In Ghana, we bought a second Ghana cookbook, and made our first recipe from it on Saturday. It is my favorite homemade Ghana recipe to date. Part of this, I'm sure, is due to our knowing what their food is supposed to taste like, and this recipe was spot on (even if we put in too many beans). We had it Saturday and Sunday (as leftovers) and both times I was super disappointed that I couldn't have more.
It starts with oil. A LOT of oil. Actually, I just read on the Ghana adoption group on facebook that one of their kids (older), when describing recipes in Ghana, always starts with "First you put in the oil." I was totally thinking about this recipe when I read that!
It take a full cup of oil. And yes, I did think about how even though we were having this for two meals, and two of us eating it, we each had a 1/4 cup of oil with our meal. Depressing. Especially since it means we can't eat this every night. It was that good.
To protect the rights of the cookbook ( The Spice of Ghana Life), I am not posting the whole recipe, or exact details, but a general overview.
After you pour in the copious amount of oil, you add the spices and tomato paste and then cook for about 10 minutes. My memory of the recipe continued like that until it was done- add something, cook for another 10-15 minutes, add something else, cook, add something else, cook.
We made it our own by adding some ground bison at the end. When Blake ate this in Ghana, he ate it with fish, but they also make it with lamb or goat, I believe, but it tasted good with bison. The flavor is incredible. I have no idea how to describe it, but when I was eating my leftovers, and my bowl was about halfway empty, I started eating it one bean at at time to savor the flavors, and I was still so bummed when it was empty.
In Ghana, it is always served with fried plantains, but we didn't decide to buy those this time, so we just enjoyed it as it was. I wonder what we will try next...
Ooh where did you find a Ghanaian cookbook? I will have to get one!
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