Nigerian Fish Stew (Obe Eja Tutu)

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Nigerian fresh fish stew(obe eja tutu) is a healthy Nigerian stew that is cooked with fresh fish, tomatoes, peppers and spices. It is a great substitute for the Beef and chicken stew especially if you are watching your weight and also on a low calorie diet.


I love this fish stew because, you can prepare it with any type of fresh fish you have, although in Lagos state, most people prefer to cook with the Obokun fish (tilapia) or Catfish, Titus(Mackerel)
but any fish will do just fine.

The Nigerian Fish stew is enjoyed with most staple Nigerian food, such as, boiled rice, boiled yams, boiled and fried plantains, beans recipes and a lot more. It is not unusual to see people add the fish stew to Nigerian soups or even take fufu meals with the fish stew in place of soup.
    Well, Here’s the recipe,Enjoy!
If you like watching videos, here’s a video recipe for the Nigerian Fresh fish stew, showing you step by step, how to cook it 🙂

Ingredients for Nigerian Fresh Fish Stew
 

– 1kg Fresh Tomatoes or canned tomato puree(the watery type)
– 500ml Vegetable Oil(read recipe to see how to re-use the oil)
– 300g Fresh fish(any fresh fresh fish will do)
– 2 OR 3 medium bulbs Onions
– 5 Habanero Pepper (atarodo)
– 2  stock cubes
– Thyme and curry (1 teaspoon each)
– Salt to taste and 1 leaf of laurel(Bay leaf) 

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Quick note: you do not have to use that much oil to fry the stew. But if you like to use stew oil in other recipes, then go ahead and use that much(see how to do that below) 

Cooking directions
* First blend the tomatoes, peppers and onions. If you are making use of the thick tomato paste, simply dilute it a bit in little water and set aside.

* Pour the blended tomatoes into a pot and let it boil until the consistency is thicker and  the excess water is dried up.

*In another pot, add the cleaned cut fresh fish ,add a little water, thyme, curry ,1 stock cube and salt to taste.Parboil for 2 minutes , this helps to toughen the skin of the fish and get the fish tasty.You can also marinate the fish with these spices overnight or for about 1 hour, if you’ll rather not parboil the fish.After 2 minutes, take out the fish from the pot and reserve the liquid(fish stock).

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* Now, heat up the vegetable oil, add some onions(optional, because the blended tomatoes already has onions). Add the dried tomatoes, the diluted tinned tomatoes(derica)  and the bay leaf and fry for about 25 minutes or until the tomato loses it’s sour taste. Stir constantly to prevent burning at the bottom.

*Add the fish stock and cook for 10 minutes.

*Next, add the parboiled fish, stock cube and salt to taste. Cover and leave to simmer until the fish is  properly cooked. Now the Nigerian Fish Stew is ready.Enjoy.

***When the stew cools down a bit, scoop out the excess oil, pour into a bottle and preserve in the fridge. This fish stew oil, can be used for Nigerian soups, stew, beans recipes and yam recipes too.
The Nigerian Fish Stew is used for eating Boiled rice, boiled  and fried yams, plantain recipes and beans recipes. Enjoy!

 

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nigerian fresh fish stew, obe eja tutu

Nigerian Fresh Fish Stew

Other Related Recipes

* Bitter leaf Soup (Ofe Onugbu) 
* Nigerian Mixed Vegetable Sauce
* Nigerian Beef Stew
* Banga Soup : Urhobo Isoko Banga Soup Recipe
* Nigerian Chicken Stew
* How to Cook Okazi Soup (Ukazi Soup)
* Obe Ata Dindin(buka stew) : Nigerian Fried Pepper Stew
* How to Cook Edikang Ikong Soup 
* Nigerian Tomato Stew(Vegan Stew)
* How to Cook Afang Soup
* Nigerian Pepper Soup
* Nigerian Ogbono Soup :How to Cook Ogbono  Soup
* Nigerian Fish Stew (Obe Eja Tutu) 
* How to Cook Nigerian Egusi Soup(Ofe Egusi/Obe Efo Elegusi)

 

By Nky Lily Lete

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33 Comments

  1. Fukki
    November 4, 2020 / 10:19 pm

    Hi Nky…. Lovely recipe I must say. I’m just wondering: what if I marinate and fry my fish, then add it to the stew, rather than per boiling?

    • November 18, 2020 / 8:06 pm

      Hi Fukki, you can definitely do that, but then it woould be
      fried fish stew (Obe eja din din)
      which is also very tasty too

  2. Anonymous
    March 14, 2018 / 4:29 pm

    Hi there, i am a guy and i would really love to surprise my fiancee with a tasty stew and fish included, though am not really a pro when it comes to cooking. Please help me out.

  3. favour
    November 16, 2016 / 3:10 pm

    Enter your comment…A great job is what you have here… u av done me a lot of good… God bless you and more grease to your elbow

    • Nky Lily Lete
      November 19, 2016 / 9:25 pm

      Thanks Favour, God bless you too hun 🙂

  4. Anonymous
    May 21, 2016 / 7:52 pm

    can you explain to me why some stew comes out thicker than others.. what is it that causes this?

    • Nky Lily Lete
      November 19, 2016 / 9:24 pm

      To get a thick stew, start off by using less water when blending the tomatoes and also try to use less liquid in the preparation of the stew.Also note that the longer the stew cooks the thicker it becomes.

  5. Fiona Miller
    October 14, 2015 / 8:59 am

    Hi…i was wondering if you can advise how many this quantity serves? I am lookin to make for just one meal for two people should i divide by 3? thanks

    • Nky Lily Lete
      October 15, 2015 / 3:57 pm

      Yes you can divide by 3.

