Ghanaian Food

Crab Stew with Yam Cubes

2011-11-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

My Mother-in-law brought me 5 tubers of Yam. I'm not a very big fan of yam, but my husband practically grew up on it. A couple of days later we dropped her off at her aunt's place and the old lady was so pleased to see us, she gave six tubers. I had to laugh. Now its a race against the clock.
We were going to have Yam, no brainer that, but what to go with it. I had some flat crabs in the freezer as well as some smoked salmon. This is what I made ...

Ingredients:
5 medium crabs & 2 small ones
1/2 a large smoked Salmon
1 Tuber of Yam
2 medium Onions
10 medium Tomatoes
10 kpakpo shito (small green hot peppers)
2 Tablespoons Palm oil
1 Maggi cube
Salt

Wash and peel the yam, then cut it into 1 inch cubes.

Put the yam cubes in a pot. Add a bit os salt and sugar (about a teaspoonful of each) and enough water to cover it. Boil for about 20 minutes. Drain and keep in a food flask or warmer.

Take the head off, remove the intestines (the fish is smoked with the inside intact to maintain it's shape). rinse it off gently. Break it into smaller pieces if you want.

Remove the little strip of shell that runs down the middle and pull out all the whispy/stringy (reproductive organs) parts. Remove the pointy segment at the tip of each leg as well as the shell bits covering the mouth area. these openings allow the flavour to penetrate as the food stews. Be sure to rub between the shell and legs to remove caked mud, then rinse thoroughly.

Chop the onion sinto bits ...

... and blend the tomatoes and pepper.

Heat the palmoil then add he onions. Fry untill the start getting soft and translucent.

Then add the blended tomatoes.

Simmer the gravy till it dries and almost begins to stick, then add the Maggi cube and salt, a little water and let it simmer some more.

Add the crabs, cover and lower the fire. let it simmer till the crabs turn red.

Add the Salmon and allow to simmer covered a few minutes longer to allow it to absorb the stew flavour.

Serve with the Yam cubes. Use your fingers for this feast. You are going to want to dig in!!!

Chicken in Veggie Sauce

2011-05-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

This was another quick dish I did. Although with this one, I did take the time to buy a few more vegetable, just to give it some more variety.

Ingredients:

2 Pounds of Chicken
8 Tomatoes
2 Large Onions
1 small Squash
4 Large potatoes
1 Cup Mushrooms
2 Green Peppers
4 Cloves Garlic
8-10 peppers
1/2 Cup Cooking Oil
2 Maggi Cubes

Remove the skin from the chicken, cut into desired sizes and wash with a little lemon water. Blend the Garlic and half an Onion.with 1 Maggi cube and pour over the chicken. Add a level teaspoon of salt, stir it about a bit and place in a pot and steam. Don't add water if possible, otherwise, add very little so you don't have much stock.

Wash all the vegetable and cut them up in approximately equal sizes, prefarably 1 inch cubes, but really, whatever works for you. Boil the potatoes since they unlike the rest of the vegetables, need and take longer to cook. About 10 minutes later, drain in a colander. Chop the pepper finely. You could also use powdered red pepper.

Heat the Oil in a pan and fry the steamed chicken until it is golden brown. Work in batches depending on the size of your pan. When the chicken is done frying, return it to the stock.

Reduce the oil in the pan leaving about 2 tablespoons full. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry them for a minute or 2.

Add the onions and pepper and fry a couple of minutes more.

Add the potatoes ...

Add the chicken and the little stock you have. If it is too much, don't use all of it. Too much liquid and the vegetables will get soggy, you don't want that. Simmer for a few minutes.

Lastly, add the squash, mushrooms and green pepper. Give it 2 to 3 minutes and you are done!

Serve with rice. Enjoy!!

Save the Shoepers

2011-05-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

Its taken me a while to write this post. It is a bit sensitive yet scary in nature, in that, it makes every blogger wary of predators out there just waiting to pounce and piggyback ride on the hardwork of others.
It is about the situation that the shoepers, that is,shoeperwoman, shoeperman and shoeper~~dog~~wolf are going through at the moment. There is a woman out there (Laura Blake) has copied the name shoeperwoman for her own blog and website on which she sells shoes. Seeing as the original shoeperwoman blogs about shoes, and Laura Blake sells shoes, there would be considerable confusion, something that Laura doesn't seem to mind. Who can blame her? Shoeperwoman and the shoperteam have spent the better part of 2 years growing and perfecting their blog and brand and have built a large community arround it, which Laura will benefit from just by copying the name (which she admitted to knowing, existed, prior to her deciding to use it anyway!).
Support shoeperwoman and the shopers by blogging, facebooking, twittering and just basically making enough noise to ensure that they win the right to the trademark of their name.
Good luck Shoeperwoman

Gizzard Sauce with Pasta

2011-04-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

I love Pasta! The only reason I haven't featured a pasta dish here is because "they" say I need to lose weight and it is one of the big No-No's! That said, every now and then I indulge. I made some Macaroni with Gizzard stew over the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Here are my ingredients:
1 kg Gizzard
500g Macaroni
4 or 5 Cloves of Garlic
3 Onions
10 Tomatoes
8 Peppers
2 Green / Bell Peppers
1 Tablespoon Tomato Puree
1 cup Cooking Oil
Ginger
Salt

Wash the Gizzard well and season with 1/2 an Onion blended smooth with The garlic, salt, some black pepper and a very tiny bit of Ginger.

