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Nigerian stew with cauliflower rice

Ayo Salau's Nigerian tomato and pepper stew over cauliflower fried 'rice', made Halal by leaving out the optional bacon or using Halal-certified beef bacon, with a vegan vegetable stock cube.

Nigerian · Main · Easy · 4 plates · 90 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The cauliflower rice is fried with 4 rashers of smoked bacon, which the recipe marks as optional, and seasoned with half a vegetable stock cube.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Smoked bacon (optional): The cauliflower rice is fried with smoked bacon, which is pork; the recipe marks it as optional. Leave it out, or use Halal-certified beef bacon instead. See Bacon.
• Vegetable stock cube: UK beef and chicken stock cubes contain animal fat or stock from animals not shown to be Halal-slaughtered; vegetable cubes labelled vegan contain no animal ingredients. Check the cube is labelled vegan, with no meat extract. See Stock cubes.

Ingredients

Paste

• 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 1 brown onion, roughly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
• 4 cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
• generous pinch red chilli flakes, plus extra if desired

Sauce

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ¼ tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ bay leaf
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• ¼ tsp allspice
• 1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
• 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
• to taste salt and black pepper
• small handful fresh basil, chopped, to garnish

Cauliflower rice

• 1 cauliflower, cut into florets
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 Halal-certified beef bacon rashers, chopped (optional; or leave out)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2.5 cm piece fresh root ginger, finely grated
• 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
• ½ vegetable stock cube labelled vegan
• to taste salt and black pepper

Method

1. Make the paste. Pulse all the paste ingredients in a food processor to a smooth paste.
2. Start the sauce. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the onion and garlic for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until softened. Add the paste and fry for 1 to 2 minutes more. Stir in the chilli powder, paprika, bay leaf, sugar, allspice, ½ tbsp salt and a generous pinch of pepper and fry for 1 to 2 minutes until aromatic.
3. Simmer the sauce. Stir in the tomato purée, then the chopped tomatoes and about 100 ml water. Cook over a low heat for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring now and then and adding a splash of water if it looks dry. Season to taste, add more chilli flakes if you like, and discard the bay leaf.
4. Make the cauliflower rice. Meanwhile, coarsely grate the cauliflower into a bowl, or pulse it in batches in a food processor until it looks like fine crumbs. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Fry the cauliflower rice. Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the beef bacon, if using, with the garlic, onion and ginger for a few minutes, stirring often. Add the cauliflower and yellow pepper and fry for a couple of minutes to soften.
6. Finish with stock. Crumble in the stock cube and pour in 75 to 100 ml boiling water, stirring to dissolve. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until dry and fluffy. Season to taste.
7. Serve. Divide the cauliflower rice between plates, spoon the sauce over and scatter with basil.

Allergens

none

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Food's 'Nigerian stew and cauliflower fried rice' by Ayo Salau, from Best Home Cook, which calls it a veggie sauce packed with Nigerian flavours (serves 4; prepare less than 30 minutes, cook 30 minutes to 1 hour. Paste: a chopped red pepper, a roughly chopped brown onion, 4 garlic cloves, a 4 cm piece of ginger and a generous pinch of chilli flakes pulsed smooth. Sauce: a chopped onion and 2 garlic cloves fried 6 to 8 minutes in 2 tbsp vegetable oil; the paste fried 1 to 2 minutes; ¼ tsp chilli powder, ½ tsp smoked paprika, ½ bay leaf, 1 tsp caster sugar, ¼ tsp allspice, ½ tbsp salt and pepper fried 1 to 2 minutes; 1 heaped tbsp tomato purée, a 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes and about 100 ml water cooked 35 to 40 minutes over a low heat. Cauliflower rice: a cauliflower grated or pulsed to crumbs and seasoned; 4 chopped smoked bacon rashers (optional), 2 garlic cloves, a chopped onion and a 2.5 cm piece of ginger fried in 2 tbsp olive oil until the bacon is crisp; the cauliflower and a chopped yellow pepper fried a couple of minutes; ½ vegetable stock cube and 75 to 100 ml boiling water cooked 5 minutes until dry and fluffy; basil to garnish). We left out the optional bacon, with Halal-certified beef bacon as our alternative, and asked for a vegetable cube labelled vegan; the published steps are followed in order. BBC Food gives no skill level; we rate it easy. Nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: a plate of jollof rice, not the finished dish from this recipe.