Recipe: 4 quick steps for making your favourite plate of Red Red

You know we love our “red-red” any day. It is a favourite noted to be popular among the Ghanaian youth, especially the men (most young women are embarrassed to be seen in a queue buying it.

Well, not from our side of town!) Not only is it mega satisfying, it’s a healthy treat as well. Beans are rich in protein, fibre, iron, potassium and are low in fat.

There are various types of beans, Bambara beans, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, just to mention a few, with black eyed beans being the most popular in Ghana.

First thing to note are the different types of black eyed beans they are. All black eyed beans can be used to make beans stew, mind you, but some are just best suited for making particular foods.

For example, we recommend Nigerian and Niger beans for anyone who would like to make beans stew, basically because they are larger in size and take less time to cook (get soft quite quickly) and the smaller beans known as Sokoto we recommend for foods like waakye, “moi moi” (beans cake) “akara” (koose) etc.

Be it the young Uni guy seeking for that satisfying escape for his long and tiresome lecture day ahead, Agya Ntim on the construction work site, Miss Independent at the office, everyone loves to have their “gob3” served hot , usually as a late breakfast, brunch or lunch meal.

Below is a quick and simple way to make your favorite beans stew to avoid joining those long and endless queues just to purchase a plate. Grab your notebooks and pens boys.

You’ll need.

Three cups of beans (we are using Nigerian beans here)

Salt petre

Salt to taste

Palm oil

Momoni

Bulb onions

Tomatoes and pepper

Powdered fish and shrimp

Fish (preferably “Amaani” or “Eman”)

Seasoning cubes.

Procedure



First off, we must pick our beans and make sure it is void of any foreign materials like stones, corn, sticks etc so have a smooth ride. We don’t want any “gritty gritty” in our mouth now, do we? no sir-ee!

After picking the beans, we put it into a pot and pour water, about four times the quantity of the beans, add a lump or two of salt petre, which helps the beans to soften more quickly.

Some prefer to add salt to taste here, some put in the seasoning cube; the choice is yours. Leave to boil and be adding more water as and when needed.

As the beans cooks, get a sauce pan of your palm oil on fire and slice your bulb onions into it.

Add your momoni into the frying onions for that added flavour and aroma. Ground your pepper and tomatoes in an earthenware masher or simply blend them.

Add it to onions on fire and stir, allow to simmer for a while, then add your seasoning cube of choice and sprinkle in your powdered fish and shrimp. (This is optional, as some people are allergic to shrimp so it would not favour them.)

Allow to simmer for a few minutes and stir consistently. Add your fish to the stew and lower the heat supply considerably.

By now, the beans should be soft enough, or almost. Leave on fire until soft enough.

Now slowly add your stew to the beans and stir until evenly distributed. Allow simmering together under low heat until everything is well mixed and proportioned.

Taste to check salt content and add any if you find it lacking. Allow to simmer for three more minutes and.. Voila! Quick and simple.

Your beans stew is ready to serve with fried ripe plantain and gari on the side.

Enjoy your meal boys!…and girls.