• lsmedley on March 05, 2022

  The author places a section at the beginning where she describes all the different unique ingredients, and their multiple names. This will be very helpful throughout the book, as she is not consistent with naming in the recipes (e.g. Hwentea is referred to in different recipes as hwentea, guinea pepper, or grains of Selim). Also make sure you get the right ingredient based on what she specifies in the glossary at the beginning. Per the glossary, guinea pepper is another name for hwentea, however if you search guinea pepper on Amazon, it gives you results for grains of paradise, which is a different ingredient in her glossary. Just be aware and make sure you get the right thing.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Yam & plantain peanut curry

  • Ro_ on March 18, 2024

    I absolutely loved the peanut sauce, but the plantain was not for me. This was my second time eating plantain, the first was in pancakes which I really liked, but the big soft banan-y chunks in this dish set off my fruit-in-savoury-dishes alarm bells and I just couldn't get on board with it.

• Plantain pancakes (Tatale)

  • Ro_ on March 18, 2024

    I made these for breakfast, to go with some eggs. The flavour was delicious, but the texture was puzzling - I got the feeling the batter was meant to be a lot more liquidy than it was, I added just a tiny bit of flour and it turned very mealy so I ended up adding some water too and re-whizzing. Possibly the wrong consistency was because my plantains weren't optimally over-ripe. Anyway they were a bit tricky to cook, but did hold together in the end, even if they didn't look very pretty. I had to use quite a bit of oil, so they were more oily too than I'd have liked. Not sure if I'd make these again or not.

• Ghana-fied Caesar salad

  • Ro_ on June 18, 2024

    This was really nice, unusual and tasty. But as is quite common in this book, the recipe involved a sub recipe (for Shito Mayo) which itself involved a sub recipe (for Shito hot pepper sauce). Given that the quantities required of each sub recipe are tiny compared to the amount the sub recipe actually makes, it's pretty annoying trying to work out how to scale it the right amount. So overall, even though I enjoyed this salad, I probably wouldn't make it again because it's too much of a faff unless you want to keep a quantity of shito hot pepper sauce in your fridge at all times.

• Three bean salad

  • Ro_ on June 18, 2024

    I liked the simplicity of this salad, and the dressing was nice but it would need at least double the quantity of dressing to make the beans really zingy and tasty. The dressing only came through weakly.

• Pan-roasted cod seasoned with grains of paradise

  • jenburkholder on January 30, 2022

    Very simple but pleasant. The grains of paradise add an interesting, almost cardamom-esque note.

• Pan-fried tilapia fillets

  • lkgrover on July 03, 2024

    Good tilapia. I substituted serrano chiles for kpakpo shito chiles, and ground guajillo chiles for chili flakes.

• Savoury gari with eggs (Gari foto)

  • Ro_ on June 20, 2024

    This was a simple recipe, but really delivered more than I had expected. I loved the slightly crispy texture of the garri, and the spiced tomato and eggs were both great with it. I would potentially use more tomatoes next time. My one problem is that it called for a vast amount of oil - I reduced it by about half and it was fine, but I would maybe reduce more next time except I'd worry about getting that same unctiousness. c

• Red red stew

  • jenburkholder on August 04, 2020

    Good - easy and cozy.

  • Ro_ on March 18, 2024

    I really loved these spicy beans, and it was a simple recipe especially since I used canned beans. The only thing I didn't like was the toasted uncooked garri on top, it added an unpleasant texture and I wouldn't do this again.

• Suya steak bavette

  • Ro_ on November 09, 2024

    It was mainly the ground chillies that came through, the other flavours were somewhat lost, and a lot of the spice rub ending up sticking to the grill pan. Wouldn't repeat this recipe.

• Antoinette's ewe fetri detsi

  • Foodycat on November 06, 2022

    Recipe also contains chicken thighs as an option

• Simple beef stew

  • lkgrover on January 18, 2022

    Good beef stew; largely tomato and onion based, with lots of spices (and chiles, curry, and peppers). I served with this book's coconut rice.

• Jollof fried chicken

  • Ro_ on February 27, 2024

    Really tasty fried chicken. I went in quite heavy with the spicing, but would do so again as you need to for it to really come through - it certainly wasn't too spicy. Would quite like to try these in the air fryer.

