Red Red from Ghana (Black-Eyed Peas with Plantains)

I have so many foods I miss from Ghana. It's hard to believe we've been back for almost 6 1/2 years now. This meal took us right back. My husband loved this meal and it was his usual lunch on school days. It was easily his favorite and most frequent meal in Ghana.

Named "Red Red" for a couple of reasons. When we asked why it was named this way in Ghana, they would tell us that the ripe plantains are called red and from the red palm oil. When I was checking on the name online, I came up with many recipes that included tomatoes in them. Since we don't recall tomatoes being part of the dish we remember, I opted to go middle road with some tomato paste for flavor. Tomato paste is used very frequently in Ghana. Also, traditionally the plantains are unhealthily deep fried. We opted to bake them, and didn't notice much of a difference. They were perfectly sweet and soft on their own, to compliment the beans.

There are a couple of ingredients in this meal that made it difficult to make this meal authentic until recently when we found some gari, made from cassava. One other ingredient was the red palm oil, harvested from palm oil trees.

My husband says it's a keeper. We all loved it. Enjoy!

Red Red (Black-Eyed Peas with Plantains) 

In a large skillet, heat:
1/4 cup red palm oil

Add and cook until soft:
2 medium onions, sliced
1 inch ginger, peeled and chopped (optional, but lends an authentic flavor)
5 cloves garlic, pressed and chopped

Add and let cook for a couple of minutes:
1 teaspoon curry powder
red pepper (to taste, or use the chili and onion condiment below)
1 Tablespoons tomato paste
salt to taste

Finally add, and let simmer:
4-6 cups cooked black-eyed peas (save the cooking liquid)
(This is about what you get when you cook up 1 pound dry beans)
bean cooking water for thinning the stew to almost soupy

Meanwhile, prepare the baked plantains:

6-8 very ripe (preferably at least 1/2 black/yellow) plantains, washed, peeled, cut into about 1 inch sections

Arrange the peeled and sliced ripe plantains on a baking sheet in single layer.
Bake at 350 F until done (softened), about 30-45 minutes.

Serve up the Red Red with some slices of baked plantain. Making sure there is liquid for the gari to sprinkle on and soak up, enjoy as a meal.

Optional:
Process fresh red chili pepper in a mortar and pestle, adding some salt. Stir in some thinly sliced red onion (more typical in Ghana, but you may use any kind of onion for this). Put on the table to serve alongside as a condiment.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

I always think of pumpkin recipes at this time of year. Many times you will need to have this spice mix on hand, especially if you are making a sweet dessert. Recently I used this to make pumpkin ice cream!

Pumpkin Pie Spice

6 Tablespoons ground Cinnamon (Ceylon preferred) 
2 Tablespoons ground Ginger
1 Tablespoon ground Allspice
2 teaspoons ground Cloves
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground Nutmeg

Mix together and store in a airtight container. Label and date. Use whenever pumpkin pie spice is called for in recipes.

Urban Homesteading Video Link

Here is an interesting video about urban homesteading. Thanks to a reader who passed this on to me. Click on the link to view. Have a great day.

Flax or Chia "Egg"

I've been using this substitute for eggs when I make my Baked Oatmeal recipe and haven't ever really posted it.

For each egg needed:

Mix together:
1 Tablespoon of ground chia seeds or ground flax seeds (light or dark)
3 Tablespoons of water

Allow mixture to thicken for about 5-15 minutes. Proceed with recipe as usual.

This can be used in other baking applications as well. I have also used flax or chia seeds in my morning smoothies for thickness and overall good nutrition.

Soap making

I have ventured into the soap making niche of the world! It's the last thing I thought I'd do after a somewhat failed attempt to "make" my own soap powder (with borax and a bar soap) a few years ago.

It's actually something I can use. And that's nothing to sneeze at...really, it doesn't make me sneeze...unlike the powder soap experiment. Trying to locate a cheaper way to do laundry and using something more "green" led me to find a totally new concept. One that many others have also found useful.

Let me introduce you to the soap nut. I'm not talking about myself either...(I know it's been awhile since I posted and you were starting to wonder, right?) =) No, really the soap nut is a fruit (soap berry) that is dried and has been used for many years for just about anything that needs cleaning. I've used it for about 4 months now.

I make it into a liquid form which I make myself from the dried soap nuts. I add a few drops of lavender oil for a nice scent. You can use just about any essential oil you prefer. I found it to be very useful and mostly I've used it for laundry.

In a normal load, I only need to use about 1/4 cup. One batch lasts about a month for us if used for laundry alone. It does not have many suds, if at all, so keep this in mind when you try it the first time. Here's a list of the benefits of soap nuts at the Soap Nuts Pro website.

