“Oh... I’ve never tried that before,” is how most people respond when I mention that I cook Ghanaian food for a living. It’s this response that has continued to inspire my cooking escapades in recent years.
I didn’t grow up with a Ghanaian grandmother pouring her cooking influence into me every day; my exploration of Ghanaian cuisine has been led by a personal desire to make a connection with an aspect of my ancestry. I’m an Irish-Ghanaian Londoner, born to emigré parents. My extended family always lived overseas, and I always had a sense I was missing out on something. Food seemed a natural line of enquiry, a practical way of understanding my background.
It’s only in the last six years that I’ve come to understand how important food is to me. In 2010, during Hackney Wicked Arts Festival – pretty broke, having just come back from travelling – I saw an opportunity to make a penny by cooking a pot of my dad’s peanut butter stew. This was based on a dish called Nkatsenkwan (groundnut soup) – a childhood favourite of mine and my sister’s. I hoisted up a sign saying “Zoe’s Peanut Butter Stew” and the piquant fragrance of scotch bonnet, spiced tomatoes and peanuts in lamb broth drew in a crowd; it became a social gathering.
Six years on, I’m still cooking that dish among a raft of new recipes I’ve learned along the way. That one weekend of cooking and sharing something so personal inspired a thought: how can I get more people to taste and share this food? I set out to create a place that melded the best of Ghanaian culture (colour, music and openess) with a setting where people felt at ease. Kind words spread and my journey continues. I now have a permanent restaurant in Brixton.
I find it ironic that so few people know about west African cuisine. Anyone living in London will no doubt walk past plantains, puna yam and okra (just a few of our staple ingredients) every day, all set out rag tag in African grocers – without stopping to question what they are. I believe that west African cuisine has been marginalised, both in people’s consciousness and on the high street, but that we are now on the cusp of an African food revolution. Among London’s young generation of food enthusiasts – my customers – I see a longing to try something new, not just the same things re-spun. The African cuisines are at the ready.
For too long, Africans have kept their food a greedy secret, cooked and closely guarded in homes, and rolled out publicly only for celebratory occasions like wedding and naming ceremonies. What’s more, very good west African restaurants exist here in the capital, they really do – 805 in Peckham, Gold Coast in Norwood and Tasty’s (all over London) to name a few – but they are cloistered in the community and there has been no attempt to encourage crossover into the mainstream – until now. This is the mission behind my cooking venture, Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen: to share this food with a wider audience, tugging at the roots of Ghanaian culture and plaiting them into London life.
The heady (and healthy) aromas of Ghanaian cuisine are there to be explored by everyone – from the ubiquitous stews and array of seafood along the coast, to the processes for fermenting maize and methods of drying and preserving fish and meat in the north. All this speaks of a resourceful culture and people who eat so-called superfoods on a daily basis – not because it’s a fad but because it’s a way of life. Over the next four weeks, I will spread the word and pay them homage.
Bambara bean stew (pictured main)
Bambara beans are technically groundnuts, but tend to be dried and boiled like a pulse. This creamy bean stew is a summer favourite most often served with the spicy, sweet, crisp tatale below. It is beloved in Ghana and one that my Brixton chef “Aunty” Cynthia takes particular pride in cooking – she would insist on soaking the beans overnight, but, like black-eyed beans, you can save time by just preboiling them in salted water on the hob. Leave out the shrimp for a veggie version.
Serves 4
3-4 red rocket chillies, chopped
200g romano peppers, deseeded and roasted, chopped
10g fresh thyme, chopped
300g dried bambara beans (or chickpeas)
1½ red onions, finely chopped
½ tsp salt
Olive oil, for drizzling
10cm ginger, grated
½ tbsp ground hot pepper or cayenne pepper or 1 small, red bird’s eye chilli, deseeded and diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tbsp granulated or light brown sugar
3 tbsp ground shrimp (optional)
1 litre water (to cover)
1 Set the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Put the red chillies, peppers and thyme on a lined baking tray. Drizzle with oil. Roast for 25 minutes.
2 Put the beans in a heavy-based saucepan along with half the chopped onions and ½ tsp salt. Cover with about 750ml water, then boil, stirring, for 2-3 minutes.
3 Meanwhile, blitz the roasted peppers, chillies and thyme with the ginger, pepper, garlic and remaining onions. Sieve the mixture to remove any bits, then add to the pan of beans along with the sugar and ground shrimp, if using.
4 Turn down the heat on the beans, then simmer for 1-2 hours, uncovered. Add a little extra water, as required, to prevent the beans dehydrating
5 When most of the liquid in the pan has evaporated you should be left with a rich, creamy bean stew. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Serve with a side of tatale.
Tatale (plantain pancakes)
Though often picked green, fully ripe plantains are black all over. You can probably buy 5 or 6 for £1 from the grocer: result! This recipe is simple, quick and hands-down delicious, the sweetness of the overripe plantain offsetting the onion and chilli.
Makes 12
4 overripe plantains
2 onions, roughly chopped
½ scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded, chopped
25mm fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
¾ tsp ground hot pepper or cayenne pepper
Sea salt, to taste
280g rice flour, plus extra as needed
Sustainable palm or carotene oil, for frying
1 Peel and chop the plantains, blitz along with the onions, chilli, ginger, cayenne pepper and sea salt to taste. Blend until well combined, but still with some texture. Add rice flour as needed to achieve a consistency similar to drop-scone batter. Alternatively, mash the ingredients together in a bowl – it doesn’t need to be super smooth. It’s quite nice to have small chunks of plantain in it.
2 Heat 1 tbsp oil in a nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add 1 tbsp of the plantain mixture to the pan. Using the back of the spoon or a palette knife, gently spread the mixture into a pancake around 1cm thick and 4cm in diameter. Repeat with more of the plantain mixture, depending on how many pancakes your pan will accommodate.
3 When the pancakes begin to bubble a little and start browning at the edges, use a palette knife to gently turn them over. Fry for a few minutes on the other side. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining plantain mixture, keeping the cooked pancakes hot while you fry the rest. Serve hot or warm with the bean stew.
- Zoe Adjonyoh runs Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, a restaurant in Pop Brixton, London, and does private catering and cookery lessons. @ghanakitchen