Place in a covered pot and steam for 10 - 15 minutes. It doesn't contain as much water as say, chicken or meat so you will need to add a cup or two of water after it steams for a while.

In another pot, bring about 2 litre of water to boil. (The pot should be large enough to contain the uncooked pasta, halfway.) When the water boils, add a teaspoonful of salt and add the pasta. Cook for about 10 minutes. When I was about 12 or 13, my aunt taught me an interesting way of telling when spaghetti was cooked. When it got soft, I would take one out of the boiling water and fling it at an oil-painted wall or tile. If it stuck to the wall / tile, it was cooked. If it fell off, I was to give it a few more minutes. It served me well : ) When it is cooked, pour it into a colander, siting in the sink. leave it to drain for a few minutes and then put it back into the pot.

Finely chop the remaining 2 and a half onions. Blend the tomatoes and pepper. Toss in the puree when the tomatoes are blended just to mix it in.

Heatthe cooking oil in a pan and fry the gizzard. You may need to work in 2 or 3 batches depending on the size of you pan. Return the now browned gizzard to the stock you cookied it in.

Keep the pan on the fire but reduce the oil and then add the chopped onions. Fry the onions until they turn translucent and start to brown.

Add the blended tomatoes, pepper and puree, and cover for 5 minutes.
Uncover and allow it to simmer and reduce the liquid in it.

As the water reduces, it will start to fry, if it is sticking, add a little of the oil you removed earlier.
Fry it dry till it is almost beginning to burn and you have to stir continuously to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Add the stock (about 2 cups, add water if need be) and gizzard to the sauce, cover and leave to simmer.

Uncover about 3 - 5 minutes later and lower the heat, allow to thicken gently. When it thickens enough, taste it and add salt if necessary then add the chopped Green peppers and leave on for a minute or so.

Serve with the pasta.

Waakye with Fried Fish and Wele stew

2011-04-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

This is not the first time I have made rice and beans, but I would just use regular black eyed peas/beans with white rice. It tasted good but could hardly be called Waakye. Last weekend I decided to go all out and make the kind of waakye I go out and buy almost everyday.

Here are my Ingredients:

4 cups Brown Rice
3 cups red beans
3 millet stalks
3 medium Tilapia (cut into 3 each)
1 pound of wele (cow skin) cut into sizeable pieces
8-10 medium sized tomatoes
2 medium sized onions
8 Peppers
Cooking oil
2 Maggi cubes
Salt
Black Pepper

I start by soaking the beans overnight. I find that it not only softens them and reduces cooking time, but it makes it easier to pick out stones and such, which I do and then put the beans on to boil.

You could also season the fish with some salt, black pepper and one Maggi cube and leave overnight, otherwise, you could just do that 10 to 15 minutes before you fry it.

Wash the millet stalks to remove any dirt or dust. Do this quickly since the colour starts to run as soon as they get wet. Cut them into lengths of 3 to 4 inches, toss them in with the boiling beans and allow then to cook together.

Pick through the brown rice if you have to. There are a few husks of rice that are better not found in the waakye as well as stones depending on how "brown" your rice is. I bought mine from a lady in Kaneshie market who had brown rice that had been picked as well as a cheaper version she said hadn't been picked. The price difference wasn't equal to the amount of work I saw looming ahead of me, so I chose the picked version.

Wash and drain your rice and add it to the beans as soon as they are cooked, add salt and some water if necessary and cook as you would cook rice.

Now as you may have noticed from the picture, I left the millet stalks in and cooked the rice with them in ... don't do that. It is easier to remove them before adding the rice than when they are cooked with the rice, as I found out the hard way.

Blend the tomatoes and pepper. Chop the onions and heat about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and start frying the onions.

When the onions turn translucent and just start to brown around the edges, add the tomato puree.

Add a Maggi cube some salt and cover for about 5 minutes to allow the tomatoes to cook.

Uncover and allow the sauce to simmer down and start to fry. Fry the stew till it is dry and almost sticking ...

... then add the wele and a cup or 2 of water depending on how thick or tough your wele is. The tougher it is, the more water you will need. Cover and simmer on a low fire. when the stew thickens and the wele is the desired texture (a fork can go through), you don't want to over cook it as it will become a gooey gluey mess.

Heat 1 cup of oil in a pan. When it is hot, lower the heat and gently place the fish into it making sure to space them enough that they dont touch. If they do, the will tear when you try to turn them. Fry each side for about 3 to 5 minutes.

