Groundnut Stew (with a Guinean twist)

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

 

Ingredients:

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
Salt

 

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

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

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.