Kontomire Stew
Taro leaves (cocoyam leaves) cooked in palm oil with smoked fish, onions, and tomatoes — a nutritious Ghanaian staple.
Ingredients
- •Taro leaves (cocoyam leaves)
- •Palm oil
- •Smoked fish or salted fish
- •Onions
- •Tomatoes
- •Scotch bonnet
- •Shrimp or crayfish
- •Salt
- •Stock cube
Instructions
Blanch leaves
Wash taro leaves thoroughly and blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and chop.
Fry base
Fry blended tomatoes and onions in palm oil for 10 minutes. Add scotch bonnet.
Add fish and shrimp
Add flaked smoked fish and shrimp or crayfish. Stir and cook 5 minutes.
Add leaves
Stir in chopped blanched taro leaves. Season and cook for 10 minutes until everything is well combined.
Kontomire Stew is a uniquely Ghanaian dish made from cocoyam (taro) leaves — a green, slightly earthy vegetable that Ghanaians love and that is rarely used outside of West Africa. The leaves are blanched to remove irritating calcium oxalate crystals, then cooked in palm oil with smoked fish, tomatoes, and onions into a rich, savory stew.
Kontomire stew is one of Ghana's most nutritious dishes — taro leaves are exceptionally high in vitamins A, C, and iron, and the addition of smoked fish provides protein and the deep umami that Ghanaian cooking prizes. Palm oil contributes essential fatty acids and beta-carotene. The resulting stew is deeply flavorful, slightly earthy, and warming.
The stew is eaten with boiled yam, plantain, or fufu and is considered humble, everyday home cooking. It is particularly associated with the Akan-speaking peoples of Ghana and is a dish that celebrates indigenous ingredients that have nourished the region for thousands of years.