Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Pepper-Crusted Fish in Watercress and Spring Onion Sauce

Recipe Source: Viestad, Andreas.  Where Flavor was Born.  Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2007 p. 82

I made this dish on one of the many occasions when I have no idea how many people I will be serving.  When I planned my menu, my husband's parents were coming to town and "might" come and eat with us.  They ultimately opted not to dine with us and we had enough of this dish for two more diners than we actually had.  The only reason I'm telling you this is because the extras were not a problem.  There were no leftovers.  The sauce was particularly interesting, and I can't quite describe it.  Try it for yourself sometime soon.

I made some changes to the original recipe.  I couldn't find black peppercorns in a grinder here at home.  I thought that I had them but I was wrong.  This was a flimsy excuse to use the cubeb I'd just purchased in a handy little grinder bottle.  The fish fillets were haddock.  I couldn't tell you if the wine was oaked or not, but it was a South African wine so I'm happy with that.  I omitted the croutons.  I also used Lemony Vegetable Broth in place of the fish stock.

Pepper-Crusted Fish in a Watercress and Spring Onion Sauce (serves 4; approx. $10.57/serving)

2 tablespoons freshly crushed cubeb

2 tablespoons white pepper

2 tablespoons freshly crushed Szechuan peppercorns

Kosher salt to taste

4 haddock fillets

2 cups white wine

2 cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 small bunch watercress sprigs - about 1/4 cup

4 spring onions, chopped

1 pound cherry tomatoes

Equipment:

• Broiler pan (this would be well cooked on the Big Green Egg or on another grill, but trying to coordinate that was just too much this particular night)
• Food processor
• Saucepan

1. Combine the peppers and cubeb with some salt.  Dredge the fish in the peppercorns and set aside.
2. Preheat your broiler.
3. Combine the lemony broth and the wine in the saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce to about 1 cup
4. Add the cream.  Cook until reduced to about 2/3 cup.
5. Transfer to a food processor.  Add the ginger, cress and spring onions.  Puree until smooth.
6. Broil the fish fillets until done.  The book said 8 - 10 minutes but that will depend on the type of fish you're using; it seemed excessive to me.  Broil the tomatoes in an oven-safe container next to the fish.
7. Plate the fish.  Sauce the fish and top with the tomatoes.  Serve. 

Recipe: Chicken and Mixed Nut Stew

Recipe Source: Samuelsson, Marcus.  The Soul of a New Cuisine.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2006 p. 114

I'm about to really, really date myself here.  At least, I'll be dating myself as far as anyone from the Boston area is concerned.  I had to make some changes to this recipe, and the biggest change I had to make was substituting cashews for peanuts.  Unfortunately, some of my supply of cashews got contaminated, and I had to replace that container with almonds.  I'd initially intended to call this a chicken and cashew stew, but now the nuts were mixed.  This made it a mixed nut stew.... and as soon as I realized that, I couldn't get Mixed Nuts out of my head.  Mixed Nuts was a handful of guys, probably homeless but one shouldn't make assumptions, who used to hang around in Kenmore Square and play air guitar for spare change.  I don't spend much time in Kenmore Square anymore and haven't in a long time, but when I have been in that area I haven't seen them. 

The picture isn't pretty.  I guess it kind of looks like something you might find in Kenmore Square late on a Saturday night toward the end of baseball season, just as the frat party season is getting underway.  At least, that's what you would have found in that area back in the day.  It's been a while.  Anyway, don't let appearances fool you.  This stew was absolutely delicious. 

