Red Mackerel Stew

Well, I went completely tomato crazy when I suddenly decided that I just had to get my hands on red, orange and yellow tomatoes as described in my previous post.
Now that I finally had them, almost 3 kilo grams of them, I realised I had to put them to good use. I will share what I made with the tomatoes over a series of posts where you can view all the steps in photos. Some recipes are my own and some are inspired by celebrity chefs.

Red fresh mackerel stew, made with palm oil

Today I am going to share  a recipe I posted on Africaontheblog. This is one of the quick dishes I make if I have to cook after a hard day’s work. We all know how a modern working mum and wife with a taste for good old “home food” has to juggle her career, motherhood and family all at once, and time is of the essence. This meal is my adaptation of what my mother would have cooked for us at home, a Ghanaian inspired dish. It is quick and easy and will not stress you out if you cook it in the middle of the working week.
Fresh Mackerel Red Stew
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This is in fact a very simple dish. There is so much more you can do with it; add coriander or add more of your favourite spices, but the natural flavours of the ingredients are simply enough to give you that authentic fusion of West African influence.
Chop 1 onion
Chop 2 red tomatoes
Chop a fresh red chilli
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp fresh ginger
2 de-boned mackerel halved
2 to 3 tbsp palm oil, sit in hot water if it is solid

Onions in smokey palm oil

Fry the onions, garlic and ginger in the palm oil. I like everything with a touch a raw freshness to it still, so don’t worry about browning the onions unless you love them caramelised. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato puree, fry for a minute then add the fresh tomatoes and fry for a further 5 minutes. Add your seasoning, simply sea salt will do the trick. Add the mackerel and allow to brown for 5 minutes on each side. Be careful not to mash the fish.

Add Mackerel to stew

Add the chillies and serve on a bed of rice. Throw on a simple salad on the side. Salads in many parts of Africa will consist of the African style of cucumber (you know what I mean right?) and some sliced onions. The closest I got to this was an ordinary English cucumber and red onions, but it did just the trick to get me thinking of having a meal as though I was back in Accra. Happy eating.
Follow this link for more step by step photos in this series.