Category: Ghanaian cuisine

Ghanaian cuisine

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One-pot oven Jollof rice

This recipe of One-pot Baked Chicken and Jollof Rice start on the stove and finishes cooking in the oven. This One-pot Baked Chicken and Jollof Rice is also a combination of west African and Indians of terrific aromatic, spices and flavors. The little thing that makes all the difference in this recipe is the fried anise, allspice pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves before adding the rice and well-seasoned chicken. This recipe of One-pot Baked Chicken and Jollof Rice is outrageously delicious!

One-pot Baked Chicken and Jollof Rice Secret: “fried anise, allspice pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves”

One-pot oven Jollof rice
One-pot oven Jollof rice

This One-pot Baked Chicken and Jollof Rice starts on the stove because frying the anise, allspice pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves ensure the best flavors possible in the most effective way. If your oil begins to smoke, it is too hot and should be either removed from the heat source or the heat source should be turned down. Once they become aromatic, add the onion and cook until the onion is softened. Then, continue to add your other ingredients as desired. When frying spices, it is extremely important to pay close attention to them. Even if a single spice burns, the whole batch will be tainted with that bitter, burned flavor. Stir the spices frequently and mind the heat.

How to perfectly season the baked chicken?

For this recipe of One-pot Baked Chicken and Jollof Rice, I use a whole chicken, but other part of the chicken can be used (like the thigh, leg or wing). You can never go wrong with my combination of spices (1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1 tablespoon garlic, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon curry, 1 teaspoon bouillon cube, Salt and pepper) because you get maximum depth of flavor for minimum number of spices. Plus, I always have these spices on hand.

How did I partially cook it on the stove?

By partially cooking the One-pot Baked Chicken and Jollof Rice on the stove to first bring out the maximum flavor out of the spices and also allows me to bring the liquid to a boil before putting it in the oven. The flavor is so much better because of the fried onion.

One-pot oven Jollof rice
One-pot oven Jollof rice

Why add the chicken over the rice?

I added the perfectly seasoned chicken over the rice because the dripping of the chicken add so much more flavor to the rice. The result is a mouthwatering baked chicken coated in a beautiful rub, baked on top of fluffy soft rice. Oven Baked Chicken and Rice all cooked together in one dish is possibly one of the MOST loved family favorite dinners on the planet. I know in my heart of hearts this will become your new favorite.

How to make One-pot Baked Chicken and Jollof Rice

Ingredients

For chicken

  • 1 Chicken
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 tablespoon garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon curry
  • 1 teaspoon bouillon cube
  • Salt and pepper

For Rice

  • 1 anise 
  • 2 allspice pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cinnamon 
  • 2 cloves
  • 4 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoon tomato paste
  • Scotch bonnet chilli to taste (optional)
  • Vegetables: 1 eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1 Summer squash, 2 carrots 
  • 1 teaspoon bouillon cube
  • Salt and pepper
  • 400 g (14oz) rice
  • 925 ml (3.9 cups) warm water*

Instructions

Preheat oven to fan assisted 180C / 350F / gas 4.

Season the chicken with teaspoon paprika, turmeric, garlic, ginger, curry, bouillon cube, Salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a frying pan with the oil over medium heat and add the anise, allspice pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves. Cook for a minute

Add and fry the onion for about 7 mins until soft.

Stir in the tomato purred and the tomato paste, cook for 5 minutes.

Add the water, vegetables (1 eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1 Summer squash, 2 carrots) and bring to a boil.

Mixing in the rice and mix until well.

Add a layer of aluminum foil and make small incisions. Add the chicken and cover (Make sure the cover is over safe) 

Transfer the Jollof rice mixture into the oven for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven stir and put back in the oven without the lid for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is soft and done.

When done take the rice out of the oven, fluff it and serve.

Serve hot

Tips to make perfect oven baked chicken and rice

  • For this recipe I recommend long jasmine rice. Basmati rice or Jasmine rice can be substituted with the same liquid ratio and cooking time. Please do not use short grain rice, medium grain rice, risotto, paella or minute rice.
  • If the rice cooks before the chicken, remove the rice from the oven, and transfer the chicken in an oven safe dish and put the chicken back in the oven.
  • For a better color on the chicken, it can be broiled for an extra 2-3 minutes just to get your chicken golden and browned with crisp edges, and an amazing buttery, crunchy crust on the top of your rice!
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Yam and Egg sauce

Yam and Egg sauce

Boiled yam is often served with egg stew. Yam are delicious superfoods is found largely in tropical region like Africa, Jamaican and Caribbean and very different from the “Yam” found in most leading grocery store. The US’s yam is a variation of sweet potato. The African Yam has a dark brown peelable skin and the inside is white or yellow. We have a variety of recipes made with Yam: pound yam or Fufu, Fried yam and baked Yam.

