By Soyokour Quarcoo Tchire
There are many simple African meals. And with an endless list to tease the palate, we settle on taking you through the preparation stages of another simple to prepare, yet popular Ghanaian street food which is enjoyed by so many that it is not only served as a snack but also a side dish for dinner or lunch. Kelewele is a spicy snack made with sweet plantains, seasoned with spices and fried. In English, it is sometimes referred to as hot plantain crisps – crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
First, our checklist of the ingredients for this spicy snack – according to your serving size, you need fingers of ripe plantain, ground or powdered cayenne pepper, fresh ginger, garlic powder, anise seeds, cloves, onions and salt to taste. Peel the sweet plantain and cutinto bite-size chunks, or just as you would cut potato wedges. Mix the ground spices-that is the fresh ground ginger, cayenne pepper, anise seeds, garlic powder, cloves and onions with a little bit of water. Pour onto the diced plantain and mix together. Let it marinate for a while. This helps the plantain absorb all the delicious flavours that make this snack sweet and spicy. Deep fry in hot until golden brown. Do not overcrowd the pan when frying so the plantains don’t soak up the oil and become a soggy mess.
Kelewele is usually eaten on its own or as a side to any meal you would ordinarily serve with plantains. As a snack, Kelewele is served with roast peanuts or peanut butter. As a side, Kelewele is served with rice and stew, fried rice or jollof rice. It’s all a matter of palate choice.
Below is the video;
https://youtu.be/UFz8e0FRX-0