Ghanaian Tasty Bites - Kelewele

You know us for bringing you the culture and traditions of Ghana through ingeniously crafted artifacts. Many of you have asked us to include popular recipes in our “Discover Ghana” blogs. What a great idea! And there are tons of them – simple, freshly crafted mouth-watering recipes you will enjoy. Here’s the first one – Kelewele.

KELEWELE, (pronounced Kay-lay-way-lay) is popular Ghanaian side dish made of fried ripe plantains seasoned with spices - ginger, cayenne pepper, salt. Kelewele is commonly sold by street vendors late afternoons and in the evenings. Plantains are a member of the banana family. They are a starchy, low in sugar variety and usually fried or baked. Plantains are longer and have thicker skin than bananas. They are green in color when harvested. When ripen, they become softer and the skin color changes to yellow/black. Kelewele has grown in popularity in the U.S. thanks to the growing influence of African recipes.

Ingredients (2-3 serving portions):
2-4 ripe plantains.
1-2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (or ½ teaspoon of crushed red-pepper) to taste.
1 tablespoon of grated ginger root (or ginger powder) to taste.
Pinch of salt.

Preparation (15-20 minutes prep & cook time):
Peel plantains and cut into bite-size cubes.
Rub plantains with mixture of pepper, ginger and salt.

Heat one cup of oil (or more as needed) to about 350 degrees in a deep skillet (deep enough to allow plantains to float ). Fry plantains (just enough so they don’t touch each other), turning regularly until golden brown.
Remove plantains and drain on paper towel to remove excess oil. Keep warm in oven until ready to serve. Serve plantains alone or with dry roasted peanuts. Enjoy and let us know when you try it.