"What?" You say. "de-I interested in food, in culinary adventure?"
Yet it is true. From the moment I was introduced during my first trip to "Local Food" (the term from my Ghanaian friends, not mine), I was intrigued by flavors. Certainly, the food as it is served and eaten has come discordance with Western sensibilities. But the flavors? That is a different case. Given the great popularity of Thai food, I would say that the food of Ghana (West Africa) has similarities that resonate on the palate in the same way.
Yet as I've made my way through a variety of local food dishes (Light Soup, Groundnut Soup, Palmnut Soup, Palava Sauce, Ground Egg Stew, Grilled Talapia with Pepper, Fu-Fu, Banku, Konkonte, Jollof Rice with Grilled Chicken), I have found this commonality of the flavor profile. As a cook who dissects the components of various cuisines and finds the common thread of flavors and techniques that make a national cuisine and then uses those in his own creations, I was having a hard time figuring out just what made this Ghanaian cooking different. When I asked what ingredients and flavorings they were using, I would get a list of things that I was very familiar with. Yet, the flavors that resulted didn't jive with any that I had tried before.
Then on this trip, one of the people I am mentoring cooked a meal for me, Chicken Light Soup, and I had a chance to observe. As I had suspected, it wasn't the flavors. It was the technique! There was one spice that she didn't know exactly what it was in English (though I suspect fennel seed powder is an important component). So this weekend I made my attempt and I must say that the results were quite credible.
All that is required is a fresh chicken, onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, salt, fresh chile and the special spice (I suggest using fennel seed powder).
Instructions:
- Cut your chicken into parts and put into a pot
- Cover with water and bring to a boil
- Now take a half an onion, three garlic cloves and a medium piece of peeled ginger and your spice powder, put into a blender. Take some water from the chicken pot. Add and blend the aromatic vegetables until completely emulsified. Add to the chicken
- Cover your pot and cook the chicken under medium heat for 30 minutes
- Take four small tomatoes, cut into quarters and add to the chicken. If you want heat, add chile - scotch bonnet, jalapeno, serrano, New Mexico - whatever you want. Or as in our case, we did not want it spicy so I omitted the chile
- Cook for another 20 minutes, Fish out the tomato and chile. Put into the blender with more of the cooking liquid. Add another quarter raw onion. Blend until completely emulsified. Pour back into the chicken. Cook for another 30 minutes or until the chicken is very tender
- In Ghana, we would serve this with a ball of a pounded starch from cassava (Fu-Fu), cassava and corn (Banku), or toasted cassava (Konkonte) right in the soup. Here I'd suggest either rice or noodles or even mashed potatoes. In Ghana, you eat it with your hand (right hand) taking a bit of the starch and dipping it into the soup before eating it and picking at the chicken the same way. I took the meat off the bones for Wife.
A pot of Chicken Light Soup
A plate in the American Style
de-I's plate with him prepared to eat the chicken more Ghana style
This very different technique of taking the aromatics, blending them raw with fluid and adding to a stew or braise is very intriguing to me. You can be sure I will be trying variations on it.
Bon Appetit!
5 comments:
YUM! This sounds and looks amazing! I wish I had time for cooking like this. (Yes, I know. I could make time, but my cooking energy only goes so far.)
I have often wondered what the food was like in Ghana! Thanks for sharing the light Soup recipe.😊
I will definitely try this approach
Adding onions at two different times is an interesting idea. It seems like you would have a more sweet, cooked flavor, and something a bit more piquant.
Post a Comment