Chicken and Mixed Nut Stew (serves 4; approx. $5.71/serving)

2 onions, sliced

2 carrots, chopped

2 habanero chiles, halved

1 1/2 ounces grated ginger

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon black pepper

4 cups water

2 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into pieces

1 cup unsalted cashews

1 cup unsalted almonds

3 tablespoons Olive oil

2 baking potatoes, cubed

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 pound spinach, chopped (I used frozen)

Equipment:

• Large wok or saucepan
• Small frying pan
• Food processor
• Large saute pan
• Immersion blender

1. Combine the onions, carrots, chiles, ginger, bay leaves, peppercorns and water in the saucepan.  Bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium, add the chicken and simmer 25 minutes uncovered.  The chicken should be cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, toast the cashews in the frying pan over medium heat.  Do this carefully lest they burn.
4. Grind the cashews into a thick, coarse paste in the food processor. 
5. Toast the almonds in the frying pan.  Set aside.
6. Remove the chicken from the vegetables and cooking liquid.  Set aside, preferably out of reach of the dog.
7. Use the immersion blender to puree the vegetables in the pot.  I left a few chunks because I prefer that kind of texture, but it's up to you.  Discard the bay leaves before you do this. 
8. Heat the oil in the large saute pan. 
9. Add the potatoes and saute until golden brown.
10. Add the chicken pieces and brown on all sides.  Remove pan from heat.
11. Return the pot with the vegetables to a boil.  Add the cashew puree and almonds.  Stir well to combine.
12. Add the tomatoes, chicken, spinach and potatoes.  Simmer until warmed through.
13. Season to taste and serve. 

Recipe: Eggplant and Cauliflower in Sakay

Every half of every married couple has some habits or traits that irritate the heck out of the other half.  In my case, one of the traits that irritates my husband (there are several) is the fact that I am the world's single worst housekeeper.  I hate cleaning.  I hate it so much that I don't do it until the last possible minute, at which point it's a "containment" operation.  My husband's countering trait is to lay all food out on the kitchen counter until it rots.  I understand why he does it, I really do.  He does not see anything that he did not put away himself, and he expects that everyone else operates the same way.  He honestly believes that if he puts, say, tomatoes in a bowl, I will not know that they are there.  Unfortunately, since I don't clean until the last possible second, I generally work around the assorted vegetable products until they cover the ENTIRE counter, at which point they have become a rotten mess.  We've talked about this, to no avail. 

At any rate, when he did the emergency harvesting of all of our garden produce, he carefully laid all of the assorted produce out on the counter.  Some of it was supposed to ripen (some did; most of the riper tomatoes were badly damaged by the frost and rotted immediately.)  Some of it was to sit there until I got sick of looking at it and put it away.  The eggplant was in the latter category.  I used some of it for the Eggplant in Black Bean Sauce, and the rest I used in this dish.  The other ingredients - Sakay and cauliflower - were also left over from earlier recipes.

Eggplant and Cauliflower in Sakay (serves 4; approx. $1.10)

2 long, thin, white eggplant, diced

1 red onion, diced

1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pinch kosher salt

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup Sakay

Equipment:

• Large frying pan or wok with a lid

1. Heat the oil in the frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and the salt.  Saute until the onion is soft and gives up some of its juices.
3. Add the eggplant.  Saute 3 - 4 minutes. 
4. Add the cauliflower and the Sakay.  Stir well and cook another 2 minutes.
5. Add the water.  Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, about 3 - 7 minutes depending on your taste.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Mixed Sauteed Vegetables from Madagascar

Recipe Source: Samuelsson, Marcus.  The Soul of a New Cuisine.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2006 p. 193

This is the recipe for which I originally made the spice paste I posted recently, sakay.  While the presence of sakay is certainly noticeable in this dish, the dish itself isn't overwhelmingly hot.  It just adds enough heat that you feel really good at the end of the dish. 

You may notice some vegetables that are not usually part of my repertoire in the ingredients list.  Yes, I included the carrot, and I even cooked the beets.  I don't personally feel that the carrots added anything good to the dish, but their sweetness didn't distract from the other flavors and it didn't have a negative effect on the final product.  (Translation: I picked them out like a picky toddler.)  Since the beets aren't cooked for too long, the house didn't get that nasty cooking-beets smell that I abhor. 

Sauteed Mixed Vegetables from Madagascar (serves 8; approx. $1.44/serving)

3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into thin sticks about 2" long

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2" sticks

1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets

2 beets, peeled and cut into 2" long sticks (this will get messy.)

