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Nigerian Egg Stew

A simple stew of eggs cooked in palm oil with onion, chili pepper, and Maggi cube, served with boiled yam or potatoes.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Nigerian Egg Stew

1 serving
Time2–3 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sauce

  1. Heat palm oil in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Add the chile pepper, chopped onion, crushed Maggi cube, and salt, then stir and cook for 2–3 minutes.

Cook the eggs

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.

  2. Pour into the pan and stir gently to scramble, then cook for another 2–3 minutes, or until eggs are fully set but still moist.

Serve

  1. Serve with boiled yam, cocoyam, or potatoes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

247Calories
8 gProtein
19 gFat
12 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Onion + eggtop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,333 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into soft curds that form the main body of the stew.
Palm oil
Carries the chile and onion flavour and gives the stew its rich fat.
Onion
Adds savoury sweetness and aroma as it softens in the oil.
Ground chile pepper
Adds heat and a pungent, warming flavour to the sauce.
Maggi cube
Adds concentrated savoury, salty umami flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Scramble the eggs gently and stop while still moist. Eggs are protein that tightens as it heats; cooking too hard or too long makes them dry, rubbery and grainy. Gentle stirring makes soft curds, and removing them once just set keeps them tender.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg. 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.

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