Ghana : Kontomire

What you need

For a serving of 4-6

  • 4 large tomatoes (diced)
  • 1 large onion (chopped)
  • 2 cloves of pressed garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of freshly-grated ginger
  • 2 chillies (optional)
  • 2 seasoning cubes (±a spoon of dried shrimp powder)
  • 4 tablespoons of vegetable/palm oil
  • 500g of smoked fish (alt: beef, mutton, pork included with the fish)
  • 400g spinach or cocoyam leaves
  • 500ml of water
  • 300g egusi powder (if available)

PREPARATION

Heat oil in a pot and add chopped onions. When they start to brown, add your chilli, ginger, tomatoes and garlic. Add the shrimp powder here with the water and reduce heat. (At this point, if you have egusi, add it to the mix. Prior to adding the egusi, you should have mixed the powder with ±250ml of water and a teaspoon of salt, and mixed until thick and creamy). These should cook for about 10 minutes.

Then, add the smoked fish and stir. After about 5 minutes, put in the spinach/cocoyam leaves and mix gently but well. Cook at a low heat for 10 more minutes (or until the greens are done).

Credits

    Narration

    Hilda Ayisioffei

    Caterer and generous with her time.

    Recipe and Preparation

    Cooking and preparation by Serlom Afenyi and Gladys Ayipe.

     

    Recipe courtesy of Cynthia Prah.

    Cynthia Prah is a mother and homemaker living in Accra, Ghana. She is an excellent cook with a crowd of people who would enthusiastically testify to this. Luckily for me, she is also one of my dear aunts.

    Camera and Editing

    Tuleka Prah

    Titling

    Judith Holzer

    Sound Mixing

    René Corbett

    Music

    Title: Windowpane

    Artist: Frozen Silence

Video Transcript

“I’m Ayisioffe Debia Hilda from Ghana. I’m a caterer.

Kontomire is a leafy vegetable which is obtained from cocoyam. It’s mainly used for soups and stew.

It’s very nutritious when it’s green; when it’s not yellowish; when it’s green.

The best place where you can get good kontomire from is in the Eastern Region because their soil is very good for growing the cocoyam.”