Ghanaian Jollof Rice

Ghanaian Jollof Rice

The main ingredients of the dish are rice, tomatoes, and onions. The rest of the ingredients can vary greatly according to everyone’s taste. For example, vegetarians prefer to have the dish with mixed vegetables and without any meat products, while many other people prefer to have the dish with meat, chicken, turkey, or fish. For this recipe I have chosen to make it vegetarian with mixed vegetables and beans.

Ingredients:

3 large tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic (you can add more according to your choice)

2 large onions

A bit of fresh ginger, (like 2 cm long)

2 cups (800 grams) of basmati rice (long grain rice)

1 chilie (optional, you can add more according to your choice)

1 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 spoons of vegetable oil

Salt and ground black pepper (according to taste)

7 dl of water or stock (you can also add one or two stock cubes for a better seasoning)

300 gr mixed vegetables of soybeans, red beans, corn and carrots

Directions:

Rince the uncooked rice with cold water until the water is clear. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Sift the rice and pour in a pan with water. Cook for 10 minutes in boiling water. The rice should be half cooked. Sift the rice again and rince under cold water.

Cut the tomatoes into big cubes and blend then using a blender, cut the garlic cloves into halves and press them, and then slice the rest of the onions into medium pieces. Cut the ginger in small pieces. In a non-stick pot, add the vegetable oil and heat it for 1-2 minutes. Add the onions to the pot and fry them until they become soft. Add the garlic cloves and ginger and fry all together with the onions for one more minute while stirring continuously, and then add the blended tomatoes, the water, the stock cube, salt, black pepper, the chilies, the tomato paste, and stir them all together. You should pay attention to the seasoning, as the rice will be cooked later in this mix. Cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes until the mix starts boiling. After boiling I mix the sauce with a mixer/blender to get a smooth sauce.

You could continue to cook the rice in the pot but I do the rest in the oven. So place the rice in a baking tray. Add the mixed vegetables and beans and stir. Then add the sauce and stir so all mixes. Cover the baking tray with foil and then bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes on 200 degrees Celsius.

Take it out and stir all the rice around to see how far the cooking process has come. If it is still a bit moist and not cooked cover again and put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Take it out again and see if it is ready. The rice should be soft and dry and not sticky.

African Goatmeat Stew

African Goatmeat Stew
Serves 7-9, depending on size of portions and side dishes
Time: 2-4 hours
Mild and rich stew

Ingredients:
800 g goatmeat
3 large beefsteak tomatoes or 1 can of crushed tomatoes of good quality
2 carrots
2 red bell peppers
3 cups okra (chopped into bite-sized pieces)
2 aubergines
1 stock cube
3 cups water
3 cm cinnamon stick
1 red onion, sliced
1 yellow onion
1 spring onion
Olive oil for frying
3 tsp cumin
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or real garlic 3 cloves)
3 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon chili powder, but take more if you want strength
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
A touch of cayenne pepper
Salt, freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Cut the meat into small pieces.

Cut the onions, tomatoes, carrots, okra, peppers, aubergines into pieces. Put them in separate bowls when you cut them while you are preparing.

Pour enough oil in an iron pot to cover the bottom and heat. Add the sliced ​​onions and saute the onions slightly. Add the spices and stirfry everything together for about 30 seconds. Add the water and then mix the chopped vegetables.

Add the meat.

Cover and simmer slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Add more water if needed during cooking time. The meat should be completely tender and easily loosen from the bones(if you have goat meat with bones in). When meat is tender the stew is ready.

When the stew is ready, taste with salt and black pepper and possibly more of the previous spices, according to taste.

This stew can be served with various side dishes. You can serve with plain rice or spicy rice. It can also be served with boiled cassava or in Ethiopia and Eritrea as a stew on Injera. My recipe for Injera can be found under the link below.

Injera

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2015_09_01_archive.html

To serve with the stew, I have this time made my own African Spicy, Yellow Rice with a little inspiration from west, south and east Africa.

African Spicy Yellow Rice

Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons cooking oil/butter
500 gr white rice
15 dl chicken stock or water
2 onions (yellow or spring onions)
1 red paprika (or as per taste)
2 carrots, cubed
1 cup of green beans or peas (I used soybeans this time since I had that)
2 Tablespoons honey (or brown sugar)
2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon curry powder (optional)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2-3 cloves of garlic 
2 teaspoon salt or more adjust to taste

Instructions:
Pour the water and chicken stock in a pan and add the rice. As the water boils turn down the heat a little and cover the pan with a lid. Let boil until the water is absorbed by the rice. Cooking time for the rice depends on what kind of rice you are using. Follow the cooking instructions for your rice. 

The rice I used required about 20 minutes cooking time. After ten minutes I added the carrots to cook along with the rice and after 15 minutes I added the soybeans which had been frozen.

