Ghana | Stew

Red Red

A Ghanaian black-eyed pea stew cooked with red palm oil and served with fried ripe plantain.

Country
Ghana
Region
West Africa
Time
85 min
Serves
5
Level
easy
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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 lunch, vegetarian plates, street-food style meals, and hearty weekday dinners.. Plan on a easy cook and about 85 minutes total.

What to serve alongside it

Fried ripe plantain, gari, rice, avocado, or boiled egg.

Regional lane

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

Chef watch-outs
  • Stopping the base before the pepper, onion, or spice edge has mellowed.
  • Thinning the pot before the body of the soup or stew has developed.
  • Rushing the base before the raw edge has cooked out.
How you know it is ready
  • The sauce should coat the spoon and taste rounded, not watery or raw.
  • The aroma should smell rounded rather than raw or sharp.
  • Oil, sauce, broth, or steam should look settled and deliberate.
Pantry lane

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

Recipe photos

See the dish before you cook

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Red Red recipe from Ghana
Red Red finished dish
Chef board

Build the table around Red Red

Fried ripe plantain, gari, rice, avocado, or boiled egg.

Best route from here

Rice, beans, and street table

Collections to keep cooking
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Servings 5

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

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 20 min prep 65 min cook 85 min total easy
1
Cook the beans
Simmer black-eyed peas in water until tender but not collapsed. Reserve a little cooking liquid, then drain.
Cook beans 45:00
2
Build the stew base
Heat palm oil, then cook onion, garlic, ginger, scotch bonnet, tomatoes, and tomato paste until the sauce thickens.
Cook sauce 20:00
3
Stew the beans
Stir beans into the sauce with a splash of reserved cooking liquid. Simmer until glossy and well coated. Season with salt.
Simmer beans 15:00
4
Fry the plantain
Fry ripe plantain slices in oil until caramelized and golden. Serve beside the beans.
Fry plantain 10:00

Some cooks add fish powder, smoked fish, or shrimp powder, while vegan versions keep the stew bean-forward.

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