Make this Ayamase sauce for your family and thank me later!
The first time I ever tasted this sauce was in High School, my family had attended a wedding and after the main ceremony a few of my parents friends gathered around a corner to felicitate and just have fun, one of the women there suddenly opened this food warmer and I smelled something my nose had never smelled before, than she started serving. She brought out green leaves that had hot steaming rice wrapped in them and started to serve the sauce beside the rice, it was this dark green, oily sauce with little pieces of meat, I got a taste from my fathers plate, it was oily, spicy but tasted very different from anything I had known before.
Fast forward to years later, having tasted several Ayamase from several sources, I reckon that, that first time has been my least favorite. That being said, I have come up with my perfect recipe and having made this over 20 times, thanks to my husbands love for this sauce, I'm confident you will love my style.
Bleaching the Palm Oil
Bleaching Palm oil means taking it from its red state to become almost like vegetable oil with the application of heat over a period of time. One needs to be very careful and apply caution when bleaching palm oil. These are a few points to note and steps to follow to achieve perfectly bleached palm oil all the time.
Use a pot with a glass cover if possible but not necessary, also make sure its a pot with a tight lid.
Add oil to a dry pot and set the heat on medium low, cover the pot and leave it covered.
Heat oil for 20 mins, DO NOT OPEN THE POT AT ANY POINT
After 20 mins, TURN THE HEAT OFF AND LEAVE THE POT COVERED FOR ANOTHER 20 MINS
Palm oil has a very high smoking point and would release a lot of smoke while being bleached, this is the reason to leave the pot covered all through.
Once cooled, the cooking process continues.
The Pepper Mix
Ayamase or Obe Ata Dudu, translated dark pepper sauce, gets the unique look from using green peppers. Green bell peppers are most easily accessible that is why they are mostly used, but I have come across, green serrano's aka sombo and green scotch bonnets and unripe tomatoes at different times, these could very well be used.
Its Okay to have mix of green and red but definitely more green to achieve the dark colored sauce. Also note that the texture is typically rough and not smooth, all these add to the uniqueness of The Ayamase sauce.
Ingredients- watch recipe video below
Green bell pepper- 10 medium sized
Red serrano peppers- 20 pieces
Scotch bonnet (green or red)/ sombo- to taste
Almost red or Green tomatoes (optional)- 6 pieces
Onions- 5 medium
Ginger- thumb size
Beef- 500g
Tripe/Shaki- 250g
Liver- 250g
Large Intestine/Abodi- 250g
Kpomo- 500g
Smoked fish(panla)- 4 medium size
Ground Crayfish- 1/2 cup
Palm oil- 450g or 2 cups
Iru(locust beans)- 1/2 Cup
Bullion cubes- 8 cubes
Ground Cameron pepper- 2 Tbsp
Salt- to taste
Thyme/Curry powder- to taste
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