1 stick butter

1 onion, chopped

8 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon powdered saffron

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 pound fava beans (I used frozen, because that's what I could get)

6 scallions, trimmed and chopped

1 tablespoon sakay

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Juice of 2 lemons

Equipment:

• 2 saucepans
• Colander
• Large wok or saute pan

1. Fill both saucepans with salted water and bring to a boil.
2. Put the potatoes, carrots and cauliflower in one pot.  Put the beets in the second.
3. Boil 3 minutes for each pot.  Drain and set aside.  (It is important to blanch the beets separately, because otherwise the color would bleed all over the potatoes and cauliflower and they would lose their individual flavors.)  My advice would be to drain the beets first. 
4. Melt the butter in the saute pan. 
5. Add the onion and garlic.  Saute until the onion is translucent, 5 minutes or so. 
6. Add the ginger, saffron and coriander.  Saute, stirring often, until fragrant.
7. Add the vegetables.  Cook 15 minutes, or until tender. 
8. Add the fava beans, scallions and sakay.  Stir well to combine and cook until the fava beans are thoroughly heated. 
9. Remove from heat.  Stir in the parsley and lemon juice and serve. 

Recipe: Sakay

Recipe Source: Samuelsson, Marcus.  The Soul of a New Cuisine.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2006 p. 61

My usual rule of thumb is to avoid using two recipes from the same source close together.  I break that rule when there is an important ingredient, such as a spice paste, in one dish that can be used in other dishes.  This spice paste from Madagascar is an important ingredient in the dish I'll probably be posting tomorrow, a mixed vegetable dish, but is delicious and wonderful in its own right. 

I made a couple of changes to the recipe, but they're minor changes.  I used minced jarred garlic (to finish off the jar), but I was concerned about a possible lack of garlic flavor in the finished product.  I added a little bit of garlic powder to compensate.  Also, I substituted olive oil for the original peanut oil, because I'm allergic to peanuts. 

The recipe makes about 12 ounces of paste and will keep for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. 

Sakay (makes 12 ounces; approx. $0.26/oz)

3/4 cup chili powder (I used Chili Powder Extra Hot, because that's what I have)

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup olive oil

Equipment:

• Mini-prep mini food processor
• Saute pan

1. Heat a medium saute pan over medium heat. 
2. Add the spices and garlic.  Toast until fragrant.  Trust me when I tell you that you will know when that is, but the book says about one minute.
3. Remove from heat. 
4. Transfer the toasted spices to the mini-prep. 
5. Add the salt and blend well on low speed.
6. Add the olive oil.  Blend until a paste forms. 

Recipe: Ground Lamb Stew

Recipe Source: Mesfin, D. J.  Exotic Ethiopian Cooking.  Ethiopian Cookbook Enterprises, Falls Church, 2004 p. 108. 

I feel kind of funny calling this an Ethiopian dish, despite the source.  My biggest complaint about this book is all the ingredients that I simply cannot find here.  Sometimes, as in the "bishop's weed" mentioned in the original version of this recipe, I simply omit it.  (Someone is going to let me know that "bishop's weed" is just another term for cilantro, aren't they?  Fine, fine.  I can take it.)  And sometimes, in the case of the awaze called for in the original, I have to make substitutions.  Awaze is just red pepper paste.  The book has a recipe for awaze that calls for 15 pounds of New Mexico chilies.  Really.  If I could find New Mexico chilies in such quantity for a non-exorbitant price, I would cheerfully make it.  Since I can't, I substituted a Korean red pepper paste that I happened to have on hand.  It didn't have all the herbs and spices included in the original, and I probably should have found some way of approximating them, but I didn't. 

I halved the original recipe, since there are only two of us.  I also changed out ground beef for ground lamb.  The price was the same that day at Whole Foods, at least to get it in the quantity I needed, and I really prefer the flavor of lamb.  I reduced the amount of butter still more, and I omitted the spicing of the butter.  While I'd like to try the spiced butter sometime, we don't tend to use butter in most of our cooking so it would probably go to waste.  I used fresh ginger in place of the powdered ginger and I increased the amounts of both ginger and cardamom.  I also made a few procedural changes to avoid setting off the smoke alarm. 

