Ashanti Chicken

Ashanti Chicken is a traditional Ghanaian recipe for a classic dish of fried chicken stewed with yams and tomatoes and flavoured with Ashanti pepper. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ghanaian version of: Ashanti Chicken.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

230 minutes

Total Time:

250 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : Spice RecipesChicken RecipesFowl RecipesGhana Recipes


Ingredients:

One whole chicken (about 1.3kg) de-boned
450g yams (or sweet potatoes) cut into quarters
450g chicken meat, no bones
cooking oil for frying
1 small onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 tsp ground Ashanti pepper (use cubeb pepper if not available, but it will be more bitter)
handful of chopped parsley
a few mint leaves, chopped
salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

Boil the yams (or sweet potatoes) until tender. When tender remove from the cooking water and mash. While the yams are cooking fry the chicken meat (not the whole chicken) in a few tablespoons of oil. When nearly done (about 25 minutes) add the onion and tomato. Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is completely cooked.

Add the chicken mixture to the cooked yam then add the Ashanti pepper, parsley, mint, salt and pepper. Mix well to completely incorporate.

Stuff the de-boned chicken with the yam mixture then sew the chicken closed with a needle and butcher's twine. Rub with butter, salt and pepper. Place in a large casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid, add a saucer or trivet and enough water to come up to he top of the trivet. Place in an oven pre-heated to 180°C (350°F/Gas Mark 4) and steam for two hours (top up the water every half hour or so).

Once done take the chicken out of the water, baste with butter and place on a roasting dish. Cover in foil, place back in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Take the cover off the chicken and bake for a further 30 minutes.

Serve with rice, accompanied by green tea with mint.