Using a spatula or fork, turn the fish, if there is significant resistance leave it for a minute or so, then try turning again, when it is ready, it should turn easily. When it is evenly cooked, remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. Continue till all the fish is fried.
Serve the Waakye with the Fish and Wele stew. Enjoy!!

Wheat Porridge

2011-03-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

This is a very simple porridge that I really enjoy for breakfast or as a light evening meal. It is simply wheat flour, cooked as a porridge.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Stew spoonfuls wheat flour
2 cups of water
pinch of salt
Milk
Sugar / Sweetener

Measure out your wheat flour into a pot.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the water and put it on the fire. Add a pinch of salt and stir it continously until it starts to thicken. If you stop stirring it will form lumps at the bottom of the pot. When it strart to thicken, add the rest of the water if it is too thick, otherwise, just cover it and leave it to cook for about 5 minutes.

Pour into a bowl, add your milk and sweetener. I use powdered or evaporated milk (Ideal milk) fresh milk makes the porridge too watery for my liking. Otherwise you could incoporate it into the cooking, or make the porridge extra thick with the fresh milk in mind, so that it reaches the thickness you like when you add it.

I like it with wheat bread, which I tear into bite-size pieces and dunk in it. Sometimes I add bits of banana.
Enjoy!

Definition of a Miracle by Farida N. Bedwei (Book excerpts)

2011-03-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

I was doing my usual search on the internet for inspiration when I ran across an article that said that Farida Bedwei was launching her first novel, "Definition of a Miracle". I googled the title and came across the first excerpt on google books.This is a story that is inspiring for disabled people as well as regular folk. From the excerpts, I find that not only is it funny as well as informative, it provides a unique view from the point of an African. As a Ghanaian, I can picture the places she describes that I know and imagine quite vividly those I don't. I have had the pleasure of knowing her for a few years and my admiration and awe for her continue to grow.

The second excerpt I found at Story time.

The book is available in Silverbird Lifestyle Shop, Accra Mall, Julikart Cosmetics, Osu near MTN and INKA Accessories, opposite El Gringo, Nyaniba. After the launch, (at the Pan-African Writers Association (PAWA) House near Accra Girls High School on Saturday March 5th, at 6pm. Autographed copies available) she hopes to distribute it to the other regions as well as the English speaking countries in West Africa.

Enjoy!

Definition of a Miracle was written by Farida N. Bedwei and is an excerpt from her début novel of the same name.

Copyright © Farida N. Bedwei 2010.

Farida N. Bedwei

Veggie Fish Sauce

2011-02-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, I seem to be using quite a lot of fish in my cooking lately. I am trying to wean red meat from my diet and so naturally it falls on fish and chicken, maybe some pork but not much.

I find that oilier kinds of fish are tastier than their leaner cousins. Not to worry, fish fat can actually be good for you. The most easily accessible ones of these to me here are Salmon and Tilapia.

My seeming bias toward Tilapia happened completely by accident. I went fish buying and got an incredibly good deal so I bought a whole bunch. It would be impractical to go out and buy Salmon just so I don't blog about Tilapia again. So Tilapia it is : )

This was something I just threw together very quickly. About 20 minutes to cook the sauce and rice to go with it.

Ingredients:
2 whole Tilapia
4 small onion
7 tomatoes

1 green pepper

1/2 small squash
1 bulb garlic

I started by blending the bulb of garlic with one small onion. I then heated about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and fried the onion/garlic puree.

I added rice that had been washed and drained, and fried it for a few minutes. The aroma from this is incredible!! Do this for about 2 to 3 minutes and then add water and cook the rice as you normally would.

Go ahead and chop the onions, tomatoes, green pepper and squash into cubes. Whateve size you decide to make them, try and make them even, so the cook evenly.

My Tilapia was already cut into 3 pieces each, but I went ahead and cut each piece again into 3. I seasoned it simply with salt and black pepper.

In about a tablespoonful of cooking oil, start frying the Onions. You want the vegetables to remain crunchy so don't cook them too long. Add the tomatoes about a minute later. Then the squash.

As you continue to fry the vegetables and the juices from them start to simmer, add the fish. Crumble in one Maggi cube, stir it about a little and then leave covered. This is just to quickly steam the fish.

About 2 minutes later add the green pepper and salt if necessary. Leave it uncovered to allow the moisture to reduce.

As soon as the rice is cooked, you are ready to eat.
Serve with sliced avocado.

Valentine Eggs

2011-02-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

I usually don't make much of a fuss over Valentines day, so I woke up and went to make breakfast as usual. I got some eggs, sausage and tomatoes and got ready. I chopped 2 tomatoes half of one of those big chicken sausages that have come on the market recently. I added just salt and a dash of black pepper and beat my eggs. When the oil in the pan was hot and I poured in the eggs, it hit me. Instead of just throwing on the tomatoes and sausage like I had planned, why not try something? So I lowered the heat under the eggs and got creative. I arranged the tomatoes in a beautiful heart - if I say so myself - than filled the heart with sausage. I had some left over so I decided what the heck, and put the rest all around.

