Ghanaian Vegan Red Red Stew

This is a quintessential recipe every plant based person looking to explore West African recipe should try. Red Red is a very popular Ghanaian dish that is naturally plant based, consisting of black eye peas cooked in a thick and flavourful tomato sauce. This red red recipe is very simple , plant based friendly and a perfect introduction to Ghanaian cooking.

I already have a recipe for Red Red (Ghanaian Beans Stew) in my free E-book, which is also available on my blog. But this recipe is equally as tasty for those days you have more time to dedicate to cooking. Making this Red Red had my house smelling like a typical Ghanaian market and had my housemate coming by and asking me what this divine smell was.

Plantain and Beans

What is Red Red?

As previously mentioned, red red is a very popular dish in Ghana. It is served during lunchtime but we ate some variation of red red at home for breakfast. Red Red gets its name from the stew and the plantains. The beans are cooked in a tomato sauce fried with red palm oil giving it an even reader appearance. If you want to learn more about red palm oil in West African cooking, please check out this link. When paired with perfectly golden fried plantains, all you see are different shades of red.

I think that Red Red is a perfect example of how foods from West African culinary cuisines can be suitable for vegans. many countries in West Africa do have a bean and plantain dish, which usually has little to no meat. It is packed with plant-based protein using ingredients indigenous to the region. Now, black eye peas and plantains are available in many grocery stores which make this recipe incredibly accessible for any one who wants a sneak peak into Ghanaian cooking or West African food at large.

What you will need

  • Aromatics: Onion, Bell pepper, garlic and ginger. You have probably seen me describe this in many of the tomato based recipes I have shared so this might sound like a broken record. These are the foundation of every Ghanaian sauce. They add flavour and richness to the food.
  • Beans: Black eye peas are important for this dish, they make it what it is!
  • Tomato Sauce: I mean it is a tomato based sauce
  • Spices: Cloves, curry powder, cumin powder and bay leaves impart a very fragrant and strong aroma to this dish, that will make you come begging for more. Ghanaian food is very spicy both through pepper and through the spices we incorporate in our dishes.
  • Veggie Cube: I use this instead of Maggi cube because it is made of natural herbs and spices with far less salt
  • Oil: This recipe is made without Red Palm oil which is a very important ingredient but people have asked for non-red palm oil recipe. Please swap out the vegetable for red palm oil if you have access to it. Here is a blog post about Red Palm Oil in West African Cooking (click here)

How to Make Red Red

  • Soak Beans: For any bean dish, I recommend soaking them. It helps to break down the phytonutrients and the indigestible sugars. This is especially important if you are transitioning into a vegan diet
  • Cook the Beans: We want to cook the beans before the stew to quicken the cooking process
  • Sauté the Onions: To add a slight sweetness to the dish we will sauté the onion in a little bit of oil
  • Prepare the Stew: Once the onions are soft, we fry down the tomato paste and then cook down the tomato stew by blending the aromatics and adding it to the sautéed onions as well as the tomato sauce
  • Spice it Up: Once the sauce has gotten dry and reduced, we will add the spices to give it flavour
  • Add the Beans: Mix in the beans and let it cook for a few minutes.
  • Finish Up the Sauce: I add greens to the sauce to get in more vegetables but this is completely optional
  • Serve: Serve this sauce with fried plantains. There is no red red without plantains. The rice is just extra

Check out this youtube video for the visual directions

Ghanaian Vegan Red Red Stew

Sauce Ghanaian
By Afia Serves: 8
Prep Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 medium red onion
  • 2 cups dry beans
  • 1/2 red bell pepper
  • 3 tomatoes
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 thumb sizes ginger
  • 1 scotch bonnet pepper(or habanero)***
  • 1 tbsp curry powder
  • 1 tbsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp clove
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp veggie bouillon powder
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup red palm oil or vegetable oil***
  • 1 2/3 cups tomato sauce (I used the 398 ml Costco organic low sodium tomato sauce)
  • 2 cups of spinach chopped (optional)***

Instructions

1

Soak the black eye peas overnight.

