Dishes you should know

• Jollof rice: rice cooked in a spiced tomato base. Ghanaians and Nigerians argue endlessly about whose is better.
• Waakye: rice and beans cooked together, coloured by dried millet leaves, sold at breakfast stalls with shito, spaghetti, gari, egg and fish.
• Banku and tilapia: fermented corn and cassava dough with grilled tilapia and fresh pepper sauce. A classic at beach and lakeside spots.
• Kenkey: fermented corn dough steamed in corn husks (Ga kenkey) or plantain leaves (Fante kenkey), eaten with fried fish, pepper and shito.
• Fufu with light soup or groundnut soup: pounded cassava and plantain or yam, the Asante favourite.
• Red red: black-eyed bean stew in palm oil with fried plantain.
• Kelewele: spiced, fried ripe plantain, sold at night by street vendors.
• Tuo zaafi: the northern staple, a soft millet or maize dough with green leaf soup.
• Omo tuo: rice balls, traditionally served on Sundays with groundnut or palm nut soup.
• Khebab: spiced grilled meat skewers from street grills, especially at night.

Ten recipes for a British kitchen

Short home versions; each links to the fuller recipe on ghana-net.com. Quantities serve about four. Adjust the chilli to taste.

1. Red red (bean stew with fried plantain)

You need: 2 tins black-eyed beans (drained), 1 onion, 3 tomatoes or 1 tin chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp tomato purée, 4 tbsp red palm oil, 1 scotch bonnet, a thumb of ginger, salt, 2 ripe plantains, oil for frying, gari to serve.

Method: Fry the chopped onion gently in palm oil until soft. Add grated ginger, the chopped pepper, tomato purée and tomatoes; simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the beans with a splash of water and cook 10 minutes more until thick. Peel and slice the plantains, fry until golden and caramelised. Serve the beans with plantain and a sprinkle of gari on top.

2. Groundnut stew

You need: 1 kg chicken pieces, 1 onion, 1 tin tomatoes, 4 heaped tbsp smooth unsweetened peanut butter, 1 scotch bonnet, ginger, garlic, 1 litre stock, salt.

Method: Brown the seasoned chicken in a large pot. Add chopped onion, garlic, ginger, the pepper and the tomatoes; simmer 10 minutes. Whisk the peanut butter into some hot stock until smooth, then stir it into the pot with the rest of the stock. Simmer gently for 40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the oil rises to the top. Serve with rice balls, fufu or rice.

3. Palm nut soup

You need: 1 tin palm nut cream (from an African grocer), goat or chicken, smoked fish, 1 onion, 2 tomatoes, 1 scotch bonnet, salt, water.

Method: Simmer the seasoned meat with onion in a little water for 15 minutes. Add whole tomatoes and the pepper, cook until soft, remove, blend and return. Stir in the palm nut cream with about a litre of water. Simmer for 45 minutes until the soup thickens and oil collects on the surface; add the smoked fish for the last 15 minutes. Serve with fufu or banku.

4. Fufu

You need: instant fufu flour (plantain or cassava-plantain), water.

Method: Heat water in a pan, add the flour gradually and stir hard with a wooden spoon over a low heat until it forms a smooth, stretchy, elastic dough with no lumps. Wet your hands and shape into balls. Serve in a bowl of light soup, groundnut soup or palm nut soup.

5. Kentumere (fish and spinach)

You need: 500 g spinach or cocoyam leaves, 2 fillets smoked mackerel or salted fish, 1 onion, 2 tomatoes, 3 tbsp palm oil, 1 scotch bonnet, ground egusi seeds (optional), salt.

Method: Soften the onion in palm oil, add tomatoes and pepper and cook down. Add flaked fish and egusi if using, then the chopped greens. Cook gently until the leaves have wilted and the stew is thick. Serve with boiled plantain or yam.

6. Boiled plantain

You need: 3 green or just-ripening plantains, salt.

Method: Cut off the ends, slice each plantain into three and boil in salted water, skin on, for 20 to 25 minutes until tender. Peel and serve with kentumere, garden egg stew or any stew.

7. Hot plantain crisps

You need: 2 green plantains, oil for frying, salt, chilli powder.

Method: Peel the plantains and slice them very thinly, ideally on a mandoline. Fry in batches in hot oil until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper and toss with salt and chilli while still hot. In Ghana, these are sold in small bags on every roadside.

8. Akotonshi (stuffed crabs)

You need: 4 cooked crabs in their shells, 1 onion, 2 tomatoes, 1 scotch bonnet, 1 egg, breadcrumbs, a little oil, salt.

Method: Remove the crab meat, keeping the shells clean. Fry the onion, tomato and pepper, stir in the crab meat and season. Off the heat, mix in the beaten egg. Fill the shells, top with breadcrumbs and bake or grill until golden. A coastal Fante dish.

9. Avocado with smoked fish

You need: 2 ripe avocados, 1 smoked mackerel fillet, half an onion, 1 tomato, lime juice, chilli, salt.

Method: Halve the avocados. Flake the fish and mix with finely chopped onion, tomato, chilli and lime juice. Pile into the avocado halves. A fresh starter for hot days.

10. Avocado with groundnut dressing

You need: 2 ripe avocados, 2 tbsp peanut butter, lime juice, a little water, chilli, salt.

Method: Whisk the peanut butter with lime juice and enough water to make a pourable dressing; season with chilli and salt. Slice the avocados and spoon the dressing over.

Eating safely

Street food is part of Ghana and mostly safe if it is cooked hot in front of you and the stall is busy. Be more careful with salads, cut fruit you did not peel yourself, and anything that has stood in the sun. Wash your hands or use sanitiser before eating with your fingers.