Nigeria's tomato crisis: Can you make stew without tomatoes?
Nigerians love their tomatoes, so
their culinary life has been hit hard by soaring prices across the
country caused by a pest wiping out crops.
In some markets you can pay as much as $2 (£1.40) for a single tomato.The prices have been steadily rising since March - and last month a state of emergency was declared in the tomato sector of one state.
"This tomato crisis is no joke. My mom's friend grows tomatoes and sent us a little box and my mom looks like she's going to cry," one tweeter said this week.
Nigerian food blogger Dunni Obata tried to help out by tweeting a link to her tomato-less stew.
"@DooneysKitchen to the rescue… hoping the price of substitutes don't go up," one person tweeted.
Other recipes are also being shared, including by Olapeju Aiyegbayo, who runs the catering company Zurielle's Pot in Ibadan.
She has helpfully posted videos on her Facebook page, showing how to prepare them.
Though not everyone who has experimented with the various recipes has been so complimentary about how things turned out. One man complained, not naming names: "This lady just messed up my rice and beans with this tomato less stew... shame on everybody responsible for this tomato crisis."
Ms Obata explains why stews are ubiquitous in Nigerian cooking.
"Wherever in the world a Nigerian is, there is bound to be a stew in the fridge. Even people who don't cook, manage stew," she explains on her blog Dooney's Kitchen.
Nigerian chef and food writer Nky Iweka, who calls herself "the executive Mama Put" - after the colloquial name for food stall vendors in Nigeria - said someone once told her that "Nigerian tomato stew (sauce to the rest of the world) is one of the world's culinary wonders".
"I'm inclined to agree. I use it in all manner of ways: To make bolognaise, as a pizza base, to eat with boiled rice, plantain or yam and of course to make our beloved jollof rice," she told the BBC.
"So when I read about the tomato shortage in Nigeria, I understood their despair."
BBC journalist and tomato farmer Nasidi Adamu Yahaya explains:
The pest is actually a moth called the Tomato Leaf Miner, or Tuta Absoluta and it first appeared in early March. It has mainly affected states in the north: Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and Katsina, but has also caused mayhem in Plateau and Lagos.
I have some land in Kano, from which I can produce about 30,000 tomatoes - that's about 2,000 big baskets. I was lucky because I planted early and managed to harvest all the fruit by mid-March, but you can harvest until May and those who planted a little later, like my best friend, have lost nearly all their crop.
The moths ravage the whole plant - leaves, tomatoes and stalk. They're like termites devouring wood.
It has cost the sector millions of dollars and affected 80% of farmers. But there is hope for the next season, as the Nigeria's National Research Institute for Chemical Technology has told the BBC that it has developed a pesticide that should eradicate the ravenous moths.
However, Ms Iweka, says the fact that tomatoes have become a culinary staple is ironic as they are not native to Nigeria.
"Traditionally, we would not have used tomatoes in any of the wide variety of dishes we have: Yam pottage, bean casserole, okro soup, oha soup, onugbu soup, nsala soup."
It's the love of rice that has led to the tomato anguish, as "most Nigerians eat rice at least once a day", she says.
"However, we do have other sauces that can be eaten with rice: Ayamase stew, thickened fisherman's soup, curry, various vegetable soups, bean casserole."
And the four quoted cooks have given the BBC permission to reproduce their recipes to help Nigerians through this time of "tomato-geddon".
Ingredients: Two red bell peppers (about 550g); seeded and quartered, one large onion (about 200g); peeled and quartered, one small onion (about 60g), peeled and thickly sliced, one scotch bonnet chilli, about 8g (or to taste optional); four tablespoon fresh thyme; 300ml groundnut or other vegetable oil.
Instructions
Liquidise the bell peppers, quarter onion and chilli (optional) with little water - aim for a fairly chunky mixture. Place oil and sliced onions in a pan and fry until the onions turn black. Remove and discard them. Turn down the heat and fry the tomato puree for a minute or so and then add the thyme and liquidised vegetables.
Continue to fry the stew on a low to medium heat for about 20-30 minutes and the mixture will reduce. You will know it's ready when the oil floats to the top. Any additions such as cooked/fried meat, fish or chicken should be made now. Cook for a further five-10 minutes to heat them through. Drain the oil and serve
Ingredients: Three onions; eight to 10 potatoes; one medium cabbage; six carrots; four cloves of garlic and a few chicken breasts.
Instructions: Boil chicken pieces and set aside, then boil some small potatoes, drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat, add onions, garlic and carrots. Cook for eight minutes stirring continuously then add a small amount of chicken broth, now add the chicken pieces and the boiled potato. Add salt and seasoning. Reduce the heat and mix in corn flour with water and pour in. Then add some shredded cabbage and allow to simmer for few minutes. Serve with rice, spaghetti or anything you like. Serves five.
Dunni Obata's tomato-less stew
Instructions: Blend all the ingredients into a smooth paste then check the taste. Here you can add more ata rodo (scotch bonnet) if it's not hot enough. Place in a pot and bring to the boil this intensifies the pepper mix and develops the rich red colour. Heat the oil and add chopped onions, add more iru if you want and extra garlic. Add the boiled pepper and allow to fry until thickened. Lighten with beef stock or fried meat. Taste and then add more seasoning as need
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