  • 1 yam
  • 4-6 eggs
  • 1 smoked mackerel 
  • 1 cup shrimp
  • 2 garlic chopped 
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1-2 scotch bonnet, chopped
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup Vegetable oil
  • Salt and Seasoning cube (to taste)

How to make boiled yam?

Peel and Wash yams, then cut into bite-size cubes into 1 inch size.

Rinse in clean water till water runs clear and no residue in water.

Choose a saucepan that will be large enough to hold the yams without crowding them. Put yam in a saucepan, add enough water to cover it, add salt and Bring to a boil.

Cover the saucepan and cook yams for 10 to 12 minutes or until just tender on the outside but resistant in the center when pierced with a knife or fork. For soft, tender yams, cook for 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove from the stove and drain; And voila, you have yourself boiled Yam

To make egg sauce…

I usually served my boiled yam with sardines, egg stew, green pepper, tomato stew… Today, I am going to serve my boiled yam with a delicious and easy egg stew. I wanted to change thing up a little bit therefore I added shrimp and smoked fish to the egg stew. This recipe is made with fresh tomatoes, onion and spices which goes heavenly with my boiled yam.

Remove all the fishbones from the fish and set aside.

Place frying pan on a medium/low heat, add about 1/2 cup cooking oil.

Add the garlic, ginger, shrimps and salt to taste. Cook until the shrimps are pink, remove and set aside.

Add the tomato, the tomato paste and onion. Cook until the water evaporate. 

Add smoked mackerel, shrimp, chopped peppers salt and cube to taste. Cook for about 4-5 minutes or till oil floats on the sauce.Stir in the egg then stir to form a scramble.

Serve egg sauce with yam

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Suya and Fried Yam

Suya (Grilled Lamb)

  • 4 Slices Lamb Leg Center 
  • ¼ cup powdered peanuts
  • 1/2 -1 tablespoon cayenne
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon white pepper
  • 1/2 – 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon chicken Bouillon
  • Salt

Heat the oven to 450°F. Lightly spray or oil baking sheet or roasting pan to prevent the suya from sticking to the pan

In a medium bowl, mix peanut, garlic powder, onion power, smoked paprika, white pepper, cayenne pepper, hot ground pepper and bouillon/maggi. Place it on a plate , Set aside

Rub the Lamb with spice mixture; on both sides. Line a roasting or baking sheet with foil paper. Place the Lamb on cookie sheet , then place on the roasting pan or baking sheet.

Bake on for about 12-15 minutes.

Optional -Towards the last 3 minutes of baking switch from baking to broiler setting. To get a nice crisp brown on the outside.

Serve warm

Fried Yam (Koliko)

  • yam (as much as you can eat)
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Salt to taste

Peel and cut the yam tuber into 1 inch cylindrical discs. Make several cuts across the discs to get large chips. Wash the yam chips and place in a bowl.

Add a little salt and toss the contents to distribute the salt. Set aside for 20 mins

Fry the yam at 350F

When the oil is heated, add a few yam chips, leaving enough room for flipping the chips.

Stir the chips till they have turned golden.

Remove the chips and place in the paper towels to absorb the oil.

For the sauce: I cooked habanero, smoked fish, shrimp, onion and salt for 5 mins on high heat.

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Fufu

Fufu(foofoo, fufuo, foufou or foutou) is a staple food common in many countries in Africa such as Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Traditionally, the Fufu is made by boiling and pounding yam, cassava and green plantain. The water from the boil yam is used to adjust the viscosity of the fufu depending on personal preferences. These days, different types of flours are available on the market and can be used as substituted. Fufu is often served with groundnut soup, palm nut soup or light soup.


The traditional method is to boil starchy food crops like cassava, yams or plantains and cocoyams and then pound them into a dough-like consistency. Several machines can be used to easy up the process: the fufu machine, food processor and stand mixer.


The cassava is boiled tubers (cassava, yam or plaintain) are pounded together in a giant wooden mortar using a wooden pestle. In between blows from the pestle, the mixture is turned by hand and water gradually added till it becomes slurry and sticky. The mixture is then formed into a ball or a rounded slab and served. Fufu is eaten with the fingers, and a small ball of it can be dipped into an accompanying soup or sauce.

