By Efo Riro – The African Stewed Spinach, also popularly known as Efo Riro, is a one-pot stew with layers of flavor. It requires quite a number of ingredients but little work from the cook putting it all together (as long as you already have all your ingredients prepped).
EFO RIRO – STEWED SPINACH
Efo riro is derived from the Yoruba language in Nigeria. Efo means ”Green leafy vegetable” or ”spinach”, and riro, means ”to stir”. So basically, Efo riro simply means ”stirred leafy vegetable”. However, we just don’t stir this by itself, we stir it in a rich pepper sauce which is loaded with Meat, Crayfish, Dry Fish, and other Meat or Fish of Choice.
A fermented traditional condiment called Iru (locust bean) is usually added to this stew which adds a wonderful depth of flavor to the stew. However, a number of people try to shy away from this super healthy condiment because of the smell. If you are not a fan of Iru you can skip it.
Also, Crayfish is almost a must for the traditional Yoruba style Efo riro, however, if you don’t have access to it, I will suggest you use smoked Fish or Smoked Turkey to give your stew the much-desired umami flavor without adding seasoning cubes.
To make a good Efo Riro (stewed Spinach):
Get all your ingredients together: The boiled Meat, Fish, Turkey, Chicken, or any other choice of protein.
Heat up the Oil: I like to heat up my Oil a bit. I’m not a fan of bleaching palm Oil so I simply add the Onion once the Oil is hot and while the Onion is cooking in the Oil, the palm oil too is cooking. That does the trick for me.
Fry the blended peppers: I wish the computer has a function to show emotions – emoticons are not strong enough to show the type of emphasis I’m talking about :). My emphasis is on fryyy… You need to fry till the water in the sauce evaporates and the sauce is reduced. Please remember to pay attention to the sauce, you don’t want it to get burnt, so be sure to stir constantly till you achieve that thick consistency.
Season and add the Meat and Spinach: The sauce should be seasoned at this point with all those nice spices and condiments. Add the Meat, Stockfish, and dried Prawns or your choice of protein. Let it cook so that it can absorb all the yumminess of the sauce. Then, stir in the spinach.
Finally: Adjust the seasoning if there’s a need to. Remove from heat and serve.
Watch Video on how to make the African stewed Spinach:
Reasonable Substitutions for the stewed spinach:
I have been asked several questions about reasonable substitutions in making Stewed Spinach. Here is my take on this
Can Vegetable Oil be used in making stewed Spinach?
Ideally, Palm oil is used for making Efo riro. This will give you the indigenous flavor. However, I’m aware that Palm oil can be difficult to get in some places. In this instance, you can use vegetable oil as your option.
If you don’ know what palm oil is, feel free to read this article to give you more insight.
Can I skip dry fish?
Absolutely! Feel free to use Beef, Chicken, Turkey, or any protein of your choice.
Must I add locust bean?
As much as the traditional stewed spinach calls for locust bean, you can skip it if you can’t find it.
Notes:
- I usually blanch my Spinach before I stir them in the sauce – I do this by adding the cut spinach in hot boiling water on high heat then I take it off the heat immediately it reaches its boiling point. I then pour the spinach into a sieve and I rinse it under the coldest water I can get from the tap a couple of times in order to stop the cooking process.
- When frying the Onions, don’t leave them to burn. Once it turns a bit brown, continue with the rest of the process.
- Remember to drain off as much water as you can from the Spinach. (Excess water from the Spinach can cause your stew to be too watery)
- I don’t always use tomatoes in cooking my traditional stewed spinach. However, I see no reason why it can’t be added especially if you are making a lighter version of this stew.
- I love to use coarsely blended peppers for my stewed Spinach so using a food processor rather than a blender will give you that coarse consistency.
- This stew is not a vegan stew, nonetheless, for a vegan version, I will advise you to use fried Tofu or mushrooms or a combination of both.
- It’s very important not to leave the spinach too long on the stovetop, otherwise, the Vegetables will turn brown and lose most of their nutrients in the water.
For my sauce, I used:
- 3 large red bell peppers,
- 2 scotch bonnet
- 1 small onion
Stewed Spinach is often eaten with Fufu – a general term used to describe swallow foods like Eba (made with garri), Amala, Plantain Fufu, Pounded Yam, and more. On the lighter side, you can serve this over Rice or boiled Puna Yam.
Other African soups and stews you might want to try:
- The African peanut soup
- Egusi soup
- Nigerian Chicken Stew
- Ogbono soup
- catfish stew
- Okro soup
- Okro pepper soup
- Goat meat Pepper soup
- Gomen Wat
- Doro Wat
Spinach Stew (Efo Riro)
Ingredients
- 3 large red bell peppers
- 2 scotch bonnet
- 1 small onion
- 1/4 cup Palm oil
- 2 tablespoons crayfish blended
- 2 tablespoon locust bean
- 1 bouillon cube
- Salt to taste
- 1.5 lb spinach blanched
- 1/2 cup stock Fish About 2 handfuls shredded
- 1 prawn about a handful, Dried
- 1 onion medium size diced
- 1 lb Beef A mixture of Beef, Tripe, and cow Skin.
Instructions
- Blend the bell peppers, scotch bonnet, and onion.