All was going just perfect until it was time to flip it. I flipped it and the blasted tomatoes and sausages moved. I hope and prayed that at least some had set well enough to maitain some semblance of a heart. When that side was done and I flipped it over again, I did some damage control by surgically removing ans reattaching some parts of my heart.
I went and presented my master piece to my husband and he looked at the eggs then looked back at me and said "what?". Just as I was about to scream, he burst out laughing. Whew!
Later in the day, we had a black out throughout most of Accra, so in the evening we went to this charming place at Tesano called "Rhythms" and had a wonderful evening. All in all, a lovely day.
How was your Valentines day?

Shoeper Shoe Challenge

2011-02-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

I am a regular reader of shoeperwoman.com and followed her shoe challenge throughout 2010. Now for 2011 she will include readers. Basically all you do is declare how many pairs of shoes you have, and try and wear them all by the same time next year. This must (for those taking part officially) be proven by a picture you take wearing the shoes. It is a nice way of allowing you to enjoy all of your shoes rather than just rotating the same few over and over again, while the rest stay hidden and neglected. So, I have decided to enter this challenge starting with 14 pairs of shoes. Hopefully I can buy only shoes that I will actually wear. It will be lots of fun so please join. Here is where you sign up.

Tilapia Soup

2011-02-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

I have been having some trouble with my camera lately. So for now, I either don't blog/post anything, or I have to use my phone, which I did for this post. So please excuse the picture quality, I'm still working out my lighting and angles.

I don't particulary like fresh fish soup, but my husband loves it. So, I decided to make him some Tilapia soup. It turned out so good, I ate most of it myself. Who woulda thought?!

Ingredients:

2 large Tilapia (scaled and cut into 3 or 4 pieces each)
5 Garden eggs
6 Tomatoes
2 Onions
10 peppers
Salt.

Sprinkle a level teaspoonful of salt over the fish and toss it so all the pieces get some. Leave it to marinate.

Cut off the stalks on the garden eggs then slice them in half, lengthwise. Peel the onions then place them along with the tomatoes (still whole), pepper and halved garden eggs into 1 litre of water, cover and boil.

The tomatoes will cook first. When they are soft and almost breaking apart, take them and the pepper out and blend till smooth. Sieve using a colander. Take out 3 of the 5 garden eggs and pour the pureed tomatoes back into the pot. Pour watr over the 3 garden eggs to cool them, then remove the skin and seeds.

By the time you have done this, the onions should be cooked, so you can add them to the garden eggs and blend them together. This will not be sieved so be sure to blend them thoroughly, then pour the mixture into the pot.

Add the Tilapia and cover. Add more water if it looks too thick. Check the salt in the soup and add more if necessary. Boil it gently until the fish is cooked, about 10 minutes.

Serve it just as it is, with the garden eggs left in the soup.

You could also eat it with fufu, banku, yam, potatoes or rice.

Enjoy and let me know how you liked it.

Kontomire with Chicken & Yam

2010-08-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

Ghanaians enjoy a wide variety of meats and fish both fresh water and marine, and so tend to have more than one type in a dish. In Kontomire stew for instance, you could have beef, wele (cow skin), oysters and smoked tuna. For this recipe, chose to use just chicken. I don't think chicken mixes very well with other meats so I just use it on its own.

Ingredients I used are:
2 pounds chicken
1 pound washed chopped Kontomire leaves. (about GH¢0.50 worth)
1 1/2 cup ground Agushi (melon seed)
1 cup Palm oil
2 medium sized onions
1/2 onion (blended smooth)
10 - 12 medium sized tomatoes
15 - 20 kpakpo shito (green peppers)
1 tuber of yam
Maggi cube
salt

Start by removing the chicken skin, cutting it into desired sizes and washing it thoroughly.

Spice the chicken with 1/2 a blended onion, 1 maggi cube, some salt and black pepper. mix it all in and steam the chicken, just until it turns white and produces stock.

Chop the onions ...

... and blend the tomatoes together with the pepper.

Pour the Agushi into a bowl and add about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt to it,

then pour in enough water to cover it and leave it to soak.

The kontomire could be shredded from the stalks, boiled and mashed, or just chopped like i prefer.

Heat the palm oil in a pot and add onions. Fry until the onions are soft, then add the tomatoes and cover. Simmer it all down till it starts to fry. Stir it for about 3 minutes then add the chicken pieces. Fry a little more until it starts to stick.

Stir gently then add the kontomire.

Stir it in, add the stock and leave it to simmer

Add the soaked Agushi, stir it in gently and leave it to simmer. After a few minutes, the agushi starts to clump in the sauce. Stirring too much will break up the clumps, so either stir gently or lift the pot and 'shake' it to move this around.

Simmer it on a very low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Only add extra salt after the stock and Agushi are in since they both contain salt.

