Ghanaian Red Red Bean Stew

To complement the Ghanaian Very Hot Shito Sauce we bought our son at Christmas, I made a Red Red Bean Stew last night.  Red Red is a Ghanaian dish, make with black eyed beans, tomatoes, red peppers, scotch bonnet chilli, and red palm oil - hence it's name.  Given the strength of the Shito Sauce I decided substitute scotch bonnet chilli for sweet red pepper.

Although a plant based dish in itself, Red Red is often served with tinned mackerel or pilchards. I added chicken, as my teens are less keen on vegan/vegetarian dishes that we are.

Serves 4

2 tbsp vegetable oil

4 chicken thighs (optional)

1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped

1 cm root ginger, roughly chopped

400g carton of passata

2 tins cooked black-eyed beans and their liquid

2 vegetable stock cubes

1 tsp Caribbean curry powder (or 1 tsp Indian curry powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric, & 1/2 tsp ground allspice)

1/4 tsp chilli powder

Brown the chicken thighs, if using, in the olive oil in a pan big enough to make the stew, and remove from the hot oil.

Liquidise the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and root ginger with some of the bean water to make a loose paste.

Fry the liquidised onion and pepper mixture in the hot oil for a few minutes.

Stir the curry powder and chilli into the onion paste, then stir in the tomatoes, beans, and crumbled stock cubes.

Add the chicken back to the stew if using.  There should be enough liquid to cover all the ingredients in the pan with about 1cm of water.  Add more tap water if there isn't.  If too much liquid, you can reduce this whilst the stew cooks.  Cover (leave the lid off it too much liquid), and simmer for 20 minutes.  

Red Red could be cooked in a slow cooker. After frying the onion paste and dry spices,  pour into a slow cooker together with the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Serve with rice, or plantain.

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