While the rice, carrots and beans/peas are cooking heat a saucepan with oil/ butter. Then fry the onion, add the red pepper, and add all the spices and the honey/brown sugar. Stir and fry for about a minute.  Pull aside.

Watch the rice until it is completely cooked - about 18- 20 minutes. As the rice cooks you may add more stock if needed.

When the rice is cooked, add the fried up onions and spices and stir into the rice. The rice will now turn into a beautiful yellow color. 

Ghanaian Fufu

Ghanaian Fufu

Fufu is a staple food in Ghana. It is eaten with soup. You eat with your hands. Fufu can be made of different ingredients. In northern Ghana you make Fufu from yam´s roots. In southern Ghana you make it from cassava and plantain. There are also powder to buy nowadays, which is made of one or the other and you just mix it with water.

How to make Fufu 

A large yam is enough for four people for sure, perhaps six, depending on how big portions you eat, or the size of the root. 

Peel the yam and split it into pieces. Boil it until it is soft and you can easily stick a fork in it (as boiling potatoes). It should not be cooked too soft because then the Fufu gets too loose. When it is boiled put it in the food processor (use the knife you chop vegetables with) Do not take too much at a time, a few pieces such as three pieces about the size of three potatoes. Mix with the knife until the pieces are chopped. Continue mixing until the yam is a smooth lump, like a dough. There is so much starch in the yams that it changes into the consistency of smooth dough when you mix it. It should be a smooth little chewy dough. If you want the fufu little softer, you can add a little water, but be careful so it does not become too soft. When you have the smooth dough put it in a deep dish and serve. Pour sauce over and add the meat and put in the dish. Then you eat with your fingers, take a piece of fufu, dip in the soup, and even eat the meat.

Ingredients for the light soup.
Fresh tomatoes
Chili peppers
Aubergines

Garlic

Meat extract cube

Onion
Salt

Ginger

Tomato paste

Water

Chop the ingredients by hand or in a blender. It should not be much water in, then the soup is too thin. It becomes liquid of the vegetables when they are cooked. How much to take of each vegetable depends on how many are going to eat. For four servings you can take about five chili peppers, 2 aubergines, four tomatoes, 1garlic, 3 onions and half a can of tomato paste. Aubergines should be yellow, but you can also use blue. The aubergines are full of starch that makes the soup thcken. It is enough with one deciliter of water in it. That said, one can mix a little what you like and what you want in the soup. 

Let it all boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Then, sift so the soup is clear, without the pieces of vegetables. Then it's real light soup. But personally I like the pieces and they are good and filling, so if you have not been in Ghana and eaten real Fufu with light soup and know how it should look, it is not wrong if you don´t sift, it is good. 

Meat in the soup - the most common in Ghana is goat meat or chicken. But you can take any meat whatsoever, and cut into pieces. The chicken you put in whole parts. The meat should be in some large pieces which you then take with your fingers and eat.

The soup can also be a seafood flavor or with fish in. It's your choice.

The meat can cook for itself and be put into the finished soup. Depending on what meat you use and how long the cooking time required. Chicken does not take long, so you can add to the soup as it cooks in the soup. The same can be done with fish. In Ghana, you put the whole fish with the bones and fins and everything in, but you don´t have to do it this way.

Fakefufu!

Now you may be thinking that you dare not try, or you cannot because you cannot find yam´s roots in the store! However, it is possible to cheat a little and get a good Fufu, although it does not taste quite like real Fufu.

Fake it is done in this way:

4 cups mashed potatoes

2 cups potato flour

about 1 liter of water (Too much water makes dough too loose. So be careful.)

Mix the ingredients cold in a saucepan. Set the pan on the hot plate (number four heat) and stir constantly until it forms a thick smooth batter. Stir the mixture quickly and firmly until it is firm and smooth as a dough. Serve immediately with the soup. Do you think it's hard to get it smooth enough by touching by hand in the pot, work it some in the mixing bowl of the food processor. It is important that it has been heated long enough, so it has become smooth and the taste of the potato flour has disappeared.

GHANANSK FUFU

FUFU

Fufu är basfödan i Ghana. Den äter man med någon soppa till. Man äter med händerna. Fufu kan göras av olika ingredienser. I norra Ghana gör man den av jamsrötter. I södra Ghana gör man den av cassava och  plantain. Det finns också pulver att köpa nu för tiden som är gjort av det ena eller andra och man bara blandar med vatten. Det finns även i afrikanska affärer här Sverige.

SÅ GÖR DU FUFU

En stor jamsrot räcker till fyra personer helt säkert, kanske sex, lite beroende på hur stor portion man äter, eller storleken på roten.

