DIY Recipes: How to make the best Ghanaian Garden egg Abomu (stew)

This right here is made from simple ingredients but the finished sauce is a hearty sauce full of rich earthy African flavours.

Ingredients

1 medium-size onion,

5 Kpakposhito (Pettie Belle Chilli) or any chilli of your choice and to your taste),

2 Medium-sized fresh tomatoes,

Piece of Koobi (salted dry tilapia)

About 15 small garden eggs or 8 big ones

2 Maggie cubes crushed into powder

Sardines/Grilled Mackerel/ Fried Fish/eggs or any protein of your choice

Salt

1 ladle of Palm Oil

Method

Wash the garden eggs well, cut the green stalk away and make two cuts, lengthwise and halfway to create quarters. However, don’t cut all the way through. Place them in a pot.

Add the tomatoes, onion, pepper and koobi to the pot and add just enough water to steam.

Steam until the tomatoes, onions and garden eggs are tender. Turn off the heat and keep any remaining water left after the steaming.

Place the chilli, onion and a piece of the koobi in an asanka (earthenware mortar) and mash it with the pestle. If you don’t own a mortar and pestle, you can blend, however, you will not get the same texture and flavour.

Now add the tomatoes to the mortar. Mash until it is well incorporated with the onion mixture.

Now add the garden eggs and mash well into the mixture. If it is too thick, loosen it up with a bit of water from the steaming process.

Add the Maggie cubes and check the seasoning at this point. You may not need any more salt at this point as the koobi is salty. After this process, the sauce can be eaten with a bit of palm oil drizzled over it. However, I like to take it a step further.

Place the asanka on the hob and heat it up and add the palm oil. As the sauce heats up, the water in the sauce will bubble. After a couple of minutes, the bubbles will reduce in size and the oil will form a layer on the surface. Caution, the asanka gets very hot and it keeps conducting heat even when it’s taken off the hob.

Check your seasoning and add a pinch of salt if needed. Add your choice of protein.

Serve this sauce with boiled yams, ripe & unripe plantains, cocoyam or boiled rice. Garnish with ripe avocado pear and just delve into it straight from the asanka! No need to plate it up just enjoy from the Asanka!