Skip the Meat in your Obe Ata with this Substitute
Obe ata or ata din din is a traditional Nigerian food typically found in plenty of Yoruba households. The direct English translation for obe ata is pepper stew, however, some Yoruba speakers would translate it as red stew. Obe ata is traditionally made with meats like beef tripe, goat, cow feet, chicken, and at times fish. I'm here to show you how you can create a vegan Nigerian stew, so forget the meat and stick around for the recipe below.
Ingredients
Tools
Growing up, my family would make obe ata stew weekly. Without fail! We would make it in a large pot, refrigerate it, then warm the stew on the stove daily for dinner. The stew would be eaten with rice, plantains, okra, efo riro, beans, ewedu, and so much more. You can literally eat obe ata stew with anything.
Obe ata is blended red bell peppers, tomatoes, and onions - SIMPLE. If you want to get fancy you can add garlic and habanero pepper, which I highly recommend. When fully cooked, you're left with a dish, that is sweet, a bit spicy, and savory. It's the perfect companion for rice and veggie stews.
Oyster Mushroom - The Perfect Meat Substitute
The key to making a vegan obe ata stew is 1. Forgoing the meat (duh) and 2. Replacing it with some delectable mushrooms! My favorite mushroom to replace traditional Nigerian meats is oyster mushrooms. When fried, they provide the perfect crunch and umami to your dish.
Make sure to fry your obe ata in the same pot as you did the mushrooms so that the flavors can marry.
Speaking of umami - check out Canadian African's recent post on how a lot of West African dishes are largely plant-based friendly.
Tips:
- Easily get tomato paste out of the can with this handy trick:
2. Use a spoon to press the tomato pastes along the sides of your pot so that it can combine with the stew.
3. Or, in a separate bowl, mix tomato paste with a table spoon of hot water at a time
4. Fry your obe ata in the same pot you fried the mushrooms in to blend the flavors together
5. Its okay if your bell pepper or tomato was previously frozen - you can microwave or run it under hot water
Yummy Nigerian Obe Ata Stew - Vegan Recipe
Course: Lunch, DinnerCuisine: NigerianDifficulty: Medium6
servings15
minutes40
minutesYummy vegan Nigerian obe ata stew
Ingredients
- Fried Mushroom
1lb of Oyster mushrooms
1 tsp of salt
Vegetable oil to fry mushrooms
- Obe Ata
2 medium red bell pepper
1 medium tomato (plum or roma)
1 medium onion
½ habanero pepper
⅓ cup of vegetable oil
1 clove garlic
1.5 cups of water
1 tbs of salt
1 tbs of vegan bouillion
1 tsp of dried thyme (optional)
1 tsp of curry powder (optional)
Directions
- Fried Mushroom
- Cut the base of the mushrooms to remove root dirt, rinse
- Add your salt and toss
- Fry until golden brown over medium heat
- Obe Ata
- Blend your water, peppers, tomato, onions, garlic, and habanero pepper
- Over medium-high heat, heat your oil (make sure it's hot!)
- Pour your blended veggies into the pot
- Let fry for about 10 minutes
- Season your stew and let cook for about 30 minutes or until oil starts to peak through
- Adjust for seasoning, lower heat, and stir in your oyster mushrooms
- Partially cover and let simmer for 5 minutes
Notes
- Store up to a week and a half
I like how you fry the oyster mushrooms to flavour the oil. I will definitely have to give it a try
Thanks for this, looking forward to trying asap. And I'm super excited to have found your site searching for naija vegan/vegetarian recipes. Thank you!
Glad you're enjoying the content <3 I can't wait for your review on this recipe!