The Best Fish Stew

Whenever I run out of ideas on what I want to eat, I always go back to rice because there is always rice at home. Most of our Ghanaian stews are made to be paired with some sort of carbohydrate and two popular ones are yam and rice. Chances are at every point in time you have a small bowl of tomato stew somewhere in your freezer or fridge and a little bit of leftover protein. If you don't I’ve got you. This fish stew is so vibrant and just so delicious. It's also sweet from using very ripe fresh tomatoes and a bit of tomato paste. Personally, I believe the best kind of fish to use for stews are very firm white fish like snapper because they hold their shape well and are really tasty. For this fish stew, I used a mix of snapper and barracuda. My partner went out with his friends about a month ago and brought home a bowl full of barracuda. The initial plan was to pair it with banku and pepper but I changed my mind after realizing that I didn't have enough snapper for the stew so I just went ahead and added it. If you don't like fish, I have the bombest chicken stew recipe that you can make. If you prefer something fresher, you can go with my Fante Fante (fresh fish stew). I paired this fried fish stew with rice, you can also pair it with my turmeric rice . I’ve held unto this recipe for over a month now because I don't like the picture but try as I have, I can't find any pictures in my archives to replace this atrocity.

Recipe

what you need

700g fresh firm fish steaks/filets (I used a mix of barracuda and snapper)

Marinade

I large onion

1 cup kpakpo shito/scotch bonnet/petite belle pepper (according to your beat preference)

6 garlic cloves

1 thumb sizes ginger (1 tablespoon)

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary 

1 green bell pepper

6 basil leafs

For the stew

1 large onion, sliced

3 medium sized carrot, diced or chopped 

1/3 cup tomato paste

rest of marinade

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes

1 1/2 cups freshly blended tomatoes 

1/2 tablespoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon my all purpose seasoning* 

1/2 teaspoon my 7 spice blend*

Vegetable oil

• Replace spice with similar ones that contain almost all the spices in my recipe.

• If for any reason your tomatoes are't ripe enough, add a pinch of sugar to balance it out otherwise the stew is very sweet on its own.

Garnish 

1 medium sized onion, sliced

2  green bell peppers, sliced

Directions 

Clean and pat fish steaks dry.

Blend marinade into a semi smooth mixture.  Pour 1/4 a cup of the marinade plus a teaspoon of sea salt on the fish steaks and toss together. Let it sit for at least an hr in the fridge. Save the rest fo the marinade for later.

Measure out the spices for the stew and place in one bowl.

Place a pan over medium high heat and add 1 1/2 cups of oil and heat oil until is hot.  Fry fish in batches until golden brown then place in a bowl. Don’t bother draining any excess oil. The oil left after frying should be about 1 cup, add more if it isn’t enough. Leave as it is if it’s more. You can always scoop up the excess oil after stew is done cooking.

In the same pan add the sliced onions. Fry until golden brown the add the rest of the marinade. Turn heat to medium and fry marinade for 10 mins. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t burn. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add the tomato paste, stir and fry for 10 mins.   Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn. Add the blended tomatoes and 1/3 cup of water. Stir and add the diced carrots. Taste and adjust salt. After 5 mins add the sliced fresh tomatoes. Turn heat to medium and allow it simmer for 5 minutes then add the seasoning/spices. Taste and adjust salt. Continue simmering stew for 5 mins then add the fried fish, sliced green pepper and onions. Stir and allow to simmer for an additional 2 minutes then turn the heat off.

Serve warm.