2

the next day rinse the beans and cook in water for 45-50 minutes at medium to high heat. No need to measure the amount of water, just use enough water to fully cover the beans

3

While the beans are cooking prep the other ingredients.

4

Chop half a medium red onion finely and set aside. Save the other half of the onion for the tomato blend

5

In a blender add the half onion, 3 tomatoes roughly chopped, one scotch bonnet pepper (deseeded if you do not like spicy food), 1/2 red bell pepper and a large thumb of ginger. Blend the mixture with about 1/4-1/3 cup of water, just enough water to make it blend

6

In a large pot heat 1/4 cup of red palm oil (or any vegetable oil of choice) at medium heat. When the oil starts to run like water in the pot, add the finely chopped onions and cook in the oil till soft

7

When the onions are soft, add the tomato paste and mix it well with the onions. Add 1/4 cup of water if the pot turns dry

8

After the tomato paste has been well mixed with the onions, mix in the blended tomato purée, the spices and the canned tomato sauce (I used the 398 ml Costco organic low sodium tomato sauce)

9

Fully cover the pot and let the sauce cook for 30 minutes at medium heat or till the sauce starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. You want to evaporate out as much water as possible and be left with a dry sauce. The sauce will bumble a lot so make sure to keep it well covered

10

Mix in the cooked beans and let it cook in the sauce for 10 minutes.

11

If you want to add, turn off the stove and add the chopped spinach. Mix in the spinach well and let the residual heat wilt the spinach

12

Serve with some fried plantains and /or rice

Notes

*** if you do not chose to use red palm you can swap the olive oil to red palm oil *** the greens are optional *** if you do not like spicy food, you can adjust the amount accordingly

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26 Comments

  • Reply
    healthienut
    March 15, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    This looks delicious! I’ll have to try this out soon, or another one of your delicious looking recipes.

  • Reply
    Black Eye Peas Meatballs – The Canadian African
    September 4, 2018 at 10:00 am

    […] And knowing me, I need to add a Ghanaian touch to my recipes so I made them with black eye peas. Together with some tomato sauce and white rice or with some plantains, it a recreation of red red in a different form. If you are curious to see what the traditional red red is click here. […]

  • Reply
    The Lazy Meal Prep Guide – The Canadian African
    January 14, 2019 at 3:02 pm

    […] I cook an actual curry or a stew. I alternate between the Red lentil curry or Egusi stew or Ghanaian Black Eye Peas Stew or a random sauce or curry. I also just make a quick tomato sauce in general to add some more […]

  • Reply
    Lucia
    November 17, 2020 at 4:11 pm

    Hi! I’ve been following you on instagram for a while. I love seeing all the food you prepare (it looks delicious!) and I have learned a lot from your posts. I have also realised how utterly unfamiliar I am with Ghanaian cuisine but seeing some of your mouth-watering food-related posts makes me want to taste it. I thought this recipe might be a good place to start. However, tomatoes are not exactly in season where I live and therefore the ones in the supermarket are quite sour with not a lot of taste to them. I was wondering whether I could use more tomato sauce instead of the fresh tomatoes? I realise fresh tomatoes are problably the best option and that’s why you put them in the recipe, but I am too impatient to wait until they are back in season.

  • Reply
    thecanadianafrican
    November 18, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    Yes you should bee able to make it with just canned tomato sauce

  • Reply
    Maria Robles
    December 16, 2020 at 2:13 am

    Just made this today and loved it! Was so delicious and very easy to make and very filling.

  • Reply
    Anne M Brobby
    December 31, 2020 at 9:24 pm

    I can’t wait to make this, I made your Kontomorie and it was divine. I am curious as to why you don’t use Palm oil in this recipe? Is it a trust issue or do you think that olive oil adds a different flavor? Thanks.

    • Reply
      thecanadianafrican
      January 1, 2021 at 12:00 am

      I just wanted to give people some options. There are many people who want to make the recipe without palm oil but you can more than use palm oil

      • Reply
        Sophie Roy
        August 19, 2022 at 8:01 pm

        I LOVED this recipe. Comforting, easy, warm and just a bit spicy. I had it with baked plantain. You can go to her plantain informative post, and follow along. Delicious!

