Vegetable Sauce

Are you one of those who believe the only complement for white rice or yam is the normal stew made with tomatoes and tomato puree? Then you are still living in the stone age if you have not tried vegetable sauce as a complement for these dishes.And by the way, it is different from salad. Granted it’s the same salad ingredients that are used to make the sauce, the taste is very different.

And need you ask if this sauce is healthy? It is indeed healthy! It is nutritious and very good for the system.

Nothing rivals the nutrients contained in these vegetables, especially carrots, cabbage and spring onions. Ranging from boosting the vitamins to aiding in prevention of cancer and heart failures, vegetables also help the skin, eyes and of course, rejuvenate the body.

Vegetable sauce is easy to make. Try it out and see that it’s goodbye to tomato stew.

Ingredients
Whole Chicken
Vegetable Oil (2 cooking spoons)
5 Spring onions
8 Fresh plum tomatoes (Jos tomatoes)
8 medium carrots
Cabbage (1 small bulb)
Potatoes (3 medium sized)
1 Red Bell Pepper (optional)
1 Green Bell Pepper
Salt – to taste
Seasoning – 3 big stock cubes, thyme

Before you cook the Vegetable Sauce
Wash and cut the vegetables: plum tomatoes (remember to remove the seeds), carrots, cabbage and bell pepper. Remember to scrape the carrots before cutting. Set these aside.
Peel the Irish potatoes, wash and cut into small pieces. Blend into a thick paste and set aside. This will be used as thickener for the Vegetable Sauce.

Cooking Directions
Wash and cut the whole chicken into pieces. Place in a pot; add chopped spring onions, stock cubes and thyme. Add water to cover the contents of the pot and start cooking.
When done, add salt to taste and top up the water to the same level as the contents if necessary.
Once it boils, add the chopped tomatoes and the vegetable oil. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Add the carrots and cook for five minutes.
Now, add the potato puree, chopped bell peppers and cabbage. Stir, cover and allow to cook for five minutes on high heat. Add salt to taste and the sauce is ready to be served.

Note: Feel free to experiment by varying the thickness of the vegetable sauce. This you can achieve by increasing or decreasing the amount of potato puree added till you get a consistency that appeal to you.

Tip: The smoothest puree usually settles at the bottom so you may want to use only that (if it is sufficient) and discard the frothy part at the top.