1 kg of oxtail (if you use stewing beef or lamb, just reduce cooking time by 15mns)
500g okra
300 g of small to medium-size shrimp
375 ml of palm oil (My friend Mariama once made a version of this dish WITHOUT palm oil. It was quite delicious! Try it.)
Salt
Recipe for the Nokos (Wolof word describing a tasty mixture of ingredients):
1 large onion
1 large fresh chili pepper or 1 tablespoon of dried chili (or more if you'd like)
2 maggi cubes or other brand of bouillon cubes
1 tablespoon black pepper
Note: the ingredients below are harder to find if you do not reside in West Africa but there are a few subsitutes or you can skip them for a less layered taste to the dish.
1 piece of gejj or dried fish (you can use spicy dried shrimp from the Chinese store)
1 piece of yeet (flesh from a dried shellfish, found in the coastal waters off Senegal); you can do without this one but to be honest, this mollusk is an acquired taste so you may not miss it.
1 tablespoon of netetou powder (Netetou is the fermented fruit of the Nere tree which grows in many parts of West Africa. I believe it is called soumbala in Mali, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire, dadawa or iru in Nigeria and Ghana, afiti in Togo and Benin. It is very high in amino acids, iron and vitamin C). Warning: it has a VERY strong smell but adds such incredible flavor to stews.
1 tablespoon of crayfish powder (i discovered this ingredient in Nigeria and decided to add it to the recipe)
Place the meat and yeet + 1 litre of water with some salt in a pot and bring to a boil
Put all the Nokos ingredients in a mixer and add mixture to the meat. Use same mixer to chop up the okra and set aside.
After 30 mns, add palm oil, netetou and crayfish powder
After 30 mns, add shrimp
After 15 mns, add okra mixture (do not stir too much, just enough to incorporate okra)
Cook for about 20mns on reduced heat
Serve with steamed white rice
Serves 6