Skala jamsen och dela den i bitar. Koka den sedan tills den är mjuk och du lätt sticker en gaffel i den (som att koka potatis). Den ska inte kokas för mjuk då blir Fufu´n för lös.

När den är kokt lägg den i matberedaren (den del som ni hackar grönsaker med ) Ta inte för mycket åt gången, några bitar t.ex. tre stycken ungefär i storlek med tre potatisar Kör med kniven tills bitarna är sönderhackade. Fortsätt köra tills jamsen blir en slät klump, ungefär som bulldeg. Det finns så mycket stärkelse i jams att den ändrar konsistens på detta sättet när man mixar den. Den ska bli en slät lite seg deg. Om man vill ha fufun lite mjukare, kan man tillsätta lite vatten, men försiktig så den inte blir för mjuk. Man ska kunna älta den som en bulldeg. Då är den lagom. Denna degen lägger man i en djup skål och serverar. Såsen häller man över och lägger köttet i skålen. Sedan äter man med fingrarna, tar en bit av fufun, doppar i soppan och äter även köttet med fingrarna. (Man kan självfallet äta med sked om man inte vill äta som en ghanan!)

Lägg inte för mycket i maskinen på en gång, för då orkar den inte hacka och få den smidiga konsistensen. Så det jag gör är att jag tar ca tre – fyra bitar och gör klart, det blir som en portion kan man säga. Sedan tar man nästa portion. Vill man sedan jobba degen ännu lite mera, kan man använda degskålen och arbeta den precis som bulldeg tills den är alldeles slät och smidig.

Vill man ha lite smak i fufun kan man ha i lite salt och peppar när man hackar. Men det är mycket smak i soppan. Så i Ghana har man inte kryddor i själva fufun. Därför kan den för oss kännas lite smaklös för sig.

Soppa till Fufu (kallad Light Soup)

Ingredienser

Kött/Fisk

Röd Chili Peppar

Auberginer

Färska tomater

Vitlök

Buljongtärning

Lök

Salt

Ingefära

Tomatpuré

Vatten

Hacka ingredienserna för hand eller i mixer. Har ni mixer är det det bästa.  Det ska inte mycket vatten i, då blir soppan för tunn. Det blir ju vätska av grönsakerna när de kokas. Hur mycket man ska ta av varje grönsak beror ju på hur många som ska äta. Till fyra portioner kan man ta ca  fem chili peppar, 2 auberginer, fyra tomater, 1 vitlök, 3 lökar och en halv burk tomatpuré. Auberginerna ska vara gula, men man kan även använda blå. I auberginer finns det stärkelse som gör att soppan tjocknar lite, utan redning. Det räcker med 1 deciliter vatten på detta. Som sagt kan man blanda lite hur man vill och vad man vill i soppan.

Man låter allt koka upp och puttra i ca 30 minuter. Sedan ska den silas så att den är klar, utan bitarna av grönsaker. Då är det riktig light soup. Men bitarna är ju goda och matiga, så har man inte varit i Ghana och ätit riktig Fufu och vet hur soppan ska se ut, är det inte fel om man inte silar, och det är gott.

Kött i soppan - mest vanlig i Ghana är getkött eller kyckling. Men man kan ta vilket kött som helst och skära i bitar. Kycklingen delar man i klubbor etc, man skär inte småbitar. Köttet ska vara i lite stora bitar som man sedan tar med fingrarna och äter.

Soppan kan även vara med skaldjurssmak eller med fisk i. Det bestämmer man själv.

Köttet kan man koka för sig och lägga i den färdiga soppan. Beroende på vilket kött man använder och hur lång koktid som behövs. Kyckling tar inte lång tid, så den kan man dela och lägga  i soppan så den kokar i soppan. Det samma kan man med fisk. I Ghana lägger man hela fisken i med ben och fenor och allt, men det behöver ni ju inte göra.

Fuskfufu!

Nu tänker ni kanske att detta törs ni inte prova, eller ni kan inte för ni hittar inte jamsrötter i affären! Men, det går att fuska lite och få en god fufu, även om den inte smakar riktigt som riktig fufu.

Fuska gör man på detta sättet:

4 dl potatismospulver

2 dl potatismjöl

ca 1 liter vatten (För mycket vatten gör degen för lös. Så ta det försiktigt.)

Blanda ingredienserna kalla i en kastrull. Ställ kastrullen på varm platta (fyrans värme) och rör om hela tiden tills det formas en tjock jämn smet. Rör blandningen snabbt och bestämt tills den är seg, fast och slät som en bulldeg. Servera omgående med soppan. Tycker ni det är svårt att få den slät nog med att röra för hand i kastrullen, arbeta den lite i degskålen i matberedaren. MEN det är viktigt att den fått värmt länge nog, så den blivit seg och potatispulversmaken försvunnit.