- Preheat the palm oil – I like it hot but not bleached. Add the diced onion and stir-fry till golden brown. Add the blended peppers and fry until the sauce thickens up. It takes about 15 minutes, and you need to stir constantly to prevent burning.
- Stir in the crayfish, locust bean, bouillon cube, and salt to taste. Stir until everything is well blended.
- Add the meat, stockfish, and dried prawns and add some water or stock to thin out the sauce, then cover it up again and allow it to come to a simmer.
- Finally, add the spinach and mix well. Then leave it to cook uncovered for about 2 to 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Notes
- Serve with your favorite food like rice and yam, or swallow foods like Amala, Fufu, or eba!
Nutrition
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thank you for the recipe.
how many people can this recipe serve or to put it another way how may servings in this recipe?
observations- why did you not de-head the smoked prawns?
also instead of rough blending the peppers etc,can one roughly chop manually and also use tomatoes?
Thanks in anticipation for your response
Hi Ireti, the recipe serves 5 people (it’s stated on the recipe card).
I leave the head on deliberately. That’s where a lot of the flavor sits, and they release it into the sauce as it cooks. You can remove them if you’d rather not deal with them.
A food processor speeds the process, but you can chop manually if you prefer.
Tomatoes are not traditional; however, you can use them, but bear in mind they release a lot of water, so cook them down properly before adding the spinach (greens), or the sauce will end up thin.
Happy cooking! 😊
This is the second recipe I have followed, in less than a week, with incredible results. The beans was delicious and this efo also mouth watering. Thank you for the simple, uncomplicated, and non-intimidating recipes. I am happy to have found you my new Nigerian cooking maestro. I used oyster mushrooms and form tofu as vegan protein.
Need to find some iru for next time.
Thanks for the feedback.
I would just like to say thank you thank you thank you x 100000! I’ve used several of your recipes and they never disappoint. My boyfriend is Nigerian and introduced me to the food and I couldn’t help but want to learn how to make it myself. This recipe, like many others, is just amazing and he is constantly impressed with how I’ve learned to cook Nigerian food and I always tell him to thank Chef Lola! 🙂
Wow. Thank you, Melissa. My greetings to your boyfriend.
Been wanting to add a comment for a while now. Let me just say your recipes are a big part of my family menu. My wife and kids enjoy every meal I’ve done with your recipes. Thank you so much
You are welcome, Tolu Daniels.
Pls what can I use in place of Spanish
You can use Kale or collard greens but you might need to cook a little longer because their leaves are quite tougher than that of spinach.
This might be the best stew I’ve ever eaten! This was my first time cooking with iru and I love how rich and earthy it is. Thanks so much for sharing, Chef Lola!
You’re welcome, Ariel.
Delicious. I used shrimp and salmon cause I don’t eat meat. Easy and simple dinner
That’s so great, Mari. I am happy it came out well.
It turns out sooo good. I think I am eating all the whole pot tonight with nothing else. Thank you!
You are Welcome, Kay. 👌👌
Purrfeeeccctt the meal turned out tops. I did it with plantain and I also added tomatoes to mine
How do you determine the quantity of efo and pepper to buy?
Daddy’s birthday is on Sunday….and I can’t wait to prepare this for him
Great job lola
Thank you
Happy belated Birthday to Daddy. Hope you enjoyed your Efo riro? ❤️❤️❤️
So yummy yummy 😋🤦
Just made mine and it came out nice 💯thanks I feel fulfilled
I’m glad. 🙂
Thank you! Just made this tonight. Came out too watery because I added actual chicken broth, not a stock cube or boullion cube, but it tastes amazing.
Just made mine without the locust beans… thanks chef Lola, yummy
I’m so glad you enjoyed it ❤️
Thanks for the recipe
You are welcome Gozek. 🙂
Please can I add tomatoes to the sauce
Yes, you can if you wish.
Looks delicious. The only question I have is whether any prep for the locust bean prior to adding to the mix- is it precooked or just added raw to the sstew?
Thanks!
You don’t need to precook locust beans before adding it to the stew. Just rinse and use.
you really try God will continue to help you
Thanks, amen.
yummy
I can’t wait to try this and surprise mum thanks lollychef
i just made this and it smells marvelous, i also made your moi moi. I am waiting until dinner time but oh boy the smells from my kitchen is driving my whole household to salivate. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I tried it and my husband and son finished their plates.
💃💃💃…you must have really nailed the recipe. Good job 👍
hey, what if I dint have access to blended crayfish
Hi Lola
Love your page so much. Can i make this just with crayfish and smoked turkey/goat?
Do i have to add all the other fish and beef etc?
Thank you for your recipies x
Thank you Kay… You don’t need to add all the fish and Beef. Use what you have.
Thanks I have booked mine and I am grateful for your teaching
I’m going to try this today, can’t wait for the result.
My fiance and I have been talking about it for some time now
do you use fresh spinach or frozen chopped spinach?
Hi Von, I used frozen but completely thawed Spinach for this recipe, however, you can use fresh spinach if that’s what you have.
I followed your recipe for efo riroand it was amazing. Gof bless. This is the second recipe from your site that I have tried today. God bless
Thanks Khasomi, your feedback is highly appreciated. God bless you too 🙂
Thanks Khasomi, your feedback is highly appreciated. God bless you too 🙂
I followed your recipe for efo riroand it was amazing. Gof bless. This is the second recipe from your site that I have tried today. God bless