Ghana | Snack

Kelewele

Name: Kelewele
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Ghana, West Africa
Ingredients: 4 whole ripe plantains, cut into cubes; 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated; 2 cloves garlic, grated; 2 tbsp onion, grated; ½ tsp cayenne or ground chile; ¼ tsp ground cloves; ½ tsp ground nutmeg or calabash nutmeg; 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying; 1 tsp salt

Ghanaian ripe plantain cubes marinated with ginger, garlic, chile, cloves, nutmeg, and salt, then fried until caramelized.

Country

Ghana

Region

West Africa

Time

25 min

Serves

Level

easy

Explore Ghana recipes Open Quick & Easy

Recipe overview

What to know before you cook

Use this overview to check the occasion, serving ideas, regional context, and cooking commitment before you begin.

When to cook it

Best for Evening snack. Plan on a easy cook and about 25 minutes total.

What to serve alongside it

Roasted peanuts, grilled meat, beans, red red, or a cold malt drink

Follow the collection

Kelewele appears in 3 AfroKitchen collections. Start with Quick & Easy if you want more dishes in the same mood. Quick & Easy

Regional lane

Rice, beans, and street table. Waakye, jollof, kelewele, and lunch-counter plates with many sides.

Chef watch-outs

Rushing the base before the raw edge has cooked out.
Adding all seasoning early and forgetting to adjust at the end.
Cooking on heat that is too high once the dish should be steaming or simmering.

How you know it is ready

The aroma should smell rounded rather than raw or sharp.
Oil, sauce, broth, or steam should look settled and deliberate.
The final texture should match the dish style before you plate it.

Pantry lane

shito, palm oil, sorghum leaves, fermented corn dough, groundnut

Recipe photos

See the dish before you cook

Each recipe supports one main image and up to four extra prep, serving, or step photos when they are available.

Kelewele recipe from Ghana — Kelewele finished dish

Chef board

Build the table around Kelewele

Roasted peanuts, grilled meat, beans, red red, or a cold malt drink

Best route from here

Rice, beans, and street table

Collections to keep cooking

West African Street Food Across Africa Showstoppers

Servings 4

Scale the dish before you shop, then use the checklist while you cook.

Ingredients

For 4 servings

Snack

Plantain

4 whole ripe plantains, cut into cubes

Spice Paste

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated 2 cloves garlic, grated 2 tbsp onion, grated (optional) ½ tsp cayenne or ground chile ¼ tsp ground cloves ½ tsp ground nutmeg or calabash nutmeg

Cooking

2 cups vegetable oil, for frying

Pantry

1 tsp salt

How to cook it

Step-by-step method

Keep the rhythm calm, watch the texture, and adjust seasoning at the end.

Back to Ghana

4 steps 15 min prep 10 min cook 25 min total easy

Make spice paste

Mix ginger, garlic, onion if using, chile, cloves, nutmeg, and salt into a rough paste.

Season plantain

Toss plantain cubes with the spice paste and rest briefly.

Marinate 15:00

Fry in batches

Heat oil and fry plantain in batches until dark golden and crisp at the edges.

Fry batch 04:00

Drain and serve

Drain well and serve hot with roasted peanuts or beans.

Some spice pastes include onion, anise, grains of selim, or calabash nutmeg.

Kelewele

What to know before you cook

See the dish before you cook

Build the table around Kelewele

Why Kelewele gets people talking

Step-by-step method

Cook around Kelewele