Turn it off sooner if you reach your preferred thickness.

Peel the tuber of yam and cut into even pieces. Add enough water to cover all the yam, add some salt and boil. When a fork can pass through, it is ready. Pour off the excess water and serve with the knotomire stew.

Tilapia in Garden Egg Stew

2010-08-14T15:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything in a while because I had a bout of Malaria. I'm all better now and so we get back to cooking!

I prepared what I have for the longest time considered to be Fante-Fante. A good friend passed by as I was uploading my pictures and promptly announced that THIS is NOT fante-fante. This sparked a heated debate, at the end of which, I was not convinced. I need further clarification, so if anyone can shed light on this, it just might lighten the strain on a very good friendship. : D

Anyway, the ingredients I used are:

4 medium size Tilapia (cut into 3 pieces each)
8 large Garden Eggs
10 Medium size Tomatoes
12 - 15 Hot peppers
2 Large Onions
3/4 cup Palm Oil
1 large Maggi Shrimp cube
1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
Salt

Scale and the Tilapia (if not already done) and wash it thoroughly, making sure all the scales and entrails are removed. Some people like to leave the gills in, but I take them out. Shake off all excess water.

Crumble the Maggi cube over the Tilapia and sprinkle the black pepper and about a teaspoon of salt on it. Toss the fish gently to get the seasoning all over it. Too vigorously and the fish may start to get mashed. However fresh fish is quite firm, so gently tossing it is fine. Leave to marinate for about 10 - 15 minutes.

Wash the garden eggs . Cut off the stalks and slice each in half lengthwise. This allows them to cook faster. Place in a pot and add enough water to cover and boil. When the flesh starts to look transparent and seperates from the skin, it is cooked. About 10 - 15 minutes.

Wash and blend the tomatoes and pepper till smooth.

Chop up the onions.

Place the oil in a pot big enough to comfortably hold all the ingredients and heat. Remember, the fish needs enough room in the pot or it will be mashed up.

When the oil is hot, add the onions and fry till they are soft.

When the onions are cooked, add the blended tomatoes and pepper and leave to simmer. Allow all the water to evaporate while stirring intermitently. Fry for an additional 5 minutes after the water evaporates but making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Meanwhile, remove the skin and seeds from the flesh of the garden eggs and discard. Usind an earthenware pot (Asanka), mash the garden eggs until a semi-smooth paste is made. Don't blend because you want to retain some texture. You could also just roughly chop the garden eggs, just be sure to squish some to get some parts pastey.

Add the garden egg paste to the sauce and add 1/2 a cup of water.

Bring it to a simmer and add the Tilapia. Once the fish is added, reduce the heat under the pot and stir the fish in gently, making sure as much of the fish as possible is covered by the sauce. leave it to simmer gently for another 15 minutes. Stir occassionaly to make sure it isn't sticking, but be sure not to mash up the fish. If you are sure it isn't sticking, you could even just lift the pot by the handles and give it a shake, rotating the sauce colckwise , the anti-clockwise sor of like steering. Do this until desired thickness of stew is achieved. (10 minutes)

Peel a tuber of yam and cut into desired sizes, wash the pieces thoroughly to get all the sand off, then place in a pot, add enough water to cover, add salt to taste and boil. Cook until a fork goes trough easily. Drain off the water and serve hot with the Tilapia stew.

You could also serve the Stew with boiled plantain, ripe or unripe.

It also goes well with Eba (Gari cooked with hot water) or plain rice.

Let me know you variations of this dish. Aslo please let me know if you would consider this fante-fante? and if not, what is fant-fante to you?

Groundnut Stew (with a Guinean twist)

2010-07-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Most Ghanaians tend to cook soups in large quantities. In the case of Groundnut/Peanut butter soup, we usually eat it as soup the day it is made, and then thicken it down to a stew.

This is a Guinean version which really is a stew. You could use any number of meats to prepare it; Beef, Goat meat, Pork, Mutton, Chicken, Fish, Oxtail, etc. and most of the time, combinations of them. For this post, I decided to use just Chicken, because that was what my friends used when showing me how to prepare it.

Ingredients

2 pounds chicken

1 Margerine tin /500 ml Peanut butter

1 Large Onion

8-10 Tomatoes

15-20 Peppers (kpakpo shito)

1/2 cup Cooking Oil

1 Tablespoon Tomato puree

4 Cloves Garlic

1 Large Maggi cube

Salt

Cut and wash the chicken. Leave the skin on it you like it, I don't but left it on like in the original recipe. Crush or finely chop the garlic, crumble the maggi cube and then add about a teaspoon of salt. Toss it and leave to marinate for about 10-15 minutes.

While the chicken marinates, slice the onion into half circles ...

.. add the pepper to the tomatoes and blend till smooth.

Scoop the peanut butter into a bowl. Add 1 1/2 - 2 cups of water. Then with clean fingers, mash the peanut butter into the water till they are mixed into a waterier, runnier paste.

