Goat Meat Stew.. ‘Imoyo’

‘Imoyo’.. is a stew mostly sold in bukka’s, eat outs, eateries and events. It hails from the “Egun tribe” from Cotonou, Republic Du Benin (similar to the Yoruba Western Nigeria) and Ghana West Africa. It’s best cooked with Goat Meat.

Goat meat is a type of beef you have to pay attention to while cooking. It’s pepper combination has to be right. You need ingredients that would boost it’s aroma, you need to boil the meat accurately to get it tender and not too soft.
You need to be careful whilst cutting, in other not to get rid of all the bones.

It’s a good combination with, Gbegiri (Beans Soup), Ewedu(Cooked Mallow chopped leaves) and Ogbono/Apon (Grinded Cooked Dika Nuts).

It goes with meals like Amala (Yam flour), Eba (Cassava Flour), Pounded yam flour, Plantain, Bread and stew and could be a sauce for that Beef Burger, a dip for that beef samosa or fried shrimps. It’s a dynamic stew. (In this article stew and sauce mean the same thing.)

The different goat meat parts are essential to the making of this stew.
Use Goat Head, Tail, Beef and Feet.

How to cook;
1) First boil your Goat meat till it’s tender

The ingredient you need to boil this is a mix of Herb Spices such as:
Thyme, Mint leaves, Curry and White grinded pepper with Onions,Garlic,Ginger, Stork cube and Salt.

Add these seasonings and spices to your taste. If you want a measurement do not do more than a full table spoon of spices. Except for massive quantities.

It’s preferable you boil in a pressure pot as this would take less time to cook. If you cook in a pressure pot leave the meat to boil for 45 minutes. If otherwise leave for 1hr:30 Minutes. Check from time to time to ensure you don’t over cook.

Once that is done, bring meat out of water, set aside….do not pour meat stork away.

2) Blend Peppers till it’s all smooth and without bits.( Blend the quantity of pepper that is just enough for your meat to swim in).
Use a combination of Bell Pepper, Chili Pepper,Fresh Tomatoes,Tomato puree. If you are a chili lover, ensure you have more quantity of the chili than the rest of the peppers.
After blending, leave to boil for some minutes till pepper is cooked and really thick.

3) Once the pepper is done, add the boiled beef into the pepper, pour your meat stork in it, add a hint of black pepper, add your tomato puree, leave to boil for 10 mins, add a half full serving spoon of vegetable oil and palm oil, leave to finish cooking for 10 minutes.

Food is ready.

For your shopping list to prepare this…..

• Goat meat parts(Head, Tail, Feet and the Beef).
• Peppers(Bell, Chili and Fresh Tomatoes)
• Tomato puree
• Spices and seasonings ( Thyme, Curry, White pepper, black pepper, Mint, Stork cube and Salt)
• Onions, Garlic,Ginger.
• Vegetable Oil and Palm Oil