Skip to main content
Main

Liberian Palm Oil Stew

A hearty stew made with palm oil, chicken, fish, okra, eggplant, and bell peppers.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Okra and eggplant share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 39 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Liberian Palm Oil Stew

Time20–25 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. In a large pot, heat the palm oil over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the pot and sauté until the onion becomes translucent and fragrant.

  3. Stir in the diced green and red bell peppers and chopped Scotch bonnet pepper (if using) and cook for a few minutes until the peppers start to soften.

  4. Add the chicken pieces to the pot and cook until they are lightly browned on all sides.

Simmer and finish

  1. Pour in the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover the pot and let the chicken cook for about 20–25 minutes, or until it is fully cooked and tender.

  2. Once the chicken is cooked, add the fish steaks or fillets to the pot and let them simmer in the stew for an additional 5–10 minutes, or until they are cooked through.

  3. Stir in the sliced okra and diced eggplant and let the stew simmer for another 5–7 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

  4. Season the stew with salt and ground black pepper to taste, adjusting the seasoning according to your preference.

  5. Remove the pot from the heat and let the stew rest for a few minutes before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

652Calories
56 gProtein
31 gFat
36 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Salmon100g cooked208
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Okra1 cup (100g)33
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Scotchnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Okra + eggplanttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together39 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + eggplanttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together801 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Garlic + okratop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together212 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + okratop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together715 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Palm oil
Carries flavour and colour, and gives the stew its characteristic rich fat base.
Chicken
Provides savoury meat that becomes tender as it simmers in the broth.
Fish
Adds delicate flesh that cooks quickly and flakes into the stew.
Okra
Releases mucilage that thickens the stew and gives it body.
Eggplant
Softens during simmering and adds body and mild sweetness to the stew.
Onion
Builds a sweet aromatic base as it softens and turns translucent in the oil.

The step that matters

Adding the fish after the chicken. Fish has delicate protein that overcooks quickly and turns dry or mushy. Adding it only once the chicken is tender lets it cook gently through in the final minutes of simmering.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, pepper, chicken, fish, okra, eggplant):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, pepper, chicken, fish, okra, eggplant. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesFried FishFried Fish120 recipesCreamed ChickenCreamed Chicken89 recipes