Actually this is my very first time I made this dish but as usual. I did it my way which I will talk about in a minute. I made this strictly on stovetop and this is not my instant pot post today. Besides this dish cooks up fast and lovely and fish does not take long to cook at all. It cooks at least under a half hour at tops.
Roast 3 njansa on high heat in a dry wok or even a dry cast iron skillet. Take a pair of tongs and cut 1 ehru which is African aka calabash nutmeg in half put one half back and the other half take that with a pair of tongs and char the outside over a burner. If you have an electric cooktop then this would work too but you have to wait till it cools off in order for you to wipe it clean before using again. Theese get added to the mortar and pestle along with 1 small piece of perakese and a pinch of alligator pepper unroasted, 1 bullion cube and 1 pinch of whole crayfish.
Grind until it is a coarse powder then set this aside. Take 1 kg of any type of firm fish either fresh or frozen like perch, tilapia, catfish, swai, cod, pollak, salmon, tuna steaks, haddock or even mackerel, even a can of mackerel even in tomato sauce, a large can of sardines in tomato sauce or even brine unbroken can be used in a pinch or perhaps a can of saury.
For the fresh or frozen fish if this is used then add 1 cap of lemon juice after washing the fish. If your fish is frozen then take it down and let it thaw in the fridge overnight which is the safest way to thaw out any type of frozen protien. I remember when I was doing home health care being a homemaker that the inservice training I had to do also involved food sanitation and this carries on in to my home too. Also I have 2 people in my family who are in the restaurant industry.
Sadly a lot of restaurants has taken a big hit because of COVID19. For young girls and boys this is for you, kindy get in the kitchen and learn how to cook. You do not have to spend money for a cookbook. There are lots of blogs that would gladly give you recipes or free. All you do is type in a search engine or even look on youtube on how to make a certain dish and bam you are learning how to cook.
If you are using the canned fish that I described then you can dump the canned fish in a bowl carefully so you do not break the fish add 1 capful of lemon juice to kill the fishy smell. Add 1/4 cup of either canola. peanut, corn or vegetable oil with 3 tbs of red palm oil. If the red palm oil is kind of thick and won’t come out of the bottle then run some hot water in a sink and place a small bowl or pot and set your bottle of palm oil in it while the hot water is running for at least 5 to 10 minutes then you can add this to the pot that it will pour easily now and this is done as soon as you remove the bottle from the hot water bath.
Add 1 onion or shallot cut in to half moon slices or 5 green onions chopped with 4 cloves of garlic minced, cook until raw smell goes away and add the contents from mortar and pestle then cut in half and deseed either 1 habenero or scotch bonnet and pound it until it is pulpy in the mortar and pestle or add 1 pinch of red chili powder or African yellow chili powder and add 1 tomato that has been chopped. This starts on high heat until the onion and garlic starts to become fragrant.
Just make sure you add the chili, or chili powder along with 1 pinch of each of parsley, county onion, basil, white pepper and 4 pinches of mbongo tchobi spice before you add the tomato. Let the tomato turn to mush just like you are making a curry base that is used in Indian and Pakistani cooking. This is now turned to low heat and add the fish. You may want to add another capful of lemon juice if the smell of fish is not to your liking.
Cover and cook for 15 minutes if using either fresh or frozen fish and if you are using the canned fish then you can cook for 5 in order for the fish to catch the essence of the spices. Enjoy with rice, boiled yam, boli which is a roasted whole plantain or it can be baked too or perhaps boiled, some boiled cassava otherwise called yucca, colocasia otherwise called taro or cocoyam or baked or boiled potatoes. It will even go well with fufu too if you wish. and prefered drink is a nice ice cold non alcoholic malt.
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