"Red Red", as my mother would describe in a strict manner of speaking, is any stew made with red palm oil. However, red red is widely known as a red bean stew made with palm oil, tomatoes and black eyed peas. A little bit of salted, dried or smoked fish would normally be added to enhance the flavour of this dish and make it dynamite to the taste buds, however when starting with any sort of cuisine, I always recommend taking baby steps in the first instance.

 

Red red is normally eaten with a side of fried plantains and a sprinkling of gari powder on top. For those that may not be familiar with what gari is, it is made from mashed, then fermented cassava. The end product is a result of roasting the mashed and fermented mixture. Read here to learn more about gari.

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 tablespoons of palm oil (about 60mls)
• 1 onion
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1 fish or vegetable stock cube (for the vegetarians)
• 1 can adzuki beans
• 1 can black eyed peas
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper (chop for hot and spicy, leave whole for mild) 

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes

• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4

Preparation

 1. Heat up the palm oil and fry the onions until golden, about 2 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, ginger and tomato puree and fry for a minute

3. Add the chopped tomatoes followed by the stock cube and allow to fry and reduce for 10 minutes

4. Add the beans, including bean juice in can. Add the whole scotch bonnet to release flavour without too much heat and bring to a simmer. Or if you prefer, finely chop the scotch bonnet pepper for more heat.

5. After simmering for 7 minutes, the dish is ready to serve. You may enjoy it with rice, yams or potatoes. If you would like to enjoy it the traditional way, serve with sweet ripe fried plantains and a few gari sprinkles.

 

Are you new to plantains? Try our kelewele recipe.