Red Red
Red red is a delicious-looking and tasting Ghanian food, beans are quite popular in west-African, It is however prepared differently by different cultures in Africa.
Besides Nigerian foods, I have been learning about west-African foods and loving it. This Ghanian bean stew is one of many yet to come.
In west-Africa, we have same staple foods and similar recipes, almost the same.
The exception is usually the spices, method of cooking and maybe choice of ingredients.
We have staple foods like yams, potatoes, rice, beans, cassava, wheat, plantain, etc.
What is Red (Beans Stew)
Beans stew is basically a perfect combination of beans and tomato stew. It is served with fried ripe plantain.
However, you can go wild and pair this with white boiled basmati rice, thank me later.
That’s my favorite combo, as you can see!
I didn’t use animal protein in this recipe, except shrimp powder, of course, it is by design. I consider this my entry point into a whole new world of vegan foods.
Vegan foods are plant based foods – without animal protein.
In Ghana, where this recipe supposedly originated from, it is paired with fried ripe plantain as you can see above.
Red ripe fried plantain is red, poridge beans is also red, hence the name.
Recipe for bean stew below.
Red Red Recipe – How to Make Ghanian Beans Stew
Ingredients
- 2 Cups beans black eyed peas
- 1 Seasoning cube
- 2 Large-sized onions
- 1 Tbsp shrimp powder
- 1½ cup Palm oil
- 2 Red bell peppers or tatashe
- Salt to taste
- 2 large plum tomato ?
- 5 Red scotch bonnet peppers
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 finger garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 Large ripe plantains.
Instructions
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Slice the onions and divide into three parts. You will use one part for cooking the beans and the other two for the stew.
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Combine ginger, garlic, scotch bonnet, red bell peppers, tomatoes and blend to paste.
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Soak black-eyed peas overnight and proceed to cook with just 3 cups of water and sliced onions. Cook till it becomes soft, should take 45-50 minutes. You can add more water in between (a cup at a time)
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Add a teaspoon of salt, and shrimp powder to the cooked beans
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Let it simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes, stir and set aside.
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Set another pot on heat, add palm oil and allow heating for one minute. Add sliced onion and let it heat for another 1 minute. Add the tomato/ginger/pepper paste and let it fry for 15-20 minutes.
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Stir occasionally, you don’t want it burned.
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Add the remaining one-part onions and stir-fry for another 5 minutes.
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Also add a seasoning cube and 2 cups of water, then salt to taste.
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The cooked beans (black eyed peas) should be added now, stir. See image.
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Let it simmer on low heat for 10 minutes and thicken a little more. When you are done, it should be looking like mine.
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Your bean stew is ready to serve.
Your bean stew (red red) is ready to serve.
How To Serve Beans Stew.
Serve with fried ripe plantain. You can also pair with boiled yam or even white boiled rice. I have tried all these options, especially rice and this beans stew, yummy!
In Nigeria, we cook beans in different ways the only one closest to this is our porridge beans.
Alternatively, you can try other bean recipes from Africa. We boil plain rice/beans and serve them with stew.
You could also try rice and beans jollof, you are going to love it.