Heat the cooking oil in a large pot.

When the oil is hot, add all the chicken. It should instantly start to sizzle but eventually settle down to steam.

Add the onions and stir them in, allowing them to fry with the chicken.

After about 5 minutes when the chicken turns white and the stock mixes with the oil, add the tomato puree. Fry the chicken and puree for a couple more minutes...

... then add the blended tomatoes. Gently stir them in and cover. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes so the tomatoes can cook. Stir occassionaly to prevent it sticking to the bottom.

Add the peanut butter mixture to the pot and leave to simmer gently. Lower the fire so it doesn't burn.

When the oil starts to come to the surface, it is almost ready. Continue simmering until you reach your desired thickness.

Serve this on a bed of rice, with boiled yam, potatoes, cocoyam or plantain, it goes with everything.

Give this a try and let me know how it turned out.

Banku with Okro Soup

2010-06-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

Ingredients I used are

1 pound of Beef
1/2 pound of Wele (cow skin)
1/2 medium sized Salmon
1 pound chopped Okro
1 mediun tomato
1 large Onion
10 - 15 peppers (kpakpo shito)
3 or 4 Garden Eggs
1/2 cup Palm Oil
Corn Dough
Cassava Dough

Chop the onion and cut and season the meat. Leave it to marinate for about 15 minutes.

Put the meat in a pot and and steam. Don't add any water, the meat will release it's juices. If the juices are drying up, but the meat is tough, add some water and keep on fire till it is tender enough for your taste.

Meanwhile you can blend the tomatoe and pepper. The mixture will come out looking more green than red since there is just one tomato.

Wash and cut the wele into 2 to 2 inch rolls and wash thoroughly. Dependin on where you got it and what state it was in, you may have to peel a black layer from the inside. You can have this done at the market. When you get it from a supermarket, this is already done. If it is very thick and hard, steam it in salted water with some bay leaves. Some people steam it with the meat, but I think it overwhealms the taste and smell of the meat.

If you haven't chopped the okro, now would be a good time to do it. I usually chop it as soon as I get back from the market, then freeze it till i need it. Keeping it in the fridge for a few days is alright but longer than that and it tends to become tough and stringy.

Cut the stalks off the Garden eggs then cut them lengthwise down the middle. Put them in a pot with enough water to cover them then bring to a boil. Cover and cook till the white fleshy part turns translucent (10-15 minutes). Seperate the flesh from the seeds and skin, add a little water and blend till smooth.

Heat the Palm oil in a pot and fry the onions.

Fry until they get soft but not long enough to start browning. Add the tomato/pepper pure and simmer till the liquid evaporates and it begins to fry.

While the sauce cooks, get your salmon ready. If is straight from the market, just split it down the middle and rinse out the insides (the inside are not removed from fish that is to be smoked) as well as the outside. Be sure to keep the skin. It is a personal favourite of mine although some people don't like it. If you are like me, you probably buy a batch and freeze, in which case just take out however much you want to use.

Add the salmon, meat, wele and garden egg puree. Strir gently for a minute or 2 then add a cup of water and lower the fire.

Put the chopped Okro in a pot, add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add 1/4 teaspoon of baking/coking soda or a small lump of Kanwe (the local version easily got in the market). Keep stirring till it gets very slimey, that is what we are aiming for. The slimier it gets, the better.

After a while it will be bubbling up. When it threatens to boil over the edge of the pot, it is ready.

Add the okro to the main pot and stir it in.

Lower the fire some more and leave to simmer gently.

The rule I live by when making Banku is, 1 portion of Cassava dough to 2 portions of Corn Dough. So in this case, I used 1 pound of Cassava dough to 2 pounds of Corn dough. Cassava dough tends to be more lumpy and have in it, unmilled pieces of cassava, and so is prepared first. Place it in a container and add just enough water to cover it (about 1 1/2 cups for 1 pound). Now with clean hands, mix and mash up all the dough to form a watery paste. Pick out all the lumps and fibre that are in it. This may take a while (2-5 minutes). When all are removed, pour the mixture into a pot and repeat the process with the corn dough.

When this is done, add 1 teaspoon of salt and place on fire. Using a wooden spoon/spatula (there is a locally adapted spoon/spatula/paddle made especially for Banku and similar dishes), stir continuously until it starts to thicken. It needs the constant motion of stirring to keep it from turning lumpy prematurely.

As it progresses, it will start to gather at the bottom of the spoon and will need more and more force to stir it. Reduce the heat. Now use a dish cloth or towel to hold the pot in place, and still with the wooden spoon, start to knead it. Do this for about 5 minutes resting intermitently. Add 1 cup of waterand move the mass of soon-to-be banku until it is almost floating in the water. Use the wooden spoon to make a few holes in the mass so that the just added water can get all around. Increase the fire and cover.

As the water boils and evaporates, it is cooking the dough further. Turn it a few times during this process (About 5 Minutes). When the water is almost finished, turn down the heat and start kneading the banku again. Another 5 minutes should do it.

