A True Red Tale

Achimota School Ad-blockphoto credit:ac 2010 by Suzette Ayensu

• Our dining hall in Achimota School eastern compound, was large, with the prefects' high table raised on the west end and the teachers'dining room on the eastern end, up a floor and overlooking the hall. A loud bell at the school tower summoned us highschoolers to every meal. We had to be on time for meals or else face discipline!
  
  In my day, the tables were arranged in three columns and twenty rows and I do believe there were fourteen people on each table. This means there were probably 840 students in the main dining room and perhaps 20 prefects. Each table was cleared after meals by two junior students -form 1-3, (equivalent to grade seven to nine) unless someone from a higher grade was being disciplined or punished as we called it.
  
  Red-Red was just about the most popular lunch available but inspite of this fact some students, noticeably the mid senior cool girls of form 4 and 5 (or grades 10 and 11), would quite often leave food on their plates uneaten- a behaviour we described as 'posing', in other words, creating a sense of cool aka sophistication. (Cool adopts many different expressions especially in co-ed boarding schools where wearing uniform is compulsory.)
  
  Everything in boarding school was based on a hierarchy of seniority and therefore it was also the duty of juniors to serve food, giving the best portions to seniors. So the softest fried plantains went to the seniors and the hardest pieces went to the juniors. We were the juniors this day in 1975, when my friend G served Red-Red to the fourteen students on our table. Then it was time to clear the table and as usual some of the best pieces of plantain lay uneaten on the plates of the posing semi-seniors. G loaded the tray and carried it to the pantry where the pantry-men were waiting to wash the dishes. I guess she was still hungry, otherwise she just could not bear to see that succulent looking plantain in the garbage, so she grabbed it quickly and shoved it into her pocket, no doubt looking forward to a snack once she got to the house. But G hadn't thought far, for Red-Red is fried in palm oil. Oh the laughter, when she returned to the table to await announcements sporting a growing red oily wet stain forming on her pocket, colouring the white flowers on her dress, red! It was clear what she had rescued from the pantry. Inspite of this embarrassment, I'm sure as a true Akora, she still loves Red-Red.

The Second Red of Red-Red

ripe enough to fry

We already discussed kelewele, ripe plantains cubed or chopped small and spiced up...but this is not the only way to fry plantains. Indeed in the popular meal of Red-Red or Fried Plantains and Beans we tend to cut the plantain in larger pieces. Once the plantain is peeled....

Style one: Cut the plantain diagonally, thin and long, exposing a large surface area to the oil. This takes away the fullbodied cylinder (the essential shape) of the plantain and allows you to fry it more easily, more crispy and more tasty!

Style two: Split it along it's length and then cut in three or four pieces across. This is less sophisticated but it works if you don't have the technique of style number one.

You can choose to salt the plantain before frying but the plantain will taste good without salting especially if you consider the bean sauce already has some salt.

In Ghana people may fry in red palm-oil. Palm oil which is rich in vitamin A is good for vision but it is also highly saturated. I opt for a regular vegetable oil, such as corn oil.

The First Red of RED-RED

a slit along the length is the beginning of the process of peeling

It is safe to say that the most favourite of Ghanaian boarding school meals is the dish known as Red-Red. Mostly it was eaten once or twice a week for lunch and for those of us raised on boarding school sub-fare, Red-Red topped the list.

What is Red Red?

The first Red of Red-Red is black-eyed beans cooked in a sauce made with red palm-oil.
The second Red is fried ripe plantain.

Here in Ontario I make my bean sauce in this manner and I must say it tastes good. I find all my stuff in Zehrs Markets or Ultra Markets.

Shop easy, no fuss:
buy vegetable oil
and two cans of black beans
and a medium to large onion.
One jar of pasta sauce:
tomato and basil, or roasted red pepper
a good sized piece of frozen smoked salmon
the kind that's dyed red


Protect your eyes,
with Jackie O darks
as you peel and cut
your medium to large onion
then prepare to fry
In a half cup of oil
in a 3 quart sauce pan...
pour in the jar of pasta sauce
add cayenne pepper to taste- one teaspoon +/-
and Knorr's vegetable stock-2 heaped teaspoons

Simmer for five minutes
on medium heat
then add the two cans of black beans to the mix
On low to medium heat simmer for five minutes
Add pieces of smoked salmon
for a taste to remember

Serve this bean sauce with fried ripe plantains and/or gari or rice.

