West African Cuisine Archives - Simple African Meals

HOW TO MAKE GHANA RED RED (Plantain and beans!)

How To Make Ghana Red-Red (Plantain and Beans!)

Plantain & Beans — Plantain and beans is a popular street food in Ghana, West Africa.

Ghana Red-red (Plantain and Beans!) as we call it in Ghana is a highly popular delicious street food. Memories of Red-Red takes me back to when I was in High School.

My friends and I will purchase a good amount of Red-Red with a little bit of gari. We bought our delicacy from a popular spot just off campus for breakfast.

And once we ate we were set for the day, it helped a great deal since we were broke High School students.

Plantain and beans is a balanced diet that vegetarians are big fans of. Some people might add pieces of fish to their beans stew but most don’t.

Some will also eat the beans with gari, rice, or some other form of Carbohydrate. Plantains are also a great side that a lot of people eat with main courses like Jollof, or fried rice.

5 from 8 votes

HOW TO MAKE GHANA RED RED (Plantain and beans!)

Red-Red is a Ghanaian favorite street food made of Beans and Ripe plantains.

Course Main Course

Cuisine West African

Keyword How To Make Ghana Red-Red (Plantain and Beans!)

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Servings 4 People

Calories 300 kcal

Ingredients

5 MEDIUM FRESH TOMATOES
1 TBSP CAYENNE PEPPER
1 BULB ONION
1/8 Pound GINGER
1 HABANERO PEPPERS You can reduce or skip it altogether if you can't handle the heat.
1 TSP PAPRIKA
SALT TO TASTE
OIL

Fried Plantain

4 Large Ripe Plantains
2 Cups Vegetable Oil

Instructions

Add your pound of Beans (Black-Eyed Peas) in a pot with water and boil at meduim heat for about 40 minutes. Occasionally check the water level.
While your beans is boiling chop up your onions and set aside
Chop up your tomatoes, ginger, Habanero peppers and pour into a blender. Blend until its nice and smooth.
In a seperate cooking pot warm up your oil for 5 minutes and fry your onions for another 5 minutes.
Add the blended ingredients, paprika, salt and cayenne. Lower the heat on your stove and let simmer for 30 minutes.
When the beans is cooked, drain the water and add it to the sauce mix, stir and let simmer for another 10-15 minutes

Fried Plantains

Cut up the ripe plantains into about 8-10 slices each and add salt to taste in a bowl
Fry the plantains on meduim heat for about 15 minutes or until its golden brown

ATTIE’KE’- Ache-ke’ (Cassava Couscous)

ATTIE’KE’- Ache-ke’ (Cassava Couscous)

Tilapia Served with Atseke — Tilapia served with Atseke and some hot sauce.

ATTIE’KE’ is a side dish that is native to the Ivory Coast, West Africa. However, it is also eaten in Liberia and the western part of Ghana.

Attie’ke’ is made from the Cassava / Yuca plant that is found mostly in West Africa and South America. It is prepared from fermented cassava that has been granulated.

I did not eat at all when growing up but I had heard about it several times. I guess it was because my parents had never eaten it or ate it and did not like it.

So when I finally ate it a few years ago, it was so delicious and I felt very cheated because I had been missing out for over 30 years. To make matters worse, it’s so easy to make!

The best place to find this product is an African Store or good ole Amazon. And a popular brand Nayama Natural Attie’ke’. Open up the contents in the box and cook with water, olive oil, and salt.

Serve with roasted or fried Tilapia, mackerel, or cassava fish with alloco, Shitto, or some other hot sauce.

This post contains affiliate links.

I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.

5 from 10 votes

ATTIE'KE'- Ache-ke' (Cassava Couscous)

Attie'ke' is a side dish made from cassava which originates from the Ivory Coast.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine West African

Keyword Attie'ke' - Acheke' (Cassava Couscous)

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Servings 4 People

Calories 1400 kcal

Author fnonterah2018

Ingredients

2 Cups Nayama Natural Attie'ke'
2 Cups Water
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Veggies for garnishing
Salt to taste

Instructions

In a bowl pour in your attieke, water, salt, and oil. Mix all the ingredients
Put it in a microwave oven for 5 minutes. Around the 2 minute mark run a fork through it up.
Garnish with veggies once its done with veggies

Roasted Ginger-Garlic Tilapia

There Roasted Ginger-Garlic Tilapia

Roasted Ginger-Garlic Tilapia is a favorite for most Ghanaians and West Africans.

There is a particular section in the city of Accra called Osu that has some of the best street food in the country.

Vendors there serve some of the tastiest tilapia you’ll find in the world.

The secret to the vendor’s success with their tilapia is ginger and garlic.