Use a small bowl or even the woodens poon itself to shape the banku into your prefered serving sizes. I personally use the plastic spoon that comes with rice cookers since it gives me the perfect size. I spoon out one portion into a small (margerine size) plastic bags and roll up the ends. It looks nice and is very convenient for serving, storing and reheating.

Serve it with the Okro soup. Interestingly, Banku can be eaten with almost any soups and stews.

Just like any food, there are many variations of this dish. I would love to hear and try them. Let me know how you prepare and eat your Banku and Okro soup.

Yam Fufu with Fresh Fish Soup

2010-06-07T12:33:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend I had Yam fufu and fresh fish soup. Yam fufu brings back fond memories of growing up in Awudome. I had an aunt who especially liked Yam fufu. No matter what kind we were having, be it Cocoyam, Cassava, Plantain, or a blend, she would always have some Yam cooked on the side to make her yam fufu.

Here are the Ingredients I used

1 1/2 pounds fresh fish

1 tuber of Yam

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 medium size onions (plus a quarter for spicing fish)

6 - 8 medium size tomatoes

3 large garden eggs

1/2 cup cooking oil

1 handful pepper (kpakpo shito)

3 cloves garlic

Black pepper

Salt

Scale and cut the fish into the sizes you want. This could be done for you by the fishmonger depending on where you buy it. Wash and drain the fish, then mash or blend the garlic, onions and 5 peppers till you have a paste. Add a pinch of black pepper and about half a teaspoon of salt to the paste and mix in the fish gently so it doesn't fall apart.

After about 10 minutes heat the oil in a frying pan. As the oil heats, put the flour in a plate and lightly coat the fish. When the oil is hot enough, gently place the fish in it.

Fry the fish till it turns golden brown. Drain on paper towels to soak up any excess oil.

As the fish fries, place the onions, tomatoes, garden eggs and pepper in a pot and add 1 litre of water, cover and boil. Boil them for about 10 minutes. The tomatoes cook first, then the peppers, garden eggs and last, the onions. If overcooked, the tomatoes will break up, releasing their seeds into the soup, which is not what you want.

Use a ladle to scoop out the tomatoes and pepper and blend them. Use a seive to strain the puree back into the pot. You should be left with skin and seeds in the seive. Next, check if the garden eggs are cooked. You want them soggy, so when the skin starts to look transparent and like it is seperating from the flesh, it is cooked. Remove the garden eggs from the pot and put them in cold water. Peel off the skin and remove the seeds. Blend into a fine paste. Add this also to the boiling pot. When the onions are soft enough to run a fork through, break them into chunks and blend. The garden egg and onion puree dont need to be strained, this gives the soup its thickness. Keep the pot boiling throughout.

Cover and boil for 5 minutes, then add the fish. Add salt and reduce heat till the soup is boiling gently.

Now, peel the Yam tube and cut it into fist sized pieces. Wash thouroughly to get all the sand off. Place on a pot, add enough water to cover the Yam and boil. Boil until a fork goes through easily and the yamm is fluffy. Drain off the water but keep covered to retain the heat.

Wash the fufu Mortar and pestle with warm water. Don't use soap just before using since wood absorbs the soap and transfers it to the food. Get a bowl with clean water and a low kitchen stool and with very clean hands, you are set.

Place the hot pieces of Yam into the Mortar, one at a time and pound theminto a fluffy powdery mass before adding the next piece. When half the pieces have been added, start to turn the yam which should be getting sticky by now, with your right hand (the left hand should never touch food) . Alternate you hand movements with the pestle hits, to form some sort of tick-tock rhythm. Do this carefully to avoid a visit to the emergency room.

Depending on the quantity you are preparing, divide the yam into 2 or 3 batches, so you don't overload the mortar.

When the yam mass is sticky enought o be shaped into a ball, it is ready, although, some people like their's really soft in which case you would keep pounding till the desired softness. (the more/harder you pound, the softer it gets).

Shape it into a neat ball or oval, place in a soup dish and serve with hot soup.

This dish is best enjoyed when eaten with your fingers but a spoon will work just as well.

It is a must-try dish for those that don't know it, and I'm sure will bring fond memories to those that do.

Chicken Stew with Rice and Plantain

2010-05-24T05:32:00.000-07:00

I decided to make my first dish, one that is popular with many people in Ghana, Chicken stew with rice and fried plantain.

Measurements and quantities when it comes to cooking and recipes, tend to be a big problem for Ghanaians and I'm sorry to say I am no different. I will however try approximate with regards to whatever it is I'm writing about.

