West Meets West

I hope this post meets you well. It's well over due, but with dumsor dumsor (Light on light off) and the melting heat I've been unable to catch a good time or day to blog. It's been two weeks since I arrived in Ghana but it already feels like I've been here a month. I guess time goes fast when you're having so much fun.

Team Ghana is awesome and we've all bonded so well over the first week which sadly ended when we left to work within our businesses which of course is why I'm here.

But let me take you on a short Journey of how I left my humble abode in West Norwood to volunteer in West Africa.

Week 1

On the 24th January, I left for Ghana to volunteer as a Junior Consultant with a small to medium sized enterprise. I must say on arrival, apart from the hustle and bustle at the airport, we were pleasantly surprised when we reached our host home and met our Ghanaian counterparts.

The first week involved learning about business, finance, SMEs in Ghana, Marketing, Consulting  and about our roles within the business. As someone with a background in Law it was great to learn about other disciplines and how they would be implemented into my business over the next 8 weeks. I particularly enjoyed learning about finance which has come to great use within my business.The marketing lecture was also great fun thanks to Mr. Kwesi Dei who gave some 'creative' tips on how to best market our products.

University of Ghana, Team Ghana 

Marketing Workshop

However, the week was not 'all work and no play' and during the week we had a tro tro tour of some key sites in Accra. We visited Osu Castle, Independence square, kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and the Arts Market.

Tro Tro bus ride

Makola Arts Market

Independence Square (Black Star Ark)

On the weekend we visited Labadi beach where part two of the hustle began . Unfortunately, looking like a Ghanaian but sounding British did not make me exempt  from being identified as an Obruni (white/foreign person).

Fizz and myself

Change the world

Food

I actually almost forgot to write this section. I know such a surprise. The food in Ghana has been overall really nice and I've learnt that at the University of Accra 'tea' is a meal on its own, as awkward as it may sound. The other option was white koko which is made from maize , but after having a little taste I figured I wasn't missing out on much.

Nonetheless, I've had a fair share of interesting dishes here are a few :

Fufu with light soup

Banku and shito with pepper and Tilapia 

Chicken, rice, pepper and plantain

KFC

Rice Pudding 

On Sunday, some of us decided to end the week at church with our host uncle, Uncle John. The service was refreshing and ended and started my week perfectly.

Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God' Hebrews 12:15

Plantain

Recently, I've been indulging in quite of bit of plantain so I thought I'd share

Plantain is a versatile fruit and is sometimes mistaken for banana. However, unlike banana it can't be eaten raw. What I love most about plantain is its versatility. It can be fried, boiled or roasted and can be eaten as a main dish, appetizer or accompany a main dish.When ripe and the skin of the plantain blackens its very sweet unlike its green counterpart.

Plantain makes a perfect breakfast or lunch

Boiled Plantain (Healthier option) with fried egg

I cut 1 plantain into 3 pieces and boil for about 20-30mins in the skin until thoroughly cooked, the cooking time will depend on how ripe the plantain is.

. fried plantain, 1 slice of bread, fried egg with baked beans and red onions 

(Adding baked beans to my meal is actually a new thing for me which I was introduced to by my housemate, but I must say it accompanies the dish well !)

I slice the plantain into small slices sprinkle on a bit of salt and shallow fry in some oil on both sides.

Plantain used to accompany main dish

Check here for my Jollof rice recipe 

Enjoy

Meal of the week 4

Akara (bean cake)

Hi everyone, wishing you all a beautiful Happy Easter !

We're officially at the end of March and this means this will be my last 'meal of the week' , but I have some fun things planned for April so stay posted.

But for my last meal I've decided to share how to make 'Akara' or bean cakes which has similar ingredients to my ' moin moin elewe' dish however this is fried rather than steamed.


Ingredients

• Black eyed beans (peeled)
• 1 onion 
• 1 scotch bonnet
• 1 Maggie and salt to taste
• 1 egg
• Fresh prawns

1. Blend the beans, 1/2 onion and scotch bonnet in a blender adding some water to allow the mixture to blend properly until you have a smooth mix with no lumps (This is very important). 

2. When you have a smooth mix you can add the other 1/2 of the onion finely chopped, 1 egg, the prawns and maggie and salt to taste and mix all together

3. Add some oil to a frying pan and add the mixture in spoon fulls and allow to fry on both sides until cooked for about 10-12mins

4. The Akara is then ready to eat and can be eaten alone with some custard or oghi (made from corn similar to custard)

Enjoy 

p.s make sure you have a good blender with enough power to blend the beans.  