Plantain Power: Thousands and Millions

plantain photo credited to allsoulsbuduburam
UNRIPE, RIPE, OR OVERRIPE and frankly, almost rotten! Plantain is scientifically known as Musa species. Also called Cooking Bananas, it is rather the banana which is a sub species of the plantain, yet I agree that it's more confusing to call bananas, Eating Plantains.

In Ghana, plantains are classified into two major kinds, Apem and Apantu. I don't know if this relates to the French or the Horn varieties, described scientifically. In local language, Apem means a thousand and Apantu means a million. This may refer to the size of the bunches on a stem, or the number of fingers on a hand, but am not really sure. In terms of finger size, apem plantains are slimmer and smaller than their cousins apantu.

Apem plantains are good for cooking green; chopped into two, or cooked whole and not mashed. Usually, it is dipped into a savoury sauce, spicy and hot which locals call "abom," loosely translated, dip. A simple way of cooking apem, (particularly as a farm snack) is by roasting it over an open fire.

Apantu plantains, when eaten green, are boiled and mashed or pounded with other starchy vegetables into fufu and eaten with soup. Apantu also ripen much better and are perfect for eto (spicy mash) and kelewele. In a regular grocery store in Ontario you're more likely to find the larger variety- Apantu- Million.

Plantains are a staple vegetable for many tropical countries. It is a vegetable which never goes to waste, because there are recipes for eating it unripe, ripe, overripe and even fermented!

Love and Kelewele

the real mckelewele

The culture of kelewele, speaks to sweetness in life....sweet can be hot, sweet can be spicy and salty too. Sweetness is dessert: the extra, the bonus; the icing on the cake and the cherry on the pie! So when life feels right, and the job is well done, and it seems like the pay is enough for the budget, then come night time, after supper is done......the stars are out and the moon has a place in the heart of the sky, then take a shower and change your clothes, call for your friends, and take a stroll along the road, to the crossroads where small oil lanterns compete with urban neon lights...

At the street corner,
where cars go slow
there, people gather
in great Accra city
chatter and laughter
fill the spaces
between faces
senses awaken,
to Daavi's deep frying,
as particles of aroma
assail smellbuds and tastebuds
we're under the power of love and kelewele.
The waiting is as good as the eating,
the walking is as good as the talking
love is in the air
and it tastes a lot like kelewele!

Adwoa Badoe

GRACE and Kelewele

kelewele in the making..cut, cubed, spiced

It occurred to me that life comes from a fertillized seed which must develop in all kinds of ways, away from view, until the moment of birth, or hatching, or budding, or blooming. Is this why this blog Cooking African has been dormant since the day it was announced? Today feels "write" to say a word.... what word?

Kelewele

There's a Ghanaian song which goes, "kelewele wo de aye me aduro..."

Kelewele, I am under the power of kelewele.
They told me not to say it...I said it
They told me not to make it...I made it
They told me not to eat it...I ate it,
Kelwele, I am bewitched by kelewele.

Adwoa's Canadian style Kelewele Recipe,
Make as much as you want to eat,
Spice it as much as you want to taste,
I go for a lot of spice.....yum.

Kelewele i-i-i-s-s-s...
Spicy hot fried ripe plantain!
Make sure the plantains are healthy and large,
Choose the ones which look yellow and ripe,
Touch them, feel they're moderately soft,
Not too mushy not too hard,
Peel them, take away the skin,
Split them in two along the length
Slice them, cube them if you can,
Sprinkle with onion powder and salt,
And dashes of ginger, fresh or ground
You've done the spicy, bring in the hot
Red cayenne pepper, powder or flakes,
Black pepper too, or ground peppercorn
Toss the cubed plantains in a bowl,
Allow the spices to mix and flavour,
Deep fry until golden brown,...
or
Shallow fry them if you so desire,
Serve alone or with peanuts, as a snack,
Serve as a side dish with rice and beans.

If you make this right and you taste it, you will fall under the power of kelewele. Send me a comment on this blog or write to me at adwoa_badoe@yahoo.ca
The next time I make kelewele, I will take a photo to post on my blog.