COPPERKelewele recipe
Cubes of overripe plantain marinated in a ginger, chilli and anise seed paste before deep-frying.
Ingredients
- 4 very ripe plantains
- 30 g ginger
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp anise seed
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 onion
- 3 clove garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 500 ml frying oil
How to make Kelewele
- Pick plantains whose skins are black-spotted to almost black; kelewele needs fruit sweet to the point of soft.
- Peel 4 plantains and cut them into 2 cm cubes.
- Blend 30 g of ginger, 3 garlic cloves, 1 small onion, 2 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1 tsp of ground anise seed, 1/4 tsp of ground cloves, 1/1 tsp of grated nutmeg and 1 tsp of salt with a splash of water into a rough paste.
- Toss the cubes in the paste and leave them 30 minutes; without that rest the spice stays on the surface and burns in the oil.
- Heat 500 ml of oil to 175 °C in a deep pan.
- Fry in batches for 4 to 5 minutes, without crowding, until the edges caramelise dark brown.
- Drain on paper and eat hot, with roasted peanuts on the side.
What is Kelewele?
Kelewele is a traditional dish from Ghana, cooked in a pan, and takes about 1 hour from start to finish. It is built around frying oil and ginger. The recipe below uses 10 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Kelewele take?
At 60 minutes it is quicker than 77% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 12 dishes built on frying oil. The method runs to 7 steps, the longest being 30 minutes.
Any tips for making Kelewele?
Leave the plantain cubes in the spice paste for 30 minutes before frying: otherwise the spice stays on the surface and burns in the oil.
How Kelewele compares
Hard to find elsewhere: very ripe plantains (1), anise seed (1) and ground cloves (2).
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