Tag Archives: Egusi

Bulk Bananas Savors Ghanaian Food in Accra

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Happy Holidays! hope you all enjoyed the Christmas and New Year holidays with family and friends; if not with family and friends, hope you had a relaxing break, anyways.  I was really excited about visiting my aunt in Kwara state, but unfortunately, life happened and I was not able to make it.  However, to make up for it, I has an exciting time in Ghana, which trumps the visit to Kwara.  A good friend of mine was getting married in Ghana and my husband and I decided it was a good reason as any to check out our friendly neighbors in Ghana and try a few of their gastronomic delights.

I knew the trip would be eventful when we got to Murtala International Airport in Lagos and realized that we did not have our passports with us.  My husband waited at the airport to schmooze the airline staff into not closing the check-in counter, while I frantically rushed back to grab the all-important documents.  Half-way back to the airport, I decided to actually check the passports since, in my hurry, I had simply grabbed the closest-looking document  to a passport.  I realized that I taken my brother’s passport instead of my husband’s and had to make another quick U-turn back to get the accurate documents.

Anyway, finally made it back to the airport with the 2 passports in-hand, breathlessly ran into the airport lobby, only to learn that the flight had been delayed; it was delayed for 3 hours! My husband and I were relieved when we got to Accra late in the night, with the hotel pick-up driver waiting in the lobby. We enjoyed a cool drive to our hotel.

The wedding was absolutely stunning, but the highlight for me was the Ghanaian food.  It was completely heavenly.  There were several events throughout the week, but my favorite was brunch hosted at the Ghana Artist Alliance Gallery at Omanye House, La before LaPalm Beach Hotel, Accra.  I strongly recommend visiting the gallery when next you are in Accra.  It has modern and historic pieces ranging from fabric, to beads to contemporary artworks for sale.  The brunch menu included a traditional Ghana soup, jollof rice, rice and beans, chicken and beef cooked in several different ways, “pomo” and other types of “orishirishi”.  The food was tasty, had variety, and very well made.

 

Simple Greens and Egusi Soup Recipe

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Egusi Soup Recipe Courtesy of Nigerian Cookbook by Miriam Isoun and H.O. Anthonio.

Ingredients

Water leaves,                                      packed 2 cups

Egusi seeds                                        1/3 cup

Dry ground red pepper                      1 tablespoon

Locust bean, optional                         2 teaspoon

Onion                                                  1 medium-size

Palm oil                                               1/3 cup

Dry crayfish, ground,                          1/3 cup

Fresh tomato                                       2 small

 

Directions

1. Wash the water leaves thoroughly. Grind the onion, tomato and locust beans (iru), if used, with some water using a blender until smooth.

2. Grind the egusi seeds until fine but not smooth. This can be done using a dry ingredient food processor or with a manual mill, available in most local markets.

3. Fry the ground ingredients in the oil for 10 minutes. Add a little water, cover and steam for another 15 minutes.

4. Add the finely chopped water leaves, cover and steam for 5 minutes.

5. Add the ground dry crayfish, salt and pepper to taste and heat thoroughly.

6. Serve with eko, eba or pounded yam, rice or a boiled carbohydrate vegetable. This soup can be enriched by adding some protein such as fish, meat, innards (e.g. tripe) or cow foot. For more flavor, add a little washed bitter leaf.

Vegetable Melon Soup – Osiki Soup

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Osiki Soup Recipe, courtesy: Nigerian Cookbook by Miriam Isoun and H.O. Anthonio

Ingredients
Ugu                                                         1 bunch
Water Leaf                                              1 bunch
Fresh bitter leaf                                       1 bunch
Stock fish                                                1 medium size
Beef                                                         6 pieces
Snails                                                       2 large
Fermented locust beans (iru)                  1/2 teaspoon
Ground Egusi (melon seeds)                   1/2 cup
Dry crayfish                                             1/4 cup
Ata rodo (Habanero peppers)                 2 pieces
Tomatoes                                                 3 medium size
Onion, finely chopped                            1/2 cup or 1 medium size
Red bell peppers (Tatashe)                    3
Salt                                                          to taste
Palm oil                                                    2 table spoons
Directions
1. Wash and cut the ugu, water leaf and bitter leaf.
2. Boil the meats – stock fish, beef and snails.  Preferably, boil them seperately because they take different times to cook. Include spices such as curry, thyme, salt, ginger and bay leaves when boiling the beef and snails. The beef will require about 30 minutes to cook.
3. Grind the ata rodo, tomatoes, and tatashe to a very fine paste and boil for ~20 minutes, or until thickened.
4. Add the palm oil to a medium-sized sauce pan, add some of the chopped onions and fry till soft.
5. Add the ground pepper to the palm oil and fry for about 10 minutes.
6. Add a little water to the ground egusi and mix in finely chopped onions. Fry this with the tomato and pepper mixture for another 10 minutes.
7. Add locust beans, dry crayfish, boiled meats and beef stock to the mixture. Allow to boil for about 10 minutes.
8. Combine the cut greens into the soup mixture and boil until greens are cooked. Do not overcook the vegetables to avoid destroying valuable nutrients.
9. Add salt to taste. Serve with pounded yam.