 cup of the water into a smooth sauce.
- Pour the oil in a heated saucepan.
- Finely chop the remaining onion and garlic cloves and fry them in the saucepan until lightly browned.
- Add in the tomato paste and fry for another minute. Add more oil if it looks dry.
- Pour in the blended sauce from step 1 along with the bay leaves, salt, basil/rosemary, parsley, and thyme.
- Add the remaining cup of water/vegetable stock to the saucepan and let it simmer on medium-high heat for 10 minutes, covering the saucepan halfway.
- Next, add in the chopped spinach and cover the saucepan fully with its lid and lower the heat to medium.
- After an hour, the water around the stew would have evaporated and your spinach stew is ready.
- This goes best with fried or roast plantain.
Notes
Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.