Saturday 19 November 2016

Ghanaian Supper Club with Patti Sloley


I have recently discovered Ghanaian food and my love for African dishes has been rekindled. I am in love with all the spices and all the amazing flavours that are used in the cooking. I have been trying many Ghanaian recipes and over time I shall endeavour to share them on this blog. I recently created a recipe for Jollof Rice with Plantain Chips which was super delicious and has become a firm favorite amongst my family.


Through my blogging journey I am fortunate to get many opportunities to attend events one such opportunity came recently when I was invited to attend a Ghanaian themed supper club hosted by Patti Sloley at Halseys Deli and Eatery in Hitchin. Patti is a chef, a cookery teacher, an author and a remarkable lady. Her personality is so vibrant that within five minutes of meeting her I felt I had made a friend for life. She is extremely passionate about what she does and it clearly shows in her food which I was excited to sample.

The evening started with drinks and nibbles, Plantain chips are moreish and you could nibble at them all night. I love them and I recently made a batch of my own, you can check the recipe here.



Once seated we were served a delicious warm Yam Chowder made with Coco Yam, Yam, Guinea Pepper and Sweetcorn, the non vegetarians had the addition of bacon to theirs. The Chowder was spicy, beautifully flavoured and rich in texture and flavour. It was the perfect starter as the Autumn weather was rather cold.


For the main course menu, there was Egusi , its a type of Ghanaian stew that can be made with fish, meat and vegetables and its thickened with ground melon seeds. The non vegetarian versions had two types one with fish and one with meat. The vegetarian version was made with peppers, onions, garlic,scotch bonnet chilli, okra all cooked in a tomato base and thickened with ground Egusi (melon seeds). 




Patti demonstrated how to make the vegetarian version of the Egusii in front of us. It was a wonderful experience to watch her create the dish live. You can watch Patti cooking this beautiful dish in the video below.



The Egusi was served with turmeric rice, sauteed spinach, cauliflower florets and Spiced Fried plantain. It was comfortably hot due to the addition of the scotch bonnet chilli. The flavours were delicious and the texture of the stew from the Egusi seeds was thick and creamy.The main course was colourful, beautifully presented and simply divine.



With out tummies full and our palates well seasoned from the spice, we were served a palate cleanser in the form of an aromatic fresh fruit salad served in a lemongrass and ginger syrup. It was refreshing and really did the trick.


Dessert of Plantain pudding came next in the form of a moist slice of Light  Christmas pudding. It was served with vanilla and coffee mascarpone cream. It was hard to believe that the Plantain pudding was egg, sugar and butter free. It tasted absolutely delectable. For someone who does not like fruit cake or Christmas pudding I devoured the whole plate!!!!!



Finally the meal was completed with a warm glass of Hissap, a hibiscus drink infused with warm spices.

I was totally in heaven at this super gastronomical feast and my love for Ghanaian food has now been taken to new heights.

I would like to thank Patti, the Halsey Deli  and also Heidi Roberts who invited me to attend the Supper Club. All the views expressed in this post are of my experience of the meal as are all the photographs shown. To find out more about Pattis Supper Cubs do check her website at Patti's Menu
You can also read about Heidi's account of our experience here.

22 comments:

  1. I absolutely love Plantain and have only ever eaten it fried, so the pudding has intrigued me x

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  2. Interesting post on a cuisine that I know nothing about! Thanks.

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  3. I don't know much about Ghanaian food but the dishes sound lovely - very hot and spicy though with the scotch bonnet chillies! The Egusi sounds delicious too and how wonderful that you got to watch Patti prepare it for you.

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  4. Great post, it was a fun evening but informative too! Glad you could come with me!

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  5. What a fantastic evening -- I love learning new cuisines from people who know the culture. This looks amazing!

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  6. I have never had Ghanaian food before but it looks and sounds amazing! What a fun experience to be a part of!

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  7. What a great culinary adventure!! It all sounds so tasty!

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  8. I would love to try this time of cuisine! I don't know any places where I live... but I'm gonna search online to see if I find something :)

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  9. What a lovely Ghanian feast! It sounds like such fun and that you learned a lot.

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  10. I read the post about the rice you made and was unsure about plantain after reading this I feel more inclined to try and cook with it maybe I'll try the dessert first x

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  11. I love Ghanian food actually all african foods since I grew up eating them. I do love jellof rice but never had the vegetarian version before. What a lovely event

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  12. This sounds like such an incredibly fun evening! I'm so fussy with food, but would love learning to cook more x

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  13. These all look so delicious! I didn't realise Ghanaian food had so many vegan options ❤️❤️❤️

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  14. Ooh I'd absolutely love to go here as I like to try out different types of cuisine xxx

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  15. I have never tried Ghanaian food or any African food. All the Ghanaian dishes look and sound so delicious. Would love to try this cuisine as I love spices in my food. :)

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  16. African food is so tasty. Love Ghanaian food a lot.

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  17. I don't think I've ever really had much African food in general, looks nice though x

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  18. This food looks very nice, especially the plantain chips. I need to visit here one day

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  19. It's not a cuisine I have tried before, but it looks so delicious and well presented.

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  20. Never tried this sort of thing. In fact I don't really step out my comfort zone when eating out... but this looks really tasty!

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  21. I remember discovering plantain chips when my next door neighbours (from Sierra Leone) fed me them and they are sooooo good! x

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  22. I've never tried Ghanaian food but this has me intrigued. The yam chowder looks sooo good.

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