Efo Riro

Ingredients

• 500g beef chuck, cut into 3cm chunks
• 200g cow tripe (shaki), cleaned
• 3 large red bell peppers (about 500g), deseeded
• 2 scotch bonnet peppers
• 2 medium onions
• 120ml red palm oil
• 2 tbsp ground dried crayfish
• 2 tbsp iru (fermented locust beans)
• 80g dried prawns
• 80g shredded stockfish
• 2 stock cubes
• 700g fresh spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 400ml water

Before you cook

• Cut the beef into 3cm chunks and slice the cleaned tripe into strips.
• Cover the shredded stockfish with cold water and leave it to soften for 30 minutes.
• Deseed the red bell peppers and blend them with one onion and the scotch bonnets to a thick, slightly grainy paste.
• Dice the second onion.
• Rinse the iru under cold water to wash off the packing brine.
• Wash the spinach, drain it well and chop it roughly.

Steps

1. Put the beef and tripe into a heavy pot with half the diced onion, one crumbled stock cube and half a teaspoon of the salt.
2. Pour in 400ml of water and bring it to the boil over high heat.
3. Turn the heat down, cover the pot, and simmer for 40 minutes until a knife slides easily into the tripe.
4. Lift the meat out with a slotted spoon and pour the stock into a jug.
5. Heat the palm oil in a wide pot over medium heat for 2 minutes, until it thins and loosens but does not smoke.
6. Add the remaining diced onion and fry it for 4 minutes until the edges take colour.
7. Pour in the blended pepper paste and stand back from the pot, because it will spit.
8. Fry the pepper for 15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until it darkens and a rim of oil separates at the edges.
9. Stir in the iru, ground crayfish and dried prawns, and cook them for 2 minutes.
10. Add the cooked meat, the drained stockfish, the second stock cube and 250ml of the reserved stock.
11. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes so the sauce tightens around the meat.
12. Add the chopped spinach a large handful at a time, folding each one in before you add the next.
13. Cook the stew for 3 minutes only, so the spinach keeps its colour and bite.
14. Taste, add the rest of the salt if it needs it, and take the pot off the heat.