So ultimately, my ground lamb stew bears almost no resemblance to the original zigni wet that I started with.  It's still probably the fastest stew you'll ever make, and while I couldn't call it "hot" despite the label on the jar of pepper paste it was still full of flavor.  Serve this up with some bread to dip in the juices. 

Ground Lamb Stew (serves 2; approx. $2.66/serving)

1/2 pound ground lamb

1 red onion, chopped

1/4 cup Korean hot red pepper paste

1 cup water

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon cardamom

2 tablespoons minced ginger

Kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

• Large saute pan or wok

1. Melt the butter in the wok.
2. Add the onions and saute until browned and softened.
3. Add the red pepper paste, water and a little bit of salt. 
4. Sprinkle the ground lamb into the pan, stirring. 
5. Add the cardamom and ginger.
6. Cook until the meat is done.
7. Serve. 

Recipe: Doro Wett (Ethiopian chicken stew)

Recipe Source: Samuelsson, Marcus.  The Soul of a New Cuisine.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2006 p. 245

I can still remember my first taste of Ethiopian food.  It was at Addis Red Sea in Boston's South End, and what a delight it was.  I don't remember the names of all the dishes I had and I probably couldn't pronounce some of them anyway.  I remember kitfo.  I remember some greens that were amazingly tasty.  I even remember a cabbage dish I liked.  I remember the injera bread, a wonderful, spongy flatbread that can double as eating utensils.  Eating utensils that taste good! 

Anyway, a few weeks ago, my local Whole Foods actually had some teff flour.  I haven't seen it there before and I haven't noticed it since, but teff is the grain used to make the injera bread.  I picked it up and was very excited to make it.  I selected this traditional recipe to go with it.  Unfortunately, the injera bread just didn't work out, probably for procedural reasons (ie, I screwed up.)  But the stew itself came out just fine. 

I made a few changes.  I increased the garlic, naturally, and the ginger.  I didn't have spiced butter and we don't use enough butter to make it worthwhile to make up a batch, but the option to use plain old unsalted butter was given so I took it.  I used duck stock made from the carcass of a duck we haven't posted yet in place of chicken stock, because it was available and free.  I added a tablespoon of Aleppo pepper, to give a little extra heat and to make up for not using spiced butter.  If you can't find Aleppo pepper, use cayenne.  Finally, I omitted the hard-boiled eggs at the end.  I know they're traditional but I'm not sure what they add to the recipe and my husband doesn't care for hard boiled eggs.  The result was a remarkably mild, flavorful stew with just enough heat to be comforting.  The liquid is not supposed to bind together like a European sauce - it is supposed to be soupy! 

Doro Wett (serves 6; approx. $2.29/serving)

2 red onions, diced

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 whole cloves

4 tablespoons minced jarred garlic

2 tablespoons minced ginger

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 1/2 cups duck stock, divided

One chicken, about 4 pounds, cut up into 10 pieces, wings discarded or reserved for another  use

1/4 cup dry red wine

3 tablespoons lime juice (juice of one lime)

Equipment:

• Dutch oven

1. Combine the onions, a pinch of salt and half the butter in the Dutch oven over low heat. 
2. Cook until the onions are golden, about 15 minutes.
3. Add the remaining butter, cardamom, pepper, cloves garlic ginger, chili powder and Aleppo pepper.  Cook until the onions are soft and begin to take on the color of the spices, about 10 minutes.
4. Add 2 cups duck stock and the chicken legs and thighs.  Bring to a simmer and simmer 15 minutes.
5. Add the remaining stock and the wine.  Return to a simmer and simmer 10 - 20 minutes.
6. Add the chicken breasts.  Simmer another 20 minutes.
7. Add the lime juice.  Simmer another 5 minutes.
8. Serve.

Recipe: Clam and Butternut Squash Stew

Recipe Source: Samuelsson, Marcus.  Discovery of a Continent.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2007 p. 108.

I recently decided that I was craving shellfish.  This is not in and of itself unusual for me; I'm very fond of shellfish and only recently got over my fear of cooking them.  I wanted to make something a little unusual, and I figured that I would find something that fit the bill in the sampler of various African cuisines that Marcus Samuelsson gave us.  I was not disappointed.  This stew, the proper name for which I'm told is "Malata," captured my imagination and my taste buds.  For two weeks, though, it got pushed back.  Finally, though, I managed to serve this for a Sunday dinner, and I was not disappointed. 