  6. Fiona Miller
    October 14, 2015 / 8:59 am

    hey…how many does this quantity serve? i am looking to just make enough for one meal for two…should i divide by 3? thanks

  7. Temitope
    August 9, 2015 / 12:30 pm

    So have always prepared fish stew but I like variety hence I came upon your website. Fortunately, we were supposed to make catfish stew and I used your method… boy it was really nice! Thank you so much for bringing more fun into cooking… definitely looking forward to trying some of the new variety of food I found here… especially the plantain porridge.

    • Nky Lily Lete
      August 17, 2015 / 12:09 am

      You're welcome dearie.Expecting your feedback on the plantain porridge.

  8. Anonymous
    January 22, 2015 / 12:13 pm

    Thank so much. I am a Cameroonian and to some extend, we have similar dishes. I have really learned a lot from you. I am sure this will improve my kitchen experience. I will keep you updated on the outcome. Thanks again. I really appreciate.

    • Nky Lily Lete
      January 23, 2015 / 3:48 pm

      You're welcome dearie,pls keep me updated and send pics too if you can.

  9. Anonymous
    December 24, 2014 / 2:11 pm

    Hmmm just made my chicken stew now and it came out perfect,followed the time frames and it came out perfect.thanks

    • Nky Lily Lete
      December 26, 2014 / 1:00 pm

      thanks for your lovely comment, I'm glad the recipe worked perfect for you and also glad you followed the recipe as it is 🙂

    • Natasha oSI
      January 3, 2015 / 12:39 am

      Please advise about the parboiled part. You say put fish in an the boil for 2 min but it took more than to minutes to start to boil what do I do? Fish is all soggy

    • Nky Lily Lete
      January 3, 2015 / 1:30 pm

      Hi Natasha you can leave it for up to 5 minutes if your cooker doesn't boil faster. Just make sure you parboil the fish a bit, so that it can absorb some of the spices.

  10. Mabel Bassey
    December 12, 2014 / 10:33 am

    Hi, please can I have an Ideal family meal time table? I.e meals for breakfast, lunch and dinnerThank you

    • Nky Lily Lete
      December 13, 2014 / 1:05 pm

      I sure will dearie 🙂

    • Anonymous
      July 12, 2015 / 2:18 pm

      Family meal time table for me 2…Tx hun

  11. yolanda lugard
    December 4, 2014 / 5:00 pm

    Just made mine fish stew now and it taste superb! Thanks a million xxx

    • Nky Lily Lete
      December 6, 2014 / 2:00 pm

      You're welcome hun 🙂

  12. Anonymous
    July 15, 2014 / 7:07 am

    I made my fish stew this morning. I think I boiled the fish longer than the perboiled recommended. But it still came out fine. Hussy had been licking since. Thanks

    • Nky Lily Lete
      August 5, 2014 / 3:30 pm

      I'm so glad you enjoyed it, thanks for your lovely feedback dearie 🙂

  13. Anonymous
    July 8, 2014 / 10:44 am

    I want learn how to prepare yoghurt

    • Nky Lily Lete
      July 10, 2014 / 3:27 pm

      Recipe coming soon 🙂

  14. Anonymous
    March 26, 2014 / 11:24 am

    when do i add the tomato paste

    • Nky Lily Lete
      March 29, 2014 / 11:07 pm

      After adding the dried out fresh tomatoes into the oil.

  15. Anonymous
    March 3, 2014 / 6:47 pm

    Help needed! Hello, I just cooked a very delicious pot of fresh catfish stew, except that; disappointingly for some strange reason, the fish especially and the stew tasted sweet like a whole cup of sugar had been added 🙁 ! Please can you or anyone help with what may've happened?I love my stews bell pepper rich and only a little or no tomatoes, so my ingredients were: 3 1/2 large bell peppers, 4 scotch bonnets, 1 1/2 tbsp tomato puree, maggi salt. And this wasn't the first time I've used this pepper ratio, so I'm suspecting the catfish. They were bought 'ready washed and frozen' from the indian shops in UK, though I still spent about 45min rewashing thoroughly with salt and then, hot water.Saving that, do you think perhaps the bell peppers I bought this time around had a sweeter than usual taste, as i've heard they can sometimes taste extremely sweet?Please help, thank you in advance.

    • Nky Lily Lete
      March 5, 2014 / 12:26 pm

      Hi dear, since you have used this ratio before and all tasted fine, I guess the prepackged catfish might be the offender here, but i'll also point out that some species of bell peppers sold in the UK are sweet and can actually be eating raw in salad. Don't throw away the stew, you can use it for jollof rice or coconut rice. You can also add more 2 more bell peppers to give it the spicy feel you want. Hope ,I was able to help dear 🙂

  16. Bukola
    September 12, 2013 / 11:44 am

    Thank you so much you have helped me a lot here, but why do i need to boil the blended pepper until the water dries out?

    • Nky Lily Lete
      September 12, 2013 / 4:15 pm

      Hi Bukola,Drying out the excess water from the blended pepper and tomatoes, helps to shorten the stew making process.If you pour the ''watery mixture'' into the hot oil, it will not only reduce the temperature of the oil, but the stew will take extra time to cook, because the oil has to, first heat up again, then dry up the ''liquid'' from the tomatoes, before going ahead and frying the stew..and that is time ,time and more time.So it's better to save the extra time and dry it out yourself. Another method is to blend the tomatoes and peppers,without adding extra water to the blender, to get a thick consistency.This method will also take extra time to cook too,because of the liquid in the tomatoes. Hope I was able to help,Thanks you so much for stopping by dear 🙂