Red Red, Ghanaian Bean Stew with Fried Plantain

Red red is a Ghanaian bean stew made with black-eyed peas, onions, tomatoes and red palm oil, traditionally served with a side of fried plantains and a sprinkling of gari. For those not familiar with it, gari is a coarse toasted cassava flour. It makes an altogether delightful dish that is perfectly suitable for vegans and vegetarians alike, and is naturally gluten-free. It is one of the simplest ways to experience the flavours of Ghanaian cooking, so if you would like to try something new, have a go at this.

I don’t remember being very fond of red red as a child, but for some reason the older I get, the fonder of it I become. It makes me wonder whether we gravitate towards the things that remind us most of home and our childhood when we are far away. My mother used to make this dish for us, and now whenever I make red red, I think of her. Red red is a truly tasty and comforting dish.

What Ingredients Do You Need to Make Red Red?

You start with palm oil, onions, tomato paste, tomatoes, and beans. You can add garlic, ginger, and chillies as well, then finish the dish with a sprinkling of gari.

Some Variations

Red Red is traditionally a meat-free dish, although there are versions that include salted, smoked, or dried fish, which make flavoursome additions. It can also be cooked with meat like beef or goat, although these additions take it in a different direction from the simple bean stew I know and love.

If you don’t like plantains, try roasted sweet potatoes. Their natural sweetness makes them a lovely alternative to ripe plantains. You can also serve Red Red with rice or chapati.

Black-Eyed Peas or Cowpeas

Black-eyed peas, a variety of cowpeas, are the most common bean to use. White black-eyed peas are very easy to get, hold their shape in the stew, and maintain a satisfying bite. Sometimes I mix them with chickpeas. Canned or dried versions of the beans work beautifully; however, I prefer dried beans for this recipe. In Nigeria, there is a preference for brown cow-peas called oloyin or honey beans. These are very soft and sweet; therefore, if you use them, your stew will have a mashy consistency with delicious sweeter notes. My mother used the red version of cow-peas, and even though I didn’t really know what bean it was at the time, I remember that distinct colour.

It does make me wonder why we call red red, red red.

Why Is It Called Red Red?

There are several theories about where the name comes from. Perhaps it is partly the tomatoes, the red cowpeas and, of course, the deep red palm oil. Or perhaps, according to my mother, we have boarding school students to thank.

Tomato paste became popular when Mama was at boarding school in the early 1960s. This was around the time President Kwame Nkrumah’s administration was investing in local industries, including tomato processing. As tomato paste became more widely used, Mama remembers red red becoming increasingly popular in school kitchens. Her theory is that it was the students themselves who coined the name.

Is that believable? Quite possibly.

I find the story particularly intriguing because, as far as I know, there isn’t a simple English translation of red red that we use as its name in Ghanaian languages. So perhaps the name really did emerge from the everyday language of students and cooks.

I love that there may be several explanations for something as simple as the name of a dish. Food history is often like this: part documented history, part oral history, and part family memory.

What About Gobɛ or Gob3?

Gobɛ or Gob3 is a popular Ghanaian street food made from mixing gari, cooked cowpeas and palm oil. Many enjoy serving it with a side of fried plantains, shito pepper sauce, boiled eggs, and avocado. Considering there are a variety of red red bean stew recipes out there, and some people opt not to use tomatoes, aren’t red red and Gobɛ the same thing? That’s a great question.

As far as I know, gobɛ is a popularised name for yɔ kɛ garri or simply gari and beans. The key difference lies in the preparation. Red red is a stew, while gobɛ is made by boiling beans until soft and mashing. It is generously salted, then palm oil and gari are mixed into the beans. I am now inspired to share more about gobɛ, including an actual recipe, in a separate post.

Red Palm Fruit Oil (Dende)

Palm or dende oil in the context of this recipe is the crude red fruit oil from the oil palm tree, Elaeis guineensis. It has a distinctive, rich, earthy, and slightly nutty flavour. A lot of Ghanaian red palm oil is made by cooperatives of women farmers. I have seen my mother make soup from palm fruits, called palm nut soup. As the soup is cooked, oil settles to the top, and at times, I have seen her collect and save rhe oil. I explain easy ways to buy palm oil in the “Where to get ingredients” section of this post.

The West African Trio: Onions, Tomatoes, Chilies

A great trio of onions, tomatoes and chilies are the start to most Ghanaian stews. Red red is no exception. And the chilies we use are scotch bonnet peppers with a unique flavour and aroma. These days we include ginger and garlic and enrich the stew by adding tomato paste. The stew takes an incredible amount of water, so you will use up about 500ml of vegetable stock and might still need a drop or two of water. You simply can’t make a mess of this dish.

Plantain And Gari (Toasted Cassava Grits)

The last 2 things you will need to complete this dish are plantains and a little bit of gari as a garnish. Fried plantains are the ubiquitous side dish, although I prefer to roast mine. I simply season them and coat them lightly in oil, then place on a parchment paper-lined baking tray. Silicon mats are even better for this. I bake them until golden brown at a high oven temperature.

The addition of gari is quite interesting. This is because it’s made from cassava, a crop originally from South America. And Brazil has a similar cassava-based ingredient called farofa, often used like gari. Some sources claim our West African gari is something learned from South America through returnees from Brazil; this is a plausible claim. However, gari is always presented as a compliment to red red; with a dusting of gari on the side. It adds a textural crunch to the dish. Gari has many other uses in West African cooking, which I am happy to share in due course.

Where To Get Ingredients For Red Red

Ingredients for Red Red, including red palm oil, black-eyed peas, oloyin (honey) beans, gari and plantains, are much easier to find than they used to be.

If you’re in the UK, look for them at Afro-Caribbean and African grocers, as well as some larger supermarkets. In London, markets and shops around Brixton, Peckham, East Croydon and North End Road are good places to start. Plantains are also commonly available at Asian grocery stores.

If you’re further afield, African grocery stores are often your best bet. When I lived in Melbourne, I could find plantains and other African and Caribbean ingredients around Victoria Market and specialist grocers.

If you don’t have an African grocery shop nearby, I’ve put together a few online options below. These are products I would actually use in my own kitchen; some links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no additional cost to you.

Ingredients I Recommend

Mama’s choice: Zomi palm oil
My mother swears by Zomi palm oil for cooking dishes like Red Red.

Black-eyed peas
A good everyday option for making Red Red, particularly if you’re cooking for a crowd.

Oloyin (Honey) Beans
These brown cowpeas are softer and naturally sweeter than white black-eyed peas, making them an interesting alternative.

Gari
Look for toasted cassava flakes rather than fine cassava flour. You only need a small amount to garnish each serving.

Nutritional Information

Red Red is a naturally vegan and gluten-free meal that combines beans, vegetables, plantains and red palm oil.

The beans provide plant protein, fibre, iron and folate, while plantains contribute fibre, carbohydrates and potassium. Red palm oil contains naturally occurring carotenoids and gives the dish its characteristic colour and flavour.

As with any cooking oil, palm oil is concentrated in calories, so I prefer to enjoy it as part of a varied diet, alongside plenty of fresh vegetables.

I love serving Red Red with a simple tomato and fresh herb salad, or alongside dips such as aubergine dip. If you are in Nigeria and can get hold of scent leaf, also known as efirin, try adding some finely chopped leaves to the salad.

Jump to the recipe below or watch our tutorial on YouTube. Red Red, A Ghanaian Bean Stew.

Updated by Freda on 8 August 2026