I made a few changes out of necessity.  First, I replaced the peanut oil and the peanuts with olive oil and cashews.  I'm allergic to peanuts, so the change was necessary.  I chose olive oil because that's what I keep on hand, and I chose cashews because I find that they offer a similar texture to peanuts.  They also happen to taste really, really good.  I didn't have birds-eye chilies.  What I did have were long, thin green chilies that my husband harvested just before the first frost.  I had them on hand and they needed to be used, so in they went.  I used jarred ginger for the ginger, because it keeps longer than ginger root and is easier to use.  Samuelsson actually called for a specific number of littleneck clams, but I used two pounds of a different breed of clams from Maine.  It was more convenient to buy clams packaged that way, and it supports a local economy to boot.  I thought I had bottled clam juice on hand, but it seemed to have disappeared and so I used store-bought seafood stock instead.  I used a lot more thyme than called for, due to an inopportune sneeze, but the taste was actually very welcome in this dish.  Finally, I did not measure out the cups of spinach.  I just used a whole bag.  I was very happy with this dish, however little resemblance it might have had to the original.  (Apparently pumpkin and pumpkin leaves are more authentic, but pumpkin leaves are rather difficult to come by so Samuelsson used spinach instead.) 

Clam and Butternut Squash Stew (serves 4; approx. $5.56/serving)

1/3 cup olive oil

8 ounces roasted cashews

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks

1 onion, diced

4 tablespoons minced, jarred garlic

4 birds-eye chilies, chopped

3 tablespoons minced jarred ginger

2 lb clams

1/2 cup seafood stock

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons thyme

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 package fresh spinach

2 limes, quartered

Equipment:

• Large saute pan
• Bowl

1. Heat the oil in the saute pan over high heat. 
2. When the oil shimmers, add the cashews, the squash, the onions and the garlic.  Saute for about 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the chilies and ginger.  Cook another 10 minutes or so. 
4. Add the clams, stock, wine, thyme and salt.  Cover and cook until the clams open, another 10 minutes or so. 
5. Transfer the clams to a large bowl.  Discard clams that don't open! 
6. Add the spinach to the pan, cover and cook until the spinach is just wilted.  This shouldn't take very long. 
7. Return the clams to the pan and cook until reheated through.
8. Transfer to the serving vessel and serve with the lime wedges. 

Recipe: Lentil Stew

Recipe Source: Samuelsson, Marcus.  Discovery of a Continent.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2007 p. 82.

When my husband travels on business, I generally wind up cooking for myself.  While I know that many people find it difficult to cook for one, I personally find it kind of liberating.  While my husband is generally an adventurous eater, there are certain foods that he just turns up his nose at.  Some of them are vegetables: any kind of squash, for example, or eggplant.  Another turn-off for him is lentils.  I'm not sure why he has such a mental aversion to these foods, especially when he usually enjoys them when they're on his plate, but as a general rule I try to experiment with those foods when he's not around to object.  I came across this recipe and decided to give it a try. 

I didn't make a whole lot of changes.  I reduced the amount of olive oil, because I just don't need so much.  I used the can of tomatoes rather than fresh, chili powder instead of berbere (both of which are options presented by the author) and about 1/8 bunch cilantro instead of the 1 tablespoon parsley called for by Samuelsson.  I substituted the cilantro because it was clean and because I strongly prefer the flavor of cilantro over parsley; I increased the amount to add visual interest to the dish.  In the end, the dish came out quite well.  In fact, I served the leftovers to my husband the next night, and he enjoyed it too! 

Lentil Stew (serves 4; approx. $1.89/serving)

1 cup lentils, soaked in cold water 2 hours and drained

1/4 cup olive oil

1 red onion, minced

4 tablespoons minced jarred garlic

1 15-oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup peeled fava beans

6 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons chili powder

1/8 bunch cilantro, chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Large saute pan

1. Combine the lentils with 3 cups water in the saucepan.  Bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer 20 minutes or until tender. 
3. Drain and set aside.
4. In the saute pan, heat the olive oil.
5. Add the onion and garlic.  Saute around 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. 
6. Add the remaining ingredients and heat through.
7. Serve and enjoy. 

