DIY Recipes: How to make Smoked fish and Agushie stew (Akatoa stew)

Agushie or Akatoa is the star of today’s stew. It comes in either whole or grounded forms and it's a stable Ghanaian cuisine and some other West African countries as well.

Ingredients

1/4 cup/ 60ml palm oil

2 onions sliced

1 clove garlic (optional) minced

Fresh pepper as required (scotch bonnet, bird's eye chilli, etc) minced

4 tomatoes diced

Preferred smoked fish (mackerel, salmon, herrings, tuna etc) remove flesh and bones and break into desired sizes

1 teaspoon grounded dried shrimp (shrimp powder)/ shrimp stock cube

1 cup whole melon seeds (Agushie/ Akatoa) substitute for grounded melon seeds

2 bell pepper sliced

Salt as required

Method

Add about 1/4 cup of palm oil into a saucepan. Add onions, minced garlic and pepper. Cook till onions are softened.
Add diced tomatoes and cleaned smoked fish. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 heaped teaspoon of grounded dried shrimp or 1 shrimp stock cube and stir together. Cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes till tomatoes and smoked fish are cooked through and no longer smelling raw.
Meanwhile, add 1 cup of melon seeds (Agushie/ Akatoa) into a blender. Add about a half cup of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Blend till smooth and creamy. (If using grounded melon seeds, make a thick paste using water and salt and set aside)
When tomatoes are cooked through, lower the heat to low and add the blended melon seeds solution. DO NOT STIR! Cover the saucepan simmer gently till the blended melon seeds are set.
Add sliced bell pepper, stir, add a splash of water if needed, taste and adjust for salt.
Serve with plain rice or boiled yam or plantain.