In Nigeria, there are two (2) types of garden eggs which are the white garden egg and the green garden egg.

In this recipe, I will be using green garden eggs to explain how to make garden egg sauce or as some people say, how to prepare garden egg stew.

Garden Egg

Garden egg is popular street food in Nigeria which can be raw or made into garden egg stew and this is applicable to the white and green garden eggs.

In fact it is not difficult to know when garden eggs are in season because you will surely see it displayed everywhere in the markets and hawked on streets by fruit vendors.

One common way of eating raw garden egg as a snack is to combine it with spicy groundnut paste which is called Ose oji by the Igbo people of Nigeria.

Also, the Yorubas use Garden eggs leaves are used to make a delicious vegetable soup called Efo Gbagba or Efo Igbo.

To read more about Efo gbagba recipe and also watch the recipe video on this blog by clicking here How To Cook Efo Gbagba | African Egg Plants Leaves Soup

Ingredients for garden egg sauce

• 10 green garden eggs
• 6 tomatoes
• 2 bell peppers (tatashe)
• 4 cayenne peppers (shombo)
• 2 onions (alubosa)
• 3 scotch bonnet peppers ( ata rodo)
• 1/2 cup palm oil (epo pupa)
• 2 panla fish (Roasted hake fish)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon seasoning powder/ 1 seasoning cube

As stated earlier, this recipe is on how to make local garden egg sauce, so I will be using Nigerian palm oil also called red oil.

But you can substitute the palm oil for your preferred type of cooking oil such as groundnut oil or vegetable oil but not butter.

Before I continue on to how to use the above mentioned ingredients to make garden egg stew, please note that the change in the cooking oil will also mean that the general taste of the garden egg sauce will be different from the popular taste.

How to cook garden egg sauce

• Peel off the onions skin
• Properly clean the tomatoes, peppers and onions in clean water and set aside.
• Clean the panla fishes in water and remove the bones and the head of the panla fish.
• Put the garden eggs into a bowl of water and clean it properly – you can watch how I clean my garden eggs on my YouTube channel here.
• Pour water in a pot, add the cleaned garden eggs and cook for 10 minutes
• After 10 minutes, check if the garden eggs are soft by poking them with a knife or fork.
• When they are soft enough, take the pot off the cooker.
• Add the tomatoes, bell peppers, scotch bonnet peppers, cayenne peppers and 1 onions into a blender. – Reserve the remaining one onion for later.
• Remove the softened garden eggs from the hot water and also put into the blender.
• Add some water, blend to a rough texture and set aside.
• Slice the remaining one onions and set aside
• Put frying pan or pot on the cooker
• Add palm oil and allow it heat up briefly
• Add the de-boned panla fish and let it fry for 2-3 minutes – it is recommended tha you cover the pot or frying pan while frying the panla fishes to prevent hot oil splashes.
• Add the sliced onions and also fry for 2 minutes
• Then add the blended tomatoes, peppers ,onion and garden eggs.
• Add salt and seasoning
• Mix well and allow cook for 7-10 minutes.
• After cooking for 7-10 minutes, mix well again so that he sauce does not stick to the pan/pot.
• Cook for 5 more minutes and garden egg sauce is ready.

If you are a an ardent reader of this blog, you would know that at the end of every recipe, there is always a food combination list which the recipe can be enjoyed with.

Garden Egg Sauce Food Combinations

Here are some of the popular Garden egg sauce combinations

• Garden egg sauce and Yam (boiled or fried)
• Garden egg sauce and Potatoes (boiled or fried)
• Garden egg stew and Plantains ( boiled or steamed) – here is Steamed Plantains Recipe for you
• Garden egg stew and rice ( preferably white rice).

The video of this recipe is also available on my YouTube channel. To watch please click the YouTube icon below. Also, don’t forget to like the video, leave your comment and also subscribe.

The Online Cook 2022.