Our favourite Ghanian chef shares another great recipe, you can find more at http://www.pattismenu.com
With an abundant supply, fish is eaten daily along the Atlantic coast and is popular fried, stewed, grilled and baked. In my Takoradi home, “Araba fishmonger” has brought wonderfully fresh barracuda, snapper, cassava, grouper and so many others to our door for over 30 years. She has an uncanny knack for turning up, at exactly the right moment, with a head-pan full of our favourites, fish that left the ocean just minutes earlier. She cleans and scales them, enjoys a joke and a quick snack and then moves on to her next “regular”. Of course haggling like a real ‘fish wife’ for the best price is expected and enjoyed by all.
This stew is an adaption of one of mum’s regulars and the wonderful flavors speak for themselves.
Serves 4-6
1kg/2 lb white fish like monkfish, cassava or snapper, cleaned and cut into steaks
4 tbsp plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper
1ltr/36floz Maa’s Tomato Sauce (page 33)
1 tbsp prawn powder, optional
2 tsp curry powder, optional
300g/10oz vegetables like bell peppers, mushrooms, shallots, chopped
600ml/20floz stock or water
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp plain flour for browning
oil to shallow fry
1. Dry the fish on kitchen paper, coat in seasoned flour and shake off the excess. Lightly shallow fry the fish and drain on kitchen paper.
2. Put Maa’s Tomato Sauce in a saucepan and add the prawn powder, curry powder, vegetables and stock or water to the sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes and bring it to the consistency you prefer.
3. Add the fish, cover and continue to simmer. If you need to thicken the stew, brown the plain flour in a hot, dry pan, and add a sprinkling to the stew. It should take about 20 minutes to soften the vegetables and marry the flavours.
Serve with rice, kenkey, boiled yam or potato. Add extra thyme to the stew to give it a more herby flavour.
You can leave out the seasoning and simply fry the fish before adding to the sauce.
