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For anyone travelling to Ghana, there should be one street food at the top of your list. Kelewele (pronounced Kay-lay-way-lay) is a popular Ghanaian dish made with fried plantains seasoned with spices. It is often served with rice and bean stew or alone as a vegetarian dessert or snack. In Ghana, you can find the street vendors ready to hand over this amazing West African treat.
Kelewele is commonly sold as a street food but is very simple to make at home. When cooked at home, it’s often a side dish to a main entrée like barbecued meats, stews, or even can be eaten as dessert. Plantains are cut into chunks, slices, or cubes, covered with spices and fried to a caramelized brown.
Fried plantains like kelewele show up all over the world like in Nigeria (called dodo), South America and the Caribbean, and Asia, but this recipe is ALL GHANA! Spice recommendations change based on who’s cooking it. It seems everyone has their own secret spice mix, but the basics are salt, peppers, and ginger. Anything on top of that is flair!
Let’s talk about health. Kelewele is sometimes referred to in Ghana as the “vegetarian meat” because of it’s popularity among vegetarians. Plantains are an excellent source of potassium and some pretty good proteins. Some criticize kelewele as being too oily, but one can minimize the oil used to fry the plantains.
This is a quick-and-easy recipe, so give it a shot and let us know how it turned out!
Kelewele Recipe (Ghana – Spicy Fried Plantains)
Kelewele (pronounced Kay-lay-way-lay) is a popular Ghanaian dish made with fried plantains seasoned with spices. It is often served with rice and bean stew or alone as a vegetarian dessert or snack.
- 4-6 plantains (ripe but not past ripe, peeled and cut into bite-sized cubes)
- 1-2 tsp Cayenne pepper or ½ teaspoon of red-pepper
- ½ tsp peeled grated fresh gingerroot
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbs water
- Palm oil or vegetable oil to fry
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Grate and mix ginger root, pepper, and salt in water.
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Toss plantain and spice mixture together in a bowl.
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Using a deep skillet, heat oil (it needs to be deep enough to allow plantains to float) to 350 degrees. Fry plantains, turning once, until golden brown on both sides.)
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Drain plantains on paper towels and keep in warmed oven until all the plantains are fried.
*Tip: Don’t fry them all at once; they should not touch each other while frying.
