Kelewele (Fried Spicy Plantains)
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Loading... - Eric Armah
- 13 Sep 2022
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When out walking in Kaneshie, the town in Ghana where my grandmother lives, in the hot dusk of the evening among the clatter and chaos of life, amid the sound of tro-tro (share taxi) drivers shouting out their destinations to attract fares, it's hard to avoid the soothing and dominant, sweet and spicy aroma of spiced ginger cooking on sweet plantain that emanates from almost every street. Hard to avoid and nigh on impossible to resist.
This is kelewele (pronounced "kaylay-waylay"), a simple and quick side dish of spiced and fried plantain, and a common snack available from roadside chop bars and street-food vendors across Ghana.
There are a few different recipes out there for this dish and it goes by various names in different parts of West Africa, but the principle is the same, ripe plantain cooked in fresh spices. It can be as simple as marinating the plantain in a mix of very finely chopped onion, grated fresh root ginger, chile flakes and salt. I also like to make a sweet aromatic version using nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, which combines the best of what I've tasted on the streets of Accra.
TECHNIQUE TIP: The secret to a good fried plantain is to use fruit at the correct stage of ripeness. Here, this is when the plantain is mottled black but still yellow and firm, and as fleshy as the skin on the inside of your wrist.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg. Read More...