For Ghanaians and most West Africans Tilapia is a delicacy that we serve with different side dishes.

Some popular side dishes are Banku, Kenkey, Atseke, and Gari.

However, there are some people who will eat the whole fish by itself with a serving of hot sauce.

Over the weekend my family and I had the pictured fish with a serving of Atseke (Cassava Couscous) and it was so delicious I wish you were there.

If I were you I would serve my guests with this delectable dish with potatoes, rice, atseke, etc.

This post contains affiliate links.

I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.

5 from 11 votes

Roasted Ginger-Garlic Tilapia

Roasted Ginger-Garlic Tilapia is seasoned with ginger, garlic, onions, oil, water, and salt

Course Main Course

Cuisine West African

Keyword Baked Ginger-Garlic Tilapia

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Servings 1 Person

Ingredients

1/4 Pound Ginger
1/2 Clove Garlic You can use 1 if you so choose
1 Bulb Onion
1/4 Cup Water
2 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
4 Medium-sized Tilapia

Instructions

Thouroughly clean the fish
Blend all the ingredients togerther until it forms into a paste
Rub the marinade generously on the tilapia
Let the fish sit for an hour to absorb all the ingredients you'll get better results if you leave it overnight
In a 350 degree fahrenheit pre-heated oven bake your marinated Tilapia for about 45-60 minutes.

Recipe Notes

Hot and Spicy Roasted Tilapia — Tilapia Garnished with Onions and Tomatoes

Kelewele recipe – How to make Kelewele (Spicy fried plantain cubes)

How to make KeleWele (Kelewele recipe – Spicy fried plantain cubes)

Freshly Made Kelewele — Fried Spicy Plantains

Kelewele pronounced kele-wele is spicy plantain cubes seasoned with ginger, onions, cayenne pepper, and salt.

Spicy fried plantain cubes is a popular and favorite street food in Ghana made out of riped plantains, sold by vendors at night times.

Kelewele is sold at night times because it gets really hot in the day; the average temperature in Accra is about 87 degrees Fahrenheit or 30 degrees Celsius.

Plantains are not bananas although they may look like them. Bananas are eaten raw 90 percent of the time. Plantains can also be eaten raw but that’s rare.

There was a popular joint in Accra called Labone Junction Kelewele, I have to admit that was the best I’ve had until I perfected the art.

My parents made sure we knew it was a treat anytime we were taken there. So we will not request to go there on consecutive days.

Serve this great dish with your favorite African cuisines like Waakye or Jollof.

Here’s a kelewele recipe you will enjoy (see a video of this recipe below)

5 from 19 votes

Kelewele

Is cubed spicy fried plantains fried in hot oil

Course Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine Tropical, West African

Keyword Kelewele

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 2 People

Ingredients

3 Ripe Plantains
1/2 Bulb Onion
Salt to taste
1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
Ginger
5 Tsp Water
Canola Oil for deep frying

Instructions

Cut the plantains in two and then chop them up into cubes
Add your dry ingredients together and then blend your water, onions, and ginger. After blending mix all the ingredients.
Add the spices to the cubed plantains
Deep fry your plantain mix in pre-heated oil between 15-20 minutes

Ghana Meat Pie Recipe: How to make Ghana Meat Pie

Ghana Meat Pie Recipe.

Meat Pie Straight outta the oven — Mouthwatering Meat Pie

5 from 19 votes

How to Make Ghana Meat Pie

Ghana Meat Pie Recipe

Meat Pie is a West African street food pastry, that is stuffed with meat. It can served as an appetizer at restaurants, parties, etc.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine West African

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 5 People

Calories 275 kcal

Ingredients

Crust

2 Cups Unbleached Flour
1 Cup Butter
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Really Cold Water
1 Large Egg For quoting

Meat Pie Filling

1 Pound Ground Turkey You can substitute it with ground beef, chicken breast or tuna
1/2 Bulb Onion
1 Tsp Cajun Seasoning You can substitute it Adobo seasoning or seasoned salt
1.5 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Fresh Tomato

Instructions

Crust

Combine the crust ingredients: your flour, butter, salt and water in a large bowl
mix and knead it until a dough forms
Set aside in a freezer for 10 minutes

Filling

Pour oil in a frying pan and put it on medium heat
Add the meat and seasoning let it cook for 10 minutes
Add your onions to meat and let it cook for another 5 minutes
Add chopped tomato and let it simmer for 5 minutes
After the filling is done, lightly flour a surface and roll the dough with a rolling pin. Cut a piece of the dough into a square or circle, you can choose to make it large or small. Add some meat to each pie and fold in half and seal it. Use a fork to seal the edges so the meat does not fall out.
Lastly, quote the pies with your egg wash so you get that golden brown look

Recipe Notes

Yummy Meat Pie — Meat pie after they come out of the oven.

