Margarita's International Recipes

GHANA

Chicken and Plantain Stew I have made many chicken stew recipes in my life, and they all taste pretty similar to one another, but this one really stands out among all of them. It's a little bit more complicated than most – it requires that you steam, then fry and finally stew the chicken, but the results are just marvelous. I varied from the original recipe in several ways. I didn't use peppers (I'm not big on spicy food), I used canned tomatoes instead of fresh and I added the garlic to the onions rather than rub it on the chicken. I also didn't have curry powder, so I substituted with Madras curry powder. Most importantly, I put the plantains in the stew rather than serve them on the side. That was a great decision, the plantains added a welcome sweetness and change of pace. Chicken and Plantain Stew Ingredients 3 lbs chicken pieces 2 Maggie cubes black pepper 1 cup cooking oil 2 onions, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp curry powder 2 tsp tomato paste 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes or tomato puree 1 tsp dried rosemary salt to taste 2 plantains Directions Remove skin and excess ft from chicken pieces. Disintegrate maggie cubes and rub them all over the chicken. Sprinkle chicken with black pepper. Let stand for 5 minutes. Place chicken in a large pot, cover tightly and cook over medium-low heat until the chicken has cooked through, 7 to 30 minutes depending on what parts you are using and the age of your chicken. Add a little water if necessary to prevent it from burning. Once ready, let cool. Remove chicken and reserve the pan juices. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Once hot add the chicken pieces and fry until golden on both sides. Remove chicken and set aside. Carefully pour about half of the oil from cooking the chicken in a large pot (you can reuse the one from steaming the chicken). Heat over medium heat and add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they become transparent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the curry powder and continue cooking until the onions start to brown. Add the tomato paste and continue cooking for 2 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes or tomato puree and the rosemary. Mix well, cover, bring heat to low and simmer for around 10 minutes. Uncover and add the pan juices from steaming the chicken. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Return chicken to the pot and continue cooking on low while you fry the plantains. Peel and slice the plantains. Heat the remainning oil in the frying pan where you cooked the chicken over medium high heat. Add the plantain slices and fry on both sides until golden. Add plantain slices to the stew or serve on the side. Adapted from Jimmy Fuseini's recipe at the Ghanaian Food blog Ghanian Recipes | Marga's International Recipes | Marga's Best Recipes | Marga's Food Blog | E-mail