When I was in Uni, a girl who could pull off this type of Efo Riro had bragging rights with the boys. The recipe is very basic and it can be paired with a variety of meals like yam pottage, rice, Eba, Amala any of your staples, yam, plantain, corn….

Recipe
1. Efo Tete (1 bowl rinsed and shredded, bowl in this case is a 3 litre bowl)

2. Coarsely blended pepper mix containing as ratio of 5:1:1 Atarodo (here) ,Tatashe (here), Tomatoes

3. 1 large Onion chopped

4. 1 Smoked Sardine or Mackerel (deboned)

5. 1 tbsp Iru (locust beans)

6. 1 tbsp Powdered Crayfish

7. 1 soft curly Ponmo (sliced)

8. 1/4 cup Vegetable oil. (you can mix with a little palm oil)

9. Salt

10. Bouillon cubes (seasoning cubes)

Procedure

• Heat up vegetable oil and add Iru and chopped Onions, as it starts to fry, it would gives off a pleasant fragrance, now add the ponmo, allow the ponmo to fry slighty, then add the pepper. *DO NOT COVER THE POT. Covering the pot would trap the stem and make the pepper soft and stewy and we don’t want that, the intention here is to fry the pepper.
• Season with salt, bouillon cubes, powdered crayfish
• Allow pepper to fry, you’d know it is ready when all the water is completely reduced and you can see the oil begin to fry the pepper, now add the deboned flaked sardine.
• Stir it into the stew with a ladle.
• Now add your rinsed, and shredded vegetable.
• Stir the pot carefully from the bottom to top, till the pepper is well mixed with the vegetable.
• Turn the heat down and allow vegetables to cook for about 3 mins (if you previously blanched your vegetables, turn the heat off 1 min after turning the vegetables in), because you want to retain the brilliant green colour and some crunch. Do not cover still.

• Once ready, turn off heat and wait till the vegetables cool before you partially put lid on your pot.

Pair with any other food you like . I paired it with Boiled Ripe Plantain.

• Soups, Stews and Sauces