This post contains affiliate links.

I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.

Wow your guests with this beginner-friendly meat pie recipe from Ghana!

Meat pie is a popular West African pastry which is stuffed with meat. It is very similar to empanadas from Latin American countries.

People from the Carribean Islands also have their version regularly called patties.

You can buy meat pie from many street vendors in West African cities as a quick snack or for lunch especially for busy individuals. Meat pie brings back so many great memories.

Another good thing about meat pie is that they’re super easy to make.

I love to make them because my wife absolutely loves them and I know it always puts a smile on her face.

I remember just before we got married we a mini-fight which was my fault.

So I apologized and bought her some really delicious meat pie.

When we were growing up, my Mom would make it for special occasions like birthday celebrations, marriage ceremonies, Christmas and other holidays.

It did not matter how many meat pies she made, they were always all gone by the same day. This was always a bummer the next day when we realized we had no more meat pies to eat.

And the times when we did not get to eat meat pies at home we would go over to our neighbors’ house because their Mom was a baker. She made meat pies once a week. And if we found ourselves there at the right time we would get a piece or two.

Try making this delicious recipe for your guests to switch things around.

If you try this meat pie recipe and end up with delicious pies, don’t blame me!

Make sure to pair it with Sobolo for extra effect.

You can get good unbleached flour from Amazon.

PEANUT BUTTER SOUP

5 from 9 votes

PEANUT BUTTER SOUP

Peanut butter soup or Groundnut soup is a soup made from peanuts and other ingredients. It is a staple African cuisine and also eaten in some parts of Asia.

Course Main Course

Cuisine West African

Keyword Peanut Butter Soup

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Servings 4 People

Calories 1625 kcal

Ingredients

2 Pounds Chicken, Goat meat, beef, fish, lamb
1 Bulb Large Onion
1 Tbsp Salt Salt to taste
1 Tsp Seasoned Salt
3 Habanero Peppers Depends on your tolerance
1/4 Pound Garlic
1/4 Pound Ginger
10 Cups Water Depends on how light or thick you want it. Bear in mind it will thicken overnight.
4 Fresh Tomatoes
2 Cups peanut butter preferably the old fashioned brand

Instructions

Steaming your chicken

On medium heat put your chicken in a big saucepan and add 2 cups of water with salt, 1/2 of the onions and the seasoned salt and let it simmer for about 10 minutes

Blending ingredients

In blender add the other half of the onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and 2 more cups of water and blend the ingredients till its smooth

Peanut Butter Soup

Pour the tomato blend mix of the simmering chicken and spices and let it boil for another 10 minutes.
Pour the peanut butter with about 3-4 cups of water in a blender / food processor and let it blend till its nice and smooth
Pour the peanut butter mix over the chicken and the other ingredients and let boil for another 30 - 45 minutes. Now you can enjoy your world famous peanut butter soup!

This post contains affiliate links. I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.

Cooking has been my number one activity during this pandemic.

I haven’t made a lot of time to cook in the last few months and I didn’t realize how much I missed it.

This soup brought back a lot of childhood memories.

My Mom made the world’s best Groundnut soup, and we would have this soup once in every two weeks and trust me it was to live for!

We ate Peanut butter soup with Fufu or Omo Tuo (Rice Balls).

I don’t think there was ever a fight on those weekends because all five of us kids were happy campers.

The left-overs will be eaten with Gari, a West African meal that is bagged or packaged and can be eaten with almost everything and its a good add on to Waakye.

You can find the original post on https://www.theschizochef.com/.

If you ever try it let me know, trust me you’ll thank me forever!

This post contains affiliate links.

I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.

KYINKYINGA – (Beef Kebab) Recipe

KYINKYINGA – (Beef Kebab) Recipe is a Ghanaian local name given to Kebab.

It is a popular street food in Ghana, Nigeria, and other West African countries.

Suya kebab is synonymous to Kyinkyinga in Nigeria.

Kyinkyinga is served in most restaurants in Ghana and sold at almost every street corner.

Kebab is one of those foods that are hardly made at home, and they usually taste better on the streets.

However, if you’re brave enough you can make better Kebabs from home.

I remember when we were kids my dad would take all 5 of us kids to this popular Bar / Restaurant in town.

In fact, the restaurant had some of the most delicious Kebabs in town.

Those were some precious childhood memories for me.

The good news is that you can purchase Kebab powder on this site!

Good ole Amazon has some great peanut powder you can use as a substitute.

Make sure you have it with a cool drink.

Moreover, you can find the ingredients from an African store near you .