For this meal, which I think could serve 4 or 5 people, I used

2 pounds of Chicken (broiler or 'soft', as we say in the market)
2 medium size Onions
10 medium size Tomatoes
10 - 12 peppers (use as much or as little as works for you)
3 cups rice (standard measuring cup)
3 fingers of Plantain
2 cups Cooking oil
2 dessert spoon tomato puree/paste
2 maggie cubes
1/4 teaspoon Black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Rosemary
1 teaspoon Curry powder
2 cloves Garlic
Salt to taste

So, the first thing I did was remove the skin and as much of the fat as I could get off. I cut it into sizeable portions, which are of course entirely up to you. I then washed it thoroughly, since chicken tends to have a not-so-pleasant scent. You could rinse it in a little lemon water if it really bothers you.

Add the black pepper, crushed maggie cubes and salt. Be careful of how much salt you add since the cubes are salted. The garlic also goes in at this stage. You could either chop it finely, crush it with a garlic press or our local asanka, or even blend it, although I think its a waste to use a blender for 2 cloves. Although it makes sense when you are adding a few other things (for seasoning) that need blending like Ginger, onions, pepper etc.

Toss it to get all the spices around to all the pieces. Let it stand for 3 to 5 minutes then put it in a coverd pot and steam. No water is needed because the juices will run from the chicken.

Depending on what kind of chicken being used (layer is much leaner and therefore tougher), it may take between 7 to 10 minutes for broiler which will start to fall apart if overcooked and up to 30 minutes for layer. Do add water if you feel the need, especially with cooking layer. We don't want it to burn.

In the meantime, you could cut the onions. I like to sit the onion on it's end and slice down the middle. I then place the flat part of each half on the board and slice in the same dirrection as the natural lines. I have an aunt who likes to slice accross the lines. Whatever works for you is fine, just as long as the sizes are uniform, so they can cook at the sam pace. If you fancy some exta garlic, you could slice some up.

This is also a good time to blend the tomatoes and pepper. If you however, prefer more texture in your stew, you could just chop them up as you like.

When the chicken is cooked, drain off the stock (liquid goodness from the steaming) and put aside. Pour half the cooking oil into a frying pan and heat. Split a clove of garlic lengthwise and put it in the oil. Use this to judge the heat of the oil. W the garlic starts to brown and almost burn, the oil is hot enough. Carefully place the chicken in the hot oil. Use a fork, it makes it easier. Turn down the heat a little and fry the chicken in 2 batches if necessary.

Turn the pieces over to check if they are beginning to brown. If they are, flip them over to fry the other side. When they start to get golden, they are ready to be removed. Dont fry the chicken too dry or else it will become hard and stringy.

Using the same pot you steamed the chicken in, heat about half the oil left over fom frying the chicken. Add the slices onions stirring occassionally.

Fry the onions till they lose their colour and start to look transparent.

When they do, add the curry powder and continue to fry. Stir to prevent it sticking. The longer it fries, the more it sticks to the bottom.

Continue to fry the onions and curry until they begin to brown around the edges

Add the tomato puree stirring continuously for about 2 minutes.

By now, it should be almost sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Add the blended tomatoes and stir until it is evenly mixed. Cover and leave to simmer. This allows the tomatoes to cook as well as the onions to soften. Stir ocassionally making sure it is not sticking. As the sauce thickens, it will begin to fry again. ry it for a while until it is begining to stick to the bottom.

Add the chicken stock and stir.

At this point, add the fried chicken to the sauce. If it is too thick, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water. Turn down the heat, cover half way and leave it to simmer.

Wash and peel the plantain, then slice the plantain. This can be done in a number of ways. Straight accross to form circles. Down the middle then accross to form half circles (better on large plantains). Or down the middle of the half circles to form cubes.

I prefer to slice diagonally to form 1 inch thick ovals. Plantains are sweet so some people add nothing in the way of flavouring. I like to add a dash of salt, just to give it a bit of taste.

Heat the remaining cup of oil in a frying pan. when it is hot enough, carefully place the plantains in a prepare a colander to drain the plantains when they are done. Alternatively, you could place paper towels on a plate to soak up the excess oil. As the plantains start to brown around the edges, flip them over to fry the other side. Watch them carefully as this side will cook faster than the first. remove as soon as the second side is done. A serated spoon may be best for this, unless you can be very quick.

Wash the rice and place in a colander. Drain it for a few minutes then place in a pot. Cover with 5 cups of water. The general rule is 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. I learnt the hard way that, that isn't always the case (Different types of rice require different amounts of water). So I always start with 1 cup less and add the last cup in bits if needed. Add 2 teaspoons of oil to the water add salt to your taste, cover and bring to a boil.

As the rice swells and the water reduces, stir and cover with a polythene bag. I prefer to use the clear 'olonka' bag, but feel free to improvise. Turn the heat down to the lowest and leave it to cook slowly.

In about 15 to 20 minutes, you should have nice fluffy rice to go with your Chicken stew. If you want to add some vegetables, put them in a few minutes before the rice is cooked. That way they will steam a little but will not get soggy.

You could serve this with Avocado, coleslaw, etc. I would go for potato salad, but then again ... I want it with everything.

This is the simplest recipe I know for this meal, but there are many inventive ways of cooking chicken stew. Let me know how you prepare yours so I can try it.