Red red stew recipe
This stew of black-eyed beans (cowpeas) cooked in a gently spiced tomato sauce is a great vegan dish eaten all day long in Ghana – an alternative to baked beans for breakfast or as a bean casserole for lunch or dinner. Usually eaten with fried plantain, it's tasty, nourishing comfort food that’s super easy to make.
Recipe from Zoe's Ghana Kitchen by Zoe Adjonyoh (published by Mitchell Beazley, £25).
Ingredients
- 2 ripe plantains
- 300 ml sustainable palm oil or groundnut oil, for shallow-frying
- 2 ripe plantains
- 10.6 fl oz sustainable palm oil or groundnut oil, for shallow-frying
- 2 ripe plantains
- 1.3 cups sustainable palm oil or groundnut oil, for shallow-frying
- 200 g dried black-eyed beans, or 400g can organic black-eyed beans
- 75 ml sustainable palm oil or carotene oil
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- 2.5 cm (1 inch) piece fresh root ginger, finely grated
- 0.5 tbsp dried chilli flakes
- 0.5 red Scotch Bonnet chilli, deseeded and diced
- 0.5 tsp curry powder
- 0.5 tbsp chilli powder
- 400 g can chopped tomatoes or whole plum tomatoes
- 200 g plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 0.5 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 pinch gari (fermented, dried and ground cassava), for sprinkling
- 7.1 oz dried black-eyed beans, or 400g can organic black-eyed beans
- 2.6 fl oz sustainable palm oil or carotene oil
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- 2.5 cm (1 inch) piece fresh root ginger, finely grated
- 0.5 tbsp dried chilli flakes
- 0.5 red Scotch Bonnet chilli, deseeded and diced
- 0.5 tsp curry powder
- 0.5 tbsp chilli powder
- 14.1 oz can chopped tomatoes or whole plum tomatoes
- 7.1 oz plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 0.5 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 pinch gari (fermented, dried and ground cassava), for sprinkling
- 7.1 oz dried black-eyed beans, or 400g can organic black-eyed beans
- 0.3 cup sustainable palm oil or carotene oil
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- 2.5 cm (1 inch) piece fresh root ginger, finely grated
- 0.5 tbsp dried chilli flakes
- 0.5 red Scotch Bonnet chilli, deseeded and diced
- 0.5 tsp curry powder
- 0.5 tbsp chilli powder
- 14.1 oz can chopped tomatoes or whole plum tomatoes
- 7.1 oz plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 0.5 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 pinch gari (fermented, dried and ground cassava), for sprinkling
Details
- Cuisine: Ghanaian
- Recipe Type: Stew
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 120 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Make the fried plantain. Using a sharp knife, peel the plantains by cutting the tips off each end and slicing through the skin lengthways (avoid cutting into the flesh), then use your hands to remove the skin. Remove any stringy fibres you may find.
- I like to cut the plantains in half lengthways and then into several pieces on the diagonal – skinny (1cm/ ½-inch) pieces or chunky (2–3cm/¾–1¼-inch) pieces work equally well, but simply adjust the quantity of oil and frying time according to the thickness.
- Pour enough oil into a large frying pan to cover the base by a depth of 5mm–1cm (¼–½ inch) – you don’t need to submerge the plantain in oil – and heat over a medium–high heat.
- Fry the pieces of plantain, in batches, by gently lowering each piece into the hot oil with tongs – be careful not to overcrowd the pan so that you can turn them easily and avoid the oil splattering. They should start to turn golden pretty quickly, and when you can see a golden brown crust forming at the edges of the plantain pieces, gently turn them over and cook until well browned on the other side.
- Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper, keeping the cooked plantain warm while you fry the rest.
- Make the stew. If using dried beans, rinse and place in a large saucepan, cover with a good depth of water and bring to the boil, then simmer for at least 1 hour or until the beans are tender enough to be squeezed easily between thumb and forefinger. Drain and set aside. If using a can of beans, just drain, rinse and drain again.
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a low to medium heat until it melts (palm oil has a low smoke point, so be careful not to let it burn), add the onion, ginger, chilli flakes and Scotch Bonnet and sauté gently for a few minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the curry and chilli powders and stir well.
- Add all the tomatoes, tomato purée, sea salt and black pepper and stir through. If using canned chopped tomatoes, add them 20 minutes into the cooking time or stir in 1 tablespoon sugar to counterbalance the tartness of the tomatoes.
- Leave to cook over a medium heat for 45–60 minutes or until the tomatoes start to break down. If you want a smooth sauce, blend with a stick blender at this point.
- Add the cooked or drained canned beans, reduce the heat to medium–low and cook for a further 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so that the beans don’t stick to the pan, until the beans are tender and the tartness of tomatoes has dissipated.
- Check the seasoning before serving in a bowl with some gari sprinkled on top, along with a side of fried plantain.
This recipe is from Zoe's Ghana Kitchen by Zoe Adjonyoh (published by Mitchell Beazley, £25). Photography by Nassima Rothacker.
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