White Puna Yam
Water
NO salt

Peel the yam, rinse and cut into medium cubes.
Put in a pot, pour water to cover the pieces of yam and start cooking on medium heat.

Cook till the yams until the surrounding water will be cloudy and slightly soupy and it is very easy to drive a folk into the pieces of yam.
Separate the yam from the water.

Put the hot pieces of yam into the bowl of your stand mixer and using the beater attachment, whip the pieces of yam have the texture of flour grains. Let it cool down and switch to the dough attachment.

Kneed the yam with the dough attachment, until the dough is formed and smooth.

If you want the pounded yam softer, add some of the water from cooking the yam little by little until desired consistency.

Served the Fufu immediately after preparation because it becomes soft and loses its elasticity over time. Serve with your Fufusi, Goat meat stew, Egoussi soup, Okra soup, Ademe soup

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Yam Balls Fritters

Yam Balls Fritters (Yele Kakro = Ojojo)

1/2 medium water yam

1/2 cup crayfish

2  habanero pepper

1/2 onion

1/2 teaspoon ginger

salt

oil for frying

Peel yam by removing the skin with a knife; then drop the white part into cold water.

Wash and grate each the yam with the smaller side of a grater. 

Grate ginger and pepper on the small side. Grate the onion on the biggest side. 

Add the crayfish, salt and whisk. 

Heat oil to 350 degrees and drop little to medium sized dollops of the yam puree into the oil and fry.

Fry the yam balls until golden.

Serve warm

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Goat Gari Pinon

Goat Gari Pinon

The short way to describe the Pinon (or Eba) as fufu made with Gari (Gali). Gari is a west African made with grated cassava and have a finer consistency then the regular couscous. Gari can be used to make GariFoto (Galifoto), GariDochi (GaliDossi) or just be consumed with an cooked black beans and palm oil,  okra stew, tomato stew, goat meat stew, Ademe, egusi soup …

Gari Pinon (or Eba) is Gari cooked in hot tomato broth. In some West African countries like benin and Ghana, the Gari is cooked on a medium heat but in Togo the gari is added to the hot broth (A Si Pinon). The gari soaks up the flavor of the tomato broth.

Traditionally the meat (chicken, goat, or beef) is boiled with spices (garlic, ginger, paprika…bouillon cube, salt) to tenderize it and the broth of the meat is use to cook the Gari Pinon. I use goat meat for my Pinon and serve it with some pepper, a quick tomato and onion cooked mixture and the fry goat meat.

1 kg goat meat

1 onion 

1 tablespoon ginger 

2 cloves

2 whole all spice

3 tablespoon garlic

1 cube

Salt

Mix all ingredients, add water and cook for 1 hour.

Remove the goat meat from the stock and fry until golden. Set aside

1/4 cup oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tomato puree

1 cube

Goat stock

Gari

On a medium heat, in a saucepan with the goat stock.

Add the paste tomato, tomato, and cube

Add the gari the hot broth gradually stirring vigorously until obtaining a homogeneous paste (Pinon).

1 onion

2 tablespoons oil

4 tomatoes

salt according to your taste

1 tablespoon cube

Cut the onion in half, mince very finely and set aside in a bowl

Cut the tomatoes in half and slice very thinly

On a medium heat , in a saucepan, heat the oil and add the onion.Cook for 10 mins

Add tomatoes, cube taste and add salt if necessary.

1/4 cup oil

1 onion

10 bonnet pepper scotch 

Salt to taste

Heat the oil and add the crushed pepper and onion, Add salt to taste. Cook for a min or  2

Serve the Pinon with the tomato mixture, goat meat and pepper

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Fish stew

M’gbagba, Dja, Sauce de tomate or tomato stew

M’gbagba au poisson (Dja)

2 tilapia

10 large tomatoes

2 big onions

4 teaspoon tomato paste

2 ground garlic

3 tablespoons fresh ground ginger

3 tablespoons crayfish powder

1 ~ 3 West Indian peppers or 5 gboyébssé

salt pepper

potash (pea size)

1 bell pepper

1 cube

1 cup oil

 

Cut and salt the fish to taste

Heat the oil and fry the fish and set aside.

In a saucepan, on a medium heat, add the blended tomato, onion and cook for 20 mins.

Add the tomato paste, oil (water to the consistency desired). Cook for 10 min.

Add water if needed, oil, garlic, ginger, crayfish, peppers, potash, the fried fish, cube, salt, pepper and fry for another 20 minutes. 