It naturally works as a fabric softener, so I actually use another soap for my towels, washcloths and cloth napkins, because I want them to be absorbent. It's great for clothes though. For someone who hates the chemical smell of fabric softeners, I'm happy to report that the soap nuts has no such irritation.

I bought mine locally here in bulk. I use the ratio in the recipe on this website: Naturoli.com (scroll down in the box to find it). They have a good website to learn more about soap nuts. You can do an internet search and find similar recipes and sources to buy from.

I always crush the soap nuts up in a bag (I use my potato masher and a cutting board underneath the bag), before adding them to the water when heating them on the stove. And after simmering, I strain through a nut milk bag and squeeze out all I can. Then I compost the pulp! I let the soap cool, then I refrigerate it to keep longer than a few days. I find that it keeps fine for about one month this way. When I start to use it for more than laundry (for our family of four), then I will make it more often.

Here are some photos of when I make it at home:

If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I'll try to answer the best I can. Happy cleaning! =)

Update to add: I have now been using the EcoWasher in combination with my clothes washer for a while now - maybe a year or more? We have really liked it and therefore I am not using any added soap. I do however still use some spot cleaner and presoak things that need a little more help to get clean. Love this option and makes it a breeze to have children help too! 

Black Bean Soup

This recipe was given to me by a friend. We've enjoyed it on a few occasions and it's worth mentioning. It's an easy, basic recipe. Enjoy!

Black Bean Soup

Sauté together in bottom of a soup pot:
1 Tablespoon oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 small red pepper, chopped (I used light green/yellow)

Stir in with vegetables:
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
2 teaspoons ground cumin
pinch red pepper or chipotle powder

Add in:
4 cups vegetable broth
3 1/2 cups cooked black beans
1-2 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half (or use other diced tomatoes)
seasoning to taste

Bring to boil. Take off heat and let sit for a few minutes. Serve as is, or opt to puree part or all of the soup. I left the soup as is for photo above. 

Optional toppings to serve with soup:
fresh tomatoes, diced
salsa
cooked and cooled brown rice
fresh chopped cilantro

Marinated Tofu

This is an old recipe I've had around for awhile. Someone recently asked me about it and I realized I'd never posted it here. You will need to use water packed tofu for this, as silken does not work well in this kind of recipe. Silken tofu works better in sauces and blended recipes.

For those of you who have been longtime readers of this blog, you will remember my "Making Tofu in an African Village" blog post.* This is the kind of tofu that is used in this recipe. You will find it in your grocery store packed in water in rectangular tubs. Simply drain and rinse, then slice or cube for this recipe.

This dish can be made as a marinade, in the sense that you prepare your tofu ahead of time and soak it in the marinade ingredients, then cook later. Or it can be done quickly right in the pan. Either way, the trick is to watch your pan closely toward the end of cooking so as not to burn it, as you carefully reduce the liquid until it is evaporated, but still leaves all the flavor and seasoning in the tofu.

Another way to possibly improve the flavor, would be to try another method. You could marinate the tofu, after freezing overnight and thawing the tofu separately. This method tends to get good results, as the tofu can further soak up the marinade this way. This applies to other dishes as well. Tofu will be more chewy and "meaty" this way.

Marinated Tofu

1/4 cup soy sauce (or tamari, or nama shoyu or liquid aminos)
1/2 cup water (or more to cover to marinate)
1 clove garlic, minced (or about 1/4 teaspoon dried garlic, or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely minced (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger)

1 pound water-packed tofu, extra firm & non-gmo preferred, sliced or cubed
Optional: 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

Combine marinade ingredients (all except the tofu). Marinate tofu for a few hours or more. Or you can simply put the ingredients directly in a large skillet on the stove top and cook on a simmer, until all the liquid has evaporated, watching closely so as not to burn. Or you can broil the tofu in the oven, flipping over part way into cooking, until "golden."

I tend to make this recipe minus the optional mushrooms, and on the stove top the quick way. My preferred cut is to slice them a bit on the thick side, so they'll stay together better. I use a metal spatula to turn them if needed. Serve on a sandwich (can use instead of tempeh on Reuben sandwiches), over brown rice, chopped into a stir fry, or in spring rolls, sushi, etc. The ideas are limitless! Yummy by itself as a "steak" along with the rest of your meal. Our children love this. =)

Optional: A great idea is to saute up some sliced onions in a bit of oil (I use a little coconut oil) before or after cooking the tofu in the same skillet. No need to rinse the pan between.

*- I just realized I've been writing this blog for more than 5 years. How cool is that? And yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary! Here's to another 20 years, Honey!