  • Reply
    Emily
    May 28, 2021 at 11:49 pm

    Such a great recipe — I love the flavour combinations and how easily everything came together. Bonus that it makes a big batch so it’s great for meal prep/freezing for later! Substituted 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes for the scotch bonnet pepper and 1 tsp of ginger powder for the fresh ginger (I may have also doubled the amount of garlic because I have a problem…haha). Thank you another great recipe!

  • Reply
    Carla
    October 22, 2021 at 6:54 am

    I made this tonight and it is so good!!! Thank you so much for the recipe!

  • Reply
    Leanna Mae
    October 29, 2021 at 7:33 am

    So delicious that I was almost sad about how filling it is!

    I saw you on Tik Tok and I can’t wait to try more of your recipes after this one! I’m recently vegan and trying out all these new recipes. Some can get fairly pricy but this is easily doable on a bit of a budget (and again it was shockingly filling).

    What an absolute delight. Thank you for sharing it!! It plan on incorporating this into my diet regularly.

    • Reply
      LL
      December 29, 2021 at 7:01 am

      I just made this tonight, so incredibly delicious! Next time i will definitely make fried plantains to go with, but just with rice was really good too. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!

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    November 3, 2021 at 7:54 am

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    • Reply
      Jeshu
      March 30, 2022 at 8:48 pm

      This recipe is so nostalgic to my childhood. I made some just this week, and the aroma and delicious flavor was so comforting. I added extra spicy peppers too! I can’t thank you enough for your blog, yt channel, and Instagram.

  • Reply
    Alison
    November 23, 2021 at 1:53 am

    This is sooo good! Absolutely delicious and paired with fried plantain it was amazing

  • Reply
    Olivia
    November 24, 2021 at 10:44 pm

    Thank you so much for the recipe! We had the Red Red Stew today and it was delicious! Especially with the palm oil. I can’t wait to try all the other dishes.

  • Reply
    Elissa
    January 4, 2022 at 1:34 am

    So delicious! I will be making this often! I used olive oil and jarred roasted red peppers and served it with steamed sweet potatoes because it’s what I had.

  • Reply
    Ghanaian Red Bean Stew (Atidua) - The Canadian African
    January 5, 2022 at 1:51 am

    […] recipe is basically red red with a different type of bean so the same method and process applies […]

  • Reply
    BLG
    January 13, 2022 at 11:31 pm

    This recipe is 10/10 delicious. It came together easily and made for excellent meal prep.The flavors are incredible and I will be making this again. Serving this dish with the air fried plantains makes for a fantastic lunch. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

  • Reply
    Neha
    March 5, 2022 at 10:44 pm

    I made this recipe and loved it! The sweet plantains combined with the strong tomato flavour of the stew balance out perfectly. This is my first intro into African cuisine, excited to try out more of Afia’s recipes!

  • Reply
    Morgan Anderson
    March 30, 2022 at 9:56 pm

    Absolutely delicious! This was super filling and was a hit with my family. Cannot wait to try more recipes!

  • Reply
    Carly Radoslav
    August 4, 2022 at 5:32 pm

    Made this for vegan friends recently and it went down so well! They were raving about it and asked for the recipe.

    I am so proud of how it turned out! Seriously delicious, so much flavour and so filling. I followed the recipe almost exactly, just swapping out red palm oil for vegetable oil and I cooked it in the slow cooker for 5 hours after frying off the blended spice mix on the stove.

    One of the yummiest things I have eaten in a while and I’ll definitely be making this again!

    Thanks so much!

  • Reply
    Vicky
    August 10, 2022 at 12:23 pm

    This is part of our regular rotation now with plantain and fonio, even our 4 year old loves it although I do omit the scotch bonnet for him! This one was a really great introduction to Ghanaian food for me as the ingredients are very readily available in the UK

  • Reply
    Madison
    March 20, 2023 at 7:06 am

    This was so delicious! It was easy to make and I had it with rice and fried plantains. The rich tomato flavor and the aromatic spices combined with the earthiness of the black eyed peas was an amazing flavor combination. I’m looking forward to trying more of Afia’s recipes!!!! 🙂

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