Garden Egg Stew (Earthenware Bowl Method)
Aperçu
Garden eggs are the small white and pale green African aubergines that give this stew its name and its body. They are firmer and more bitter than the large purple aubergine, and when they are cooked soft and ground down they produce a thick, faintly bitter base that no other vegetable substitutes for. This is the earthenware bowl version, and the bowl is not incidental. The pepper, onion, roasted tomato and cooked garden eggs are ground directly in an asanka, the ridged clay bowl used across Ghana, which crushes rather than purees and leaves a coarse, uneven texture. A blender produces a different dish. The other common preparation fries the components instead, and Ghanaian cooks treat the two as separate recipes rather than as variations. The stew is most closely associated with the Akan of Ghana, and its usual partners on the plate are yam or plantain. Koobi, salted and cured fish, is what supplies the savoury weight, alongside smoked mackerel and herring, and palm oil finishes it. Egg and avocado go on top. It is a dish assembled at the table as much as made at the stove.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
The garden egg, a small African cultivar of Solanum aethiopicum and Solanum macrocarpon, has been cultivated in West Africa since before the arrival of the larger Asian aubergine, and remains a distinct crop across Ghana and Nigeria. The asanka, the ridged earthenware grinding bowl used in this preparation, is documented as a standard implement in Ghanaian kitchens.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Wash all the ingredients under running water.
- 2
Halve each garden egg and place in a saucepan with just enough water to cook them. Boil for 20 to 25 minutes and set aside.
- 3
In another saucepan, boil the koobi for about ten minutes.
- 4
About 8 minutes into cooking the koobi, add the smoked mackerel and smoked herring and let them steam for about two minutes. Keep the residual water.
- 5
In an earthenware bowl, grind the pepper and onion with a little salt.
- 6
Roast the tomato over a flame for about a minute, add it to the bowl and grind.
- 7
Add the cooked garden eggs to the bowl and grind until smooth.
- 8
Pour the koobi, mackerel, herring and their residual water into the bowl and stir.
- 9
Heat the palm oil and fry some onion in it for about a minute.
- 10
Pour the palm oil and fried onion over the mixture in the bowl and stir again.
- 11
Garnish with boiled egg and avocado, and serve with boiled yam.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de Amanda Dadson- Grind, do not blend. An asanka or any ridged mortar crushes the ingredients unevenly and that unevenness is the texture of the dish. A blender gives a smooth puree that reads as a different recipe.
- Koobi is very heavily salted. Taste before adding any salt of your own, and rinse or briefly soak the fish first if you are sensitive to it.
- Roasting the tomato over a direct flame for a minute adds a smoky note that a raw tomato does not. Do not skip it for convenience.
- The residual fish water is seasoning, not waste. Adding it is optional but it carries a great deal of the savoury depth.
- The fried version, in which the components are fried rather than ground in a bowl, is the other main Ghanaian preparation and produces a distinctly different stew.
Questions fréquentes
What are garden eggs and what can I substitute for them?
Garden eggs are small West African aubergines, white or pale green, firmer and considerably more bitter than the large purple variety. They are sold fresh and frozen by African grocers. Thai green aubergines are the closest widely available substitute. Large purple aubergine will give you the body but almost none of the bitterness that characterises the dish.
What is koobi and can I make this stew without it?
Koobi is salted, cured tilapia, dried hard and used across Ghana as a savoury base. It is what gives this stew its depth. You can make the dish without it using only the smoked mackerel and herring, but it will be noticeably lighter. Salted cod, soaked to remove some of the salt, is a workable substitute.
Do I need an asanka to make this?
Not strictly, but the texture depends on grinding rather than blending. A large mortar and pestle is the closest alternative. If you only have a blender, pulse in very short bursts and stop well before it looks smooth, because the coarse uneven texture is what distinguishes this version from the fried one.
What is garden egg stew eaten with?
Boiled yam and boiled plantain are the standard partners in Ghana, and the mild starch against the bitter, salty stew is the point of the combination. It is also eaten with rice or with any swallow. The boiled egg and avocado on top are common additions rather than obligatory ones.
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Kenkey
my ghanaian neighbor used to make this with smoked herring and red habanero peppers ground roughly in that earthenware bowl. I tried boiling the garden eggs for 20 minutes first like you wrote instead of frying them raw, and the stew turned out much smoother without absorbing too much palm oil. No be small thing o!
Steaming the smoked mackerel together with the koobi for those last two minutes gave the stock so much flavor. I had to skip adding extra salt completely because the koobi I got from Wuse market was extremely salty. Served mine with boiled yam and a slice of avocado on the side, e sweet well well.