New Cookbook of Ghanaian Cuisine From ‘Top Chef' