Cabbage stew

Hmm! We use to eat this stew like once in a blue moon in Ghana. I wasn't really big on it when I was young but now I don't complain at all. Lol I just eat it like that. It is once of those stews that goes with basically any choice of meat or fish.

Ingredients:

• 2 onions
• 4 tomatoes 
• 1-2 scotch bonnet pepper(depending on how hot you want it)
• 1 medium can of tomato paste
• 1 small ball of cabbage
• 2 carrots(optional)
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• Spices to taste 
• Fish or mackerel or goat meat whatever you prefer in your stew 

Ingredients

1. Cut one of the onions into 2, blend one & half onions with the tomatoes,ginger,pepper. 
2. PS: if you are using goat meat, wash it, season it, steam and fry it and then set it aside
3. In a medium sauce pan, pour in a tablespoon and half of oil, and add in the sliced onions, stir for awhile then add in your blended ingredients. 
4. While that is cooking,chop the cabbage into very medium/small sizes(look at picture below), chop carrots in medium sizes.
5. Add in your small can of tomato paste, let that cook for a while, the pour in your chopped cabbage and carrots(this takes a while to dissolve in the stew so allow it to cook own its own don't rush it oh....) 
6. 
   



Chopped cabbage and carrots



Oil and onions



Blended ingredients with tomato paste



Stew almost ready to add cabbage and carrots

Adding cabbage and carrots



This is how it looks before the cabbage dissolves and becomes softer,



This stew had more sauce than cabbage because it was a preference for who I was cooking for and they wanted sausages and fish as you can see

Beans stew(Red red)

I remember this was one of my favorite dishes growing up in Ghana. Right after Jollof, and banku & okra lol, I enjoyed it at home and the ones they sold on the streets(which was slightly different than the recipe here). So I decided why not share a recipe. Been a long time coming though lol.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups blackeyepeas 
• 3-4 tablespoons of Palm oil(canola or vegetable oil is fine if you don't have palm oil)
• 2 onions
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper(Jamaican hot pepper)
• 1 small can of mackerel(optional, I use it because the family love it)
• Spices to taste

Method:

1. Pour the beans in a small sauce pan, add about 4 or more cups of water to it, set on medium high, and cook until it's soft to touch. While that's cooking blend 1 and half onion,tomatoes,ginger and pepper
2. In a separate sauce pan, pour in palm oil with some sliced onions, sauté the onions for about a minute, pour in the blended ingredients, allow that to cook for about 15-20minutes
3. Add in the cooked beans, allow that to simmer for about 5mins, add in your mackerel, let it simmer for another 20mins and serve with some gari and fried plantains

This was served with kaaklo and some gari

Beans stew with gari and fried plantains

Tsofi/Chofi(Turkey tails)

Let me start off by saying if you aren't ready to do some serious cleaning on this meat then please just buy it from the African markets or restaurants  lol because this recipe calls for a lot of major cleaning and pulling lol. The end result is delicious but the process is just draining lol. So here we go. 

Ingredients 

• 1 lb turkey tails
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1-2 tablespoons red powdered pepper(depending on how spicy you want it)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder(optional)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Oil for frying

Method:

1. Make sure you wash the turkey tails very well, removing all sight of dirt, also removing any straw/hairy like things you might find in them(these really need to come out before anything else) and as much fat off as you can(I say this because there's a lot of fat on this part of the turkey)
2. After you are done washing it well, season with the all the spices and refrigerate for about an hour or 2 or even overnight(if you are not in a rush to make it) 
3. In a medium saucepan, pour in enough oil that will be used for deep frying the turkey tails. On medium heat, heat up the oil and fry till its golden brown.
4. After you are done frying you can enjoy it as it is with some fried yams or you can sprinkle some kebab powder on it(if you have some at hand)

This is how the turkey tail looks before cleaning and cutting into the little tiny pieces. As you can tell it needs a lot of cleaning

Seasoned over night

Top left was plain fried turkey tails, bottom left is when the kebab powder was added, the right pictures a special sauce was added to it. 

Light soup(Pepper soup)

Where the fufu lovers at? This is one soup that MOST people eat with their fufu. Mostly served with goat meat but can be made with chicken as well(but not the overly processed one that's usually too soft and tends to break in the soup so the "live" chicken is the best for light soup). But today's one I will be using goat meat.

Ingredients:

• 2lbs goat
• 3 onions
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 scotch bonnet pepper or Jamaican hot pepper(or more,your preference)
• 1/2 jalapeño pepper 
• Ginger
• Half a clove of garlic
• Dried fish(that's if you have any available,it's optional)
• Spices to taste

You can add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste but it's optional not everyone uses tomato paste in their light soup. I was told some use it because of the bright color it gives the soup I usually don't....depends on who I am cooking for. 

Method:

1. Wash goat meat,remove any visible fat,in a big sauce pan, season with pepper,seasoning salt,and your choice of spices. On medium heat, steam goat meat for about 10-15mins or till it's no longer red/pink
2. While meat is steaming,blend the onions,tomatoes,pepper,ginger and garlic. When meat is done steaming pour in the blended ingredients on, adding about 2-3 cups(or more) of water(you are making soup not stew so it shouldn't be thick at all) I usually add a small can of tomato sauce to it if I have it at home
3. When the soup has boiled for a while, season it with your choice of spices and allow it to cook for 10-15mins. Prepare your fufu and enjoy lol. 

Ps: Will update with more pictures as time goes on. Thank you. Enjoy

1. Seasoned goat meat 2.Steamed goat meat 3.Ingredients to be blended 4. blended ingredients
5.Blended ingredients added to the steamed goat meat 6. Water that was added 

When I talk about dried fish from the african market this is what I am referring to

Plantain chips

I love plantain chips no it's very serious, everytime someone is coming from Ghana I ask for plantain chips lol so the craving got real and I decided to do it myself. It's not like they sell in Ghana but it's pretty darn close lol!

Ingredients:

• 2 green or yellow plantain(depending on what you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon salt (less if you don't want it overly salty)
• Oil for frying 

Method 

1. Peel and wash plantains. Cut into very thin slices the shape is your choice but make sure you cut it as thin as possible(that gives you the crunchy-ness of plantain chips). You can also use a potato peeler to slice the plantain into thin slices. 
2. I soaked mine in salt water for 15 mins before frying(you can choose to skip this part and just add salt after frying), heat up oil on medium heat and fry until its golden yellow.(see pictures for guidance)..

Stages

Theedee's yummy plantain chips :-D

I used a potato peeler to achieve this style plantain chips

Kebab

Nothing like the kebabs they sell on the streets of Accra at night with that hot pepper on it lol. But since I'm not in Ghana this is the closest thing I could make to satisfy my cravings. This is what you will normally see at MOST Ghanaian events in New York. You can tweak this according to your preference. Some like it really spicy and some would rather not have spicy at all.

Ingredients:

• 2lbs beef 
• 1 big onion 
• 1 green pepper(optional) 
• Kebab powder(you can get some of this at some African markets. I brought mine from Ghana) 
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon of parsley flakes
• 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper(optional)
• 1 -2 tablespoons of red pepper or cayenne pepper(optional)

Method:

1. Wash the beef and cut it into small pieces
2. Season it with the seasoning salt and black pepper,parsley,crushed pepper,red pepper and two tablespoons of the kebab powder(if you have time you can put it in the fridge over night so it marinates well)
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C), spread the seasoned beef in a greased baking sheet and bake it for 30-45mins(depending on how deep your pan is) with constant stirring until its ready
4. In a small sauce pan,melt a 1/3 teaspoon of butter add your chopped onions and green pepper,stir in a tablespoon of kebab powder and saute it for a minute. Now the fun part begins lol, if you have the kebab sticks this would be perfect, stick one beef, add an onion and green pepper, keep going until there's no more beef and veggies left. (You should have about 3 beef on each stick,depending on how big you cut the beef). 
5. Sprinkle some kebab powder on them and serve, ENJOY!

PS: Some people complain about how dry some kebabs are,to prevent this if you have some plain tomato stew at home you can toss about 3 tablespoons on the baked meat and put it back in the oven for about 10 minutes. 

Beef

I had to cut a lot of fat out of this. Before seasoning. (This was for a larger batch of kebabs)

Seasoned and ready for the fridge to marinate well or ready for the oven

Spread foil in oven and bake it (PS:This creates alot of mess)

Easier method to bake(PS:Just takes a little more time to cook)

Step by step of the veggies that were used for the kebabs

This was for a friend's birthday party that's why it looks like a lot but this is how your kebabs should look when you are done. Sprinkled with a little more kebab powder