Ghana – Ashanti Salmon baked with Ginger, garlic & chilli

Welcome to the food of 

Ghana

The  Ghanian recipe I chose to cook is 

Ashanti Salmon baked with Ginger, garlic & chilli 

& it is nothing short of brilliant.

I love this recipe & the book it came from;  I was Never Here & This Never Happened  (1996, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley), by Ghanaian-born Australian television personality & celebrity chef,  Dorinda Hafner.  This book is part cookbook, part autobiography & includes several Ashanti folktales  that are simultaneously funny, spooky & wise. When I first looked at this recipe I was inclined to feel that the fish  would be overpowered by being cook in such a strong mix of ingredients  & I had to resist the temptation to reduce the amount of ginger etc.  Once again I am glad I didn’t follow my impulse based on  my Euro-centric training as a chef  & just followed the recipe. It is easy, delicious, fragrant & a little surprising in its simple loveliness.

ASHANTI SALMON BAKED WITH GINGER, GARLIC & CHILLI

NOTE

I left the skin on the fish as this adds to the flavour during the cooking process & minimises the risk of the fish sticking to the bottom of the foil. When it comes to eating the fish the flesh will easily come away from the roasted skin if you don’t want to eat it.

INGREDIENTS

·      3 tablespoons ginger, finely grated

·      4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

·      2 red chilli, de-seeded & chopped finely

·      salt to taste

·      4 fresh fillets/tails of salmon, snapper or tuna

·      2 tsp butter

·      1tsp garlic salt

·      non-stick cooking spray

METHOD

1. pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F)
2. mix ginger, garlic, chilli & pinch salt into paste.
3. Prepare 4 sheets of strong cooking foil (about 30cm x 20 cm or larger depending on size of fish pieces); lay out on bench & spray with foil
4. Put ½ tsp butter in middle of each piece of foil then place one piece of fish on butter
5. Divide seasoning paste into 4 equal portions & rub misture over fish fillets
6. Sprinkle well with garlic salt
7. Fold up foil  to enclose the fish into a loose parcel that is airtight (don’t wrap too tightly or fish will stick to foil
8. Place foil parcels on oven trays giving room between parcels (I used 2 trays with 2 foils on each) & bake for 25 minutes.
9. I served the parcels straight onto a platter on the table so that each person had the pleasure of choosing & opening their parcel, & being blessed with a fragrant puff of steam as the dish was revealed!

NOTE: The salmon could be replaced with Snapper or Tuna & obviously this dish (which is ‘parcelled’ in aluminium foil), must have originally been wrapped in organic material, probably plantain/banana leaf, as plantain is a key food ingredient in Ghanaian cooking. According to Dorinda’s recipe, this dish should be eaten with hot chilli salsa & semolina dumplings which I didn’t make.