By Jamie
Red red stew
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
About the recipe
This dish is so called, I’m told, because it’s coloured red twice – once from the red of the palm oil and a second time from the tomatoes. But there’s a lot of duplication in the titles of dishes in Ghanaian cooking in any case. 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, this is tasty, nourishing comfort food that’s super easy to make.
Recipe From
Ingredients
200g (7oz) dried black-eyed beans, or 400g (14oz) tin organic black-eyed beans
75ml (5 tablespoons) sustainable palm oil or carotene oil
1 red onion, finely diced
2.5cm (1-inch) piece fresh root ginger, finely grated
½ tablespoon dried chilli flakes
½ red Scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded and diced
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ tablespoon chilli powder
400g (14oz) tin chopped or whole plum tomatoes
200g (7oz) plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
gari (fermented, dried and ground cassava), for sprinkling
Top Tip
– If using tinned chopped tomatoes, add them 20 minutes into the cooking time or stir in 1 tablespoon sugar to counterbalance the tartness of the tomatoes. – Delicious served with a side of Simple Fried Plantain (see page 42 of Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen for the recipe).
Method
This dish is so called, I’m told, because it’s coloured red twice – once from the red of the palm oil and a second time from the tomatoes. But there’s a lot of duplication in the titles of dishes in Ghanaian cooking in any case. 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, this is tasty, nourishing comfort food that’s super easy to make.
- 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 between thumb and forefinger. Drain and set aside. If using tinned beans, just drain, rinse and drain again.
- Melt the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a low–medium heat (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. Leave to cook over a medium heat for 45 to 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.