Technorati Tags: Marcus Samuelsson,African food,Somali food,lentils,vegetarian recipes,vegan recipes,fava beans,easy recipes

Recipe: Fish and Okra Soup

Recipe Source: Doeser, Linda.  Fish & Shellfish: Superb Ways with Seafood.  Anness Publishing, London, 2003 p. 33

 

By now you're all aware of my love for okra.  You've probably also already figured out my obsessive disorder with vegetables and my penchant for one-dish meals, which doesn't do much in the way of letting me stock up on content for this blog but does save on time, mess and presentation.  At first glance, then, this soup would appear to be my ideal recipe.  It also involved bananas.  I like bananas, and I like ingredients to be used in novel ways like fruit in main dishes.  The author of the original states that the recipe comes to us from Ghana, and I like food from new places.  This should have made it even better, right?  A treasure trove of Fearless goodness?  Unfortunately, I neglected to take something into account when planning my meals for the week.  While I love fruit, and I love ingredients used in novel ways, I dislike excessive sweetness in my savory dishes.  Intensely.  I therefore didn't like this dish at all.  I disliked it so much that my husband had to finish my serving and we had to go out afterward to supplement my diet. 

 

I don't think that I screwed anything up too royally, since my husband liked it so much he was more than happy to finish my share for me.  I also didn't make a huge number of changes.  The bananas that I had could have been greener.  They were greener when I bought them.  Unfortunately they just didn't stay that way!  I used olive oil instead of butter, because we both prefer olive oil to butter.  I also halved the amount, since oil goes a little further than butter for the job at hand.  I used canned tomatoes, because fresh were exorbitant and I didn't have any left.  I used frozen chopped okra - part of my reason for choosing this recipe was to help empty my freezer, and I find that it minimizes the risk of over-thickening the recipe.  I used smoked trout instead of haddock or cod, because I couldn't find smoked haddock or cod in the grocery and trout makes me think of my dad.  Besides, the smoked trout came from Maine, which is a lot more local than imported smoked mackerel or something like that.  Since the original recipe didn't specify which kind of chili to use, I used a habanero since allergies have been miserable around here and hot peppers really help me.  If you prefer, use a milder chili pepper such as serrano or jalapeno.  I guess you could omit the pepper altogether too, although I can't see why you would.  Finally, I used cilantro instead of parsley to top it off, because I prefer the flavor of cilantro and it was cheaper than parsley.  Okay, maybe I did make a lot of changes, but they were all relatively minor.  Again, my husband really liked this dish, so I guess that this is how it was supposed to taste.  If you like sweet dishes, you can have my share of this one.  Enjoy! 

 

Fish and Okra Soup (serves 4 as soup course, 2 as main course; approx. $6.80/serving as main course.)

2 green bananas

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

4 oz frozen chopped okra

8 oz smoked trout, cut into bite-sized pieces

3 3/4 cups fish broth

1 fresh habanero, chopped

1/4 bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Equipment:

• Medium saucepan
• Large pot

1. Slit the skins of the bananas, but do not peel.  Place them into the medium saucepan.
2. Add enough water to the saucepan to cover the bananas.  Bring them to a boil and cook until the bananas are tender.  This time will vary depending on how green your bananas really are!  When they are tender, remove them from the saucepan and allow to cool. 
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in the larger pot and saute the onion until soft. 
4. Add the tomatoes and okra and gently cook for another 10 minutes or so.
5. Add the fish, broth and habanero to the pan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for around 20 minutes.  You'll know it's ready when the fish is tender and flaky. 
6. Peel the bananas and cut them into slices.  Add them into the soup and allow them to come up to the same temperature as the rest of the soup.  This will not take very long. 
7. Ladle the soup into bowls.  Sprinkle with the cilantro and serve.

Technorati Tags: Recipes,soup,smoked fish,okra,tomatoes,bananas,food from Ghana