• One-pot rice (Jollof)

  • TrishaCP on February 14, 2022

    We liked the incredibly flavorful rice, but the recipe would NOT have worked if I had followed it exactly. This recipe involves making a flavored chicken stock to cook the rice, but without specifying the expected yield. I ended up with about 9 cups of stock, but 380 grams of rice as specified doesn't need that much liquid. (Recipe called for using it all, plus a tomato sauce.) I went with the standard ratio of 1 1/2 to 2 cups of liquid per cup of rice. I also didn't care for the chicken with this- poaching, then baking, made it dry. As a note, you need to complete three sub-recipes before you start this one and each sub-recipe included fresh chiles and/or chile powder (cayenne is what is recommended) and/or curry powder. I strongly recommend reading all of the sub-recipes in advance of making any of them to know how much heat you are adding to the dish in total and whether you feel the need to adjust based on your spice tolerance. (I needed to adjust!)

  • Ro_ on January 23, 2024

    I pretty much agree with the other note - the rice was really tasty, but there were some issues with the recipe. I found that the sub-recipe for Jollof Sauce did not make anywhere near the stated quantity it said it would, and which was required for this recipe, so I had to add more tomatoes and stock and hope for the best. Also, there wasn't enough liquid to cook the rice thoroughly in the time stated, so again I had to add more liquid and give it longer. It was really really spicy which I enjoyed but it was bordering on too much for my family! We unauthentically had some yoghurt on the side. I wish I'd been able to get the shrimp powder which was listed as optional but apparently gives the distinctive taste.

• Veggie jollof

  • jenburkholder on January 30, 2022

    Didn’t work for us. Needed a lot more water, more cooking time, it cooked super unevenly, and the flavor was eh besides.

• Jollof spiced chicken skewers

  • Ro_ on July 01, 2024

    I loved this simple recipe. I used boneless thighs instead of breasts and did them in the air fryer. The result was great, moist and tasty with just the right balance in the marinade, and I served with some spicy mayo for dipping.

• Suya spiced lamb meatballs or koftas

  • Ro_ on January 24, 2024

    These were unusual: I wasn't sure but my partner really liked them. I think some of the issue was that the recipe called for a sub-recipe of a spice mix, and that sub-recipe said you could use peanut butter or ground peanuts in the ingredients - I used peanut butter, but this obviously means you end up with a stiff paste, not a dry spice mix, which made the "roll the meatballs in the spice mix" part of this recipe impossible. I ended up adding all the spice mix (paste) to the meatball mix, and the peanut butter came through very distinctly.

• Coconut rice

  • lkgrover on January 18, 2022

    Easy rice made with coconut milk; great with a spicy main dish. I made in the rice cooker.

• Black-eyed bean fritters (Akara/Koose)

  • Ro_ on May 19, 2024

    My first batch fell apart in the fryer, despite having made sure the oil was up to temp, and having chilled the mixture in the fridge as instructed. I think the oil temp dropped too much after putting them in. After this, I added some flour to the (very wet) mix, and cooked fewer at a time, as well as trying some in the air fryer. This time they held together - the darker ones in the photo were fried in oil, the lighter ones in the air fryer. This was an unusual dish, but considering it was a bit of a faff to make I'm not sure that I'd repeat as it didn't pack a punch of flavour. You definitely need something good to dip them in. I'd probably do in the air fryer again as it's less faffy.

• Zoe's Ghana ketchup (Jollof relish)

  • lsmedley on March 05, 2022

    The timing on this recipe is way off. There is no way you can get deep brown, soft, stick, and caramelized onions in 10 minutes. Caramelizing onions took about 45 minutes, entire recipe took about 2 hours. Didn't peel the tomatoes because I was lazy and didn't want to :)

• Jollof dry spice mix

  • TrishaCP on February 13, 2022

    Spice mix used in the following recipes: Ghana-fied Caesar salad p.95, Jollof fried chicken p. 218, One pot rice (Jollof) p. 225, Veggie jollof p. 230, Jollof spiced chicken skewers p. 240, Jollof relish p. 370, and Jollof sauce p. 395.

• Chalé sauce

  • TrishaCP on February 13, 2022

    Sauce used in the following recipes: Fante fish soup p. 117, Smoked fish stew p. 156, Spinach & agushi curry p. 161, Ghana dal p. 170, Light soup with chicken p. 203, Beef & spinach stew p. 206, Antoinette’s ewe fetri detsi p. 211, Lamb palaver p. 214, Simple beef stew p. 216, Veggie jollof p. 230, Garden egg & okra stew p. 232, Corned beef stew p. 235, Peanut butter/groundnut stew with lamb p. 238, Steamed mussels in groundnut broth p. 253, and Jollof relish p. 370.

• Jollof sauce

  • TrishaCP on February 13, 2022

    Sauce is used in the following recipes: One pot rice (Jollof) p. 225 and Jollof relish p. 370.

  • lsmedley on March 05, 2022

    The amount of thyme called for in this was wild. And considering it is an optional ingredient, I was very confused.