This post contains affiliate links.

I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.

5 from 14 votes

Kyinkyinga

Course Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine West African

Keyword Kebab, Kyinkyinga

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 6 People

Ingredients

Kyinkyinga Powder

1 Cup Ground Peanuts You can also get peanut butter powder
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp Paprika
1 Tsp Ginger Powder
1 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
1 Tsp Black Pepper

Beef on Skewers

5 Pounds Diced Beef
1/2 Bulb Onion
Oil
Skewers
1/4 Bell Pepper

Instructions

In a bowl mix all your spices together to make the great Kyinkyinga powder.
Dip a cooking brush in oil and quote your beef on skewers with oil
Generously rub your kyinkyinga powder mix on the meat and place them on a baking dish
Place the baking dish of kebabs in a 350 degree Fahrenheit pre-heated conventional oven. Bake it for about 20 minutes and your best ever beef kebabs will be ready to be devoured!

Recipe Notes

Guest Post on Schizo Chef! Waakye

I’m super-excited. My first guest post as a food-blogger was published on Schizo Chef today.

The Schizo Chef is a classically trained chef and food photographer who has traveled the world.

She is very knowledgeable foodie and her blog is worth checking out.

https://www.theschizochef.com/

Waakye – Ghanian Rice & Beans – Guest Post

Sweet Potato Balls

5 from 16 votes

Sweet Potato Balls

Sweet Potato Balls is mashed Sweet Potatoes mixed with other spices and veggies and formed into balls and Fried.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine West African

Keyword Sweet Potato Balls

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 5 People

Calories 240 kcal

Ingredients

4 Large Sweet Potatoes
1 Bulb Onion
1 Carrot
1 Jalapeno Pepper
1 Tsp Carne Asada Seaoning you can use seasoned salt, Adobo all purpose seasoning, cajun seasoning, etc.
1 Tsp Salt
2 Large Eggs
1.5 Cups Bread Crumbs Save the half cup for quoting the balls after forming them

Instructions

Boil your sweet potatoes for about 25-30 minutes or until cooked.
Peel the sweet potatoes and mash them till their no more lumps
Chop up the onions, carrots and jalapeno and add it to the potato mix
Add your spices,eggs and 1 cup of the bread crumbs
Mix in all the ingredients and with an ice cream scoop, scoop out some of the mix and shape them into balls, quote them with the leftover bread crumbs and deep fry them for 5-10 minutes.

When I was growing up my Mom and close relatives will make these appetizers on special occasions like Christmas, Easter, birthdays and other special occasions.

Last week my wife bought some sweet potatoes from the market and on Wednesday I remembered we had them and then the idea came, sweet potato balls.

Then I started thinking about the ingredients and had to find out if we had them? We had all the ingredients but bread crumbs.

I had gotten some bread from the market a few days prior which was perfect for bread crumbs.

Spinach Stew

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Spinach stew is a Ghanaian favorite stew which is usually served with rice, yams and plantains.

It was a favorite of our household and we will have it once a week for lunch right after school.

Unfortunately I would get myself in trouble by staining my shirts. And if you’ve had Spinach stew from Ghana when it stains it stays.

What I didn’t like about it was that I’d stain my shirts and get myself in trouble.

My wife told me when we first met that her favorite food was plantains and spinach stew.

So one day I cooked it and invited her over for lunch. She admitted later that the stew wasn’t that great, but I more than made up for it later :).

The picture above shows plantain and the stew with a few slices of avocados.

Surprisingly fresh plantains can be found on Amazon.

5 from 11 votes

Spinach stew

This is a favorite stew of many Ghanaians, which is made out of Spinach, onions, fresh tomatoes, ginger, garlic, oil, salt, habanero peppers, other spices. It served with rice, yams, plantains, etc.

Course Main Course

Cuisine West African

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 5 People

Author fnonterah2018

Ingredients

1 Bulb Onion
1 Clove Garlic
4 Habanero Peppers You don't have to use as many.
1 Pound Fresh Spinach
3 Fresh Tomatoes
1/4 Ginger root
1 Tsp Salt Or salt to taste
4 Tbsp Canola oil You can use Olive oil too

Instructions

Start off by chopping up the spinach, tomatoes and onions and set aside
Chop up your garlic, ginger and habanero peppers and blend with a little of water.
Pour oil in a pre-heated pan and fry your onions for about 5 minutes.
Add in the blended produce and tomatoes and let cook for another 5 minutes.
Now you can add your spinach, lower the heat to medium and let simmer for about 45 minutes. Because the spinach and tomatoes have a lot of fluid in them and you don't want your stew to soggy. So after about an hour of cooking your world famous spinach stew is ready to be served.