Serve your sauce with your main dish. 

Enjoy your meal!

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Waakye

Waakye

2 cup Black eyed Beans

2-4 dried millet stalk leaves

4 cup Jasmine rice

3 tablespoon oil

Salt to taste

Remove unwanted particles and wash beans and soak beans overnight to reduce the cooking time.

Boil beans in a large saucepan with enough water and the leaves.

Wash rice, drain water and add it to the cooked bean and oil. (follow the instruction for the manufacturer for the Yasmine rice)

Add salt and stir, leave to cook whiles frequently checking to ensure desired texture.

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Recipe of braised Chimichurri Red snapper

Braised Chimichurri Red snapper

This colorful fresh, green and totally delicious chimichurri sauce doubles as a marinade and an accompaniment to steak, chicken and red snapper. This is a fun twist to braised red snapper. This recipe of braised red snapper is super tasty, traditional and incredibly easy to make. Chimichurri is garlicky sauce from Argentina. It’s flavorful and healthy!
The longer you season the meat, the tastier the red snapper. When stored properly in the refrigerator, the marinated fresh red snapper should be cooked within two days, up to three at most.

2 red snappers

½ cup finely chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano

4 garlic cloves, crushed

½ cup finely diced

1 small red chili pepper 

1 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup of oil 

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Marinate the red snapper and refrigerate and is best if used within 24-48 hours.

  

Prepare the grill (medium-high heat).

Grill the fish until just cooked through, about 10 minutes per side (depending on thickness and size of fish)

or Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake the red snapper until cooked through, about 45 minutes.

Serve hot

Tips:
It is a great idea to marinate the red snapper with the chimichurri the night before, or in the morning before you leave for work. Don’t know leave the marinated red snapper at room temperature for a long period of time. To cut down the clean use a re-sealable plastic bags, rather than in bowls or other containers. Also cover the marinated red snapper to avoid cross contamination. Never, use chimichurri marinade from raw red snapper as a sauce.

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Okra Soup (FétriDessi)

Okra Soup
Okra Soup (FetriDessi) is one of the most popular and easy-to-prepare West African soups. The setup takes a lot of time. The okra needs to be washed and grated; the leaves (Gboma or Ogbono) needs to be washed and cut them roughly. Subsequently prepare the meat, smoked or dried fish and shellfish. Once the setup is finished, cooking is fast.
The Okra Soup can be prepared with mutton, beef, chicken or pork. Here is the step by step to cook the meat. For fish, we can use smoked Mackerel, fried tilapia, douevi … for crustaceans, we can use crab, octopus, crayfish, shrimp …
Okra is a rich source of dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins, as well as a low-calorie vegetable. Known in most West African countries as Okro and French speaking countries as gumbo. I used red oil for recipe. You can also cook the okra with tomato sauce or cook the okra dry.
Serve hot Okra soup with Makoume, Ewokoume, Ougali (Ugali), Ablo (ou Ablo simplified), Kenkey (ou Kenkey simplified), gari or rice.

Fétri dessi (Okra Soup)

  • ½ lbs chopped goat
  • 1/4 lbs beef skin
  • To season the meat
  • 1/2 sliced onion
  • 1 tablespoon ginger
  • 2 tablespoon garlic
  • 1 cube
  • 1 Bay leave
  • Salt to taste
  • 2½ cups of freshly chopped Okra
  • 10 fresh shrimps
  • 2 fresh crabs
  • 1 piece of salted fish (Lanhounhoun)
  • 5 Douèvi
  • 2 chopped Habanero peppers
  • 1 cup of palm oil
  • 2 tsp dry grounded pepper or chili flakes
  • 2 cup meat stock
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 cube
  • Salt to taste
  1. Mix the meat and the spices and add enough water to cover the meat. Cook until the meat is tender. PS the beef skin may cook faster that the goat meat, remove it and set aside.
  2. Fry the goat meat
  3. Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Add the baking soda.
  4. Then add the Okra, 1/2 onion + 1 piece of salted fish and the 1 cup meat stock.
  5. Mix together 1 cup meat stock with 1 tablespoon garlic, 1 tablespoon ginger, 1 tablespoon paprika and 1 cube.
  6. Add the shrimp, crabs and the seasoning mixture.
  7. Add the hot pepper, Douèvi , beef skin and the goat meat and stir well.
  8. Let the soup cook uncovered for about 5-10minutes. Check for seasonings and add the palm oil.