This African Tilapia Stew recipe comes straight from my wife, her own version of a nationally popular stew. My wife is a native Ghanaian, who is from the Volta Region, where this stew is popular. It is one of my absolute favorite dishes to come out of Ghana. I hope you and your family and friends will enjoy African Tilapia Stew as much as I do!
African Tilapia Stew Recipe-
Ingredients:
For the Spicy Blended Mixture:
- 6 fresh Scotch Bonnet chili peppers (you can also use dried peppers, rehydrated)
- 1 medium sized red onion, peeled and rough chopped
- 6-8 large cloves garlic, peeled and rough chopped
- 1″ length of fresh ginger root, peeled and rough chopped
- 10 Roma Plum tomatoes, cored and quartered
For the Main Stew:
- 3 large fresh tilapia fish, scaled, gutted, cleaned, and chopped into thirds (you can also use tilapia fillets, but follow alternate direction for how long to cook them in the stew, below)
- 2 oz. dried ground shrimp
- 2 Maggi cubes, crushed
- 8 garden eggs (you can substitute baby aubergines, but for authenticity garden eggs are essential)
- 8-10 whole Scotch Bonnet chili peppers, fresh or dried and rehydrated
- 3 oz. sun-dried tomato paste or garlic tomato paste
- water
- Salt, to taste
- 1 small onion, or ½ large onion, peeled and rough sliced
- Vegetable oil – 3-4 tbsp.
Directions:
- Place all of the spicy blend ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blend until you have a smooth puree.
- Heat the oil over medium high flame in a large cooking pot, and sauté the onions until translucent and fragrant.
- Add and stir in the tomato paste.
- Add the spicy blended mixture, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add and stir in the water, enough to make either a soupy mixture, or less for a thicker stew.
- Add and stir in the powdered shrimp.
- Add and stir in the garden eggs and whole peppers.
- Add and stir in the Maggi cubes and salt, and boil for 5 minutes.
- Add in the tilapia and boil for 15 minutes; If you are using fillets, cook for just 10 more minutes.
- Do a taste test and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- As with all Ghanaian soups and stews, serve your African Tilapia Stew with either banku, fufu, or kenkye. The stew will keep for several days in the refrigerator, and indefinitely in the freezer in tightly sealed containers.
NOTE: This recipe is taken from our Ghanaian Cuisine page. For more delicious dishes like African Tilapia Stew that come from Ghana, click here.
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Wow – now this looks like a very rich and hearty stew!
Willie, you got that right!
I’ve been thinking of trying some real African dishes. This one sounds yummy, so I’ll give it a try. Thanks.
Kim, you are welcome, and yes this dish is a good example of authentic African cuisine – enjoy!
I’ve been dabbling with African cuisine lately, and I like the looks of this stew recipe, definitely gonna try it out.
Go for it, Mark, you will really like this stew if you have a flair for African cuisine.
As a native Ghanaian, I’m pretty sure can attest to the authenticity of this recipe, the ingredients are all familiar to me. Glad I found your site, I miss my homeland foods, and had never learned how to cook them before I immigrated here to the States. I still won’t cook them, though, I’ll have my American wife learn how to! LOL
Glad you found us, Kafui, and I hope your American wife can cook you up some fine Ghanaian dishes!
It certainly looks and sounds very rich, Definitely worth a try!
Bob, definitely! This stew is so rich and satisfying!
Oh for sure I will, Old Silly! 🙂
We have an ethnic foods store in our city, and I have seen those Maggi cubes and ground dried shrimp in there. I always wondered what they would go good in. Now I know! LOL, thanks for this, I’ll try the recipe out on my family for sure.
Barb, you are lucky to have what sounds like a very good ethnic food store near you! You’re welcome for the recipe, and please come back and let us know how your family liked the dish, okay?
I had the opportunity to travel to Ghana many years back. And I loved the food! I remember a stew that this recipe calls to mind. Thanks so much for posting this – I will definitely be trying it out.
You were in Ghana, Howard? Awesome sauce! I hope preparing this African Tilapia Stew will properly satisfy your memories. 🙂
All these great dishes from Ghana – you must just love your wife’s cooking, lol
You got THAT right, Margo! 🙂