Meal of the Week 3

Jollof Rice 

 Ingredients

• 1tin of plum tomato
• 1 1/2 cups of rice
• 1 paprika
• 1 onion
• 1scotch bonnet
• 1 tomato 
• puree
• Maggie, chicken seasoning, all purpose, curry powder,thyme to taste 

1. Blend the plum tomato, onion,scotch bonnet and paprika together in a blender until

you have a smooth paste 

2. Add the mix to a pot of hot oil and one spoon of puree, and all the above seasoning to taste. Allow to cook for about 15 mins

3. In the mean time you will need to rinse the rice under cold water several times 
just to remove any starch

4. Then add your rice to the tomato sauce and cover and leave to cook for about 10 mins, you may add water as desired if the rice is still hard. Occasionally turn the rice to prevent burning

5. When the rice is almost ready I add slices of one fresh tomato. Cover the pot with foil and allow the rice to steam 


6. Once ready leave to rest for about 5 mins and then serve 

Honey Garlic marinated chicken and plantain to accompany 

Enjoy 

Meal of the Week 1

For the month of March I've decided to do a 'Meal of the week challenge' to keep me blogging but also to give me the chance to try and jazz up some of my meals and try something new.

As a student, I know it can be quite hard at times to eat well and also dedicate some of the little time we think we have in the kitchen . So I'll aim to show meals that taste good, are affordable and don't leave you in the kitchen too long.


Week 1
   

This week I couldn't choose between Yam and Garden egg (a typical Nigerian dish) and Spaghetti Bolognese, these  are two very different dishes but both are full of flavour and very quick and easy to cook.

Dish 1:

Ingredients 

• Yam
• 6 Garden eggs
• 1 Onion 
• 3 Tomatoes
• Dry Prawns or cray fish 
• Pepper, Maggie and Salt to taste

Yam

First you will need to boil the yam slices in cold water just above the yam with added salt and a pinch of sugar to taste.  The yam  is ready  when your able to push your fork through the center.

Garden egg

Garden egg also known as 'egg plant' or scientifically
 as Solanum melongena

In a separate pot boil the garden egg until they are very soft and able to be mashed using a fork 

Add some oil to a frying pan, and fry the onions and tomato for about 1 min. Then add the prawns, pepper and maggie and fry for another 1 min. Finally add in the mashed garden egg and allow to simmer for about 5 mins.

Yam and Garden egg

Dish 2:

Ingredients :

• A Jar of tomatoe basil pasta sauce
• Spaghetti
• Minced beef
• Mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• Pepper
• Maggie to taste

In a pot of boiling water slightly salted add your spaghetti and boil until soft.

Then fry the onions, garlic and minced meat in a little oil shortly followed by the mushrooms adding maggie and pepper to taste. Once done add the pasta sauce and leave to simmer for about 5 mins .

Spaghetti Bolognese 

     Enjoy 

Moin Moin Elewe

This is a true South-West African dish from the depths of Nigeria know as moin moin or (steamed bean pudding) using ewe leaves. After a little research, I found out that these leaves are from a special plant known as Thaumatococcus daniellii which are known for producing a sweet protein and  fruit ‘miracle fruit’ . 

So that’s ewe for ya...

Ewe can be purchased at  most African supermarkets

As my mother and I, were making the dish for my cousins naming ceremony to feed around 50, you will not need the surplus of ingredients that we used but the process and method will of course remain the same. There are various fillings that can be used however, I will be using mackerel an alternative is corned beef or hard boiled eggs.

So you will need...

• Black eyed beans (peeled)
• Paprika
• 2 Scotch bonnets (optional depending on how spicy you like your food)
• Onion
• Chicken stock (optional)
• 1 Mackerel (Boiled with salt and Maggie)
• Ewe or tin foil
• Salt and Maggie to taste

First of all you will need to rinse the beans ensuring any unwanted floating bits are removed. Once this is done chop the onions, paprikas and scotch bonnets into medium sized pieces.

Insert the black eyed beans, onions, paprika’s and scotch bonnet into a blender and blend until the mixture is smooth, ensuring there are no visible lumps!

The next step is optional – Add chicken stock which provides loads of flavour and acts as a seasoning to the mixture. Then add the Mackerel which should be deboned and cut into small pieces.

You may add additional salt and Maggie to taste but be careful with the amount of salt added as once you add too much there’s no going back, less is better when it comes to moin moin.

 Add some oil – I used sunflower oil but any alternative will do as well.  

Once this is complete the mixture is ready to be served into either the ewe or tin foil.

Before inserting the mixture into the ewe you will need to snip off the ends of the ewe leaf.

Three step guide to folding the ewe leaf

                 (Clean the ewe to remove any dirt using a damp piece of kitchen tissue)

Add the mixture into the ewe, and place two pieces of ewe at the bottom of the pot with 1 cup of water to prevent burning.

The moin moin should take about 1hour - 1hour 30 to cook

Once cooked unravel the moin moin from the ewe as the steam slowly oozes out and its ready to eat.

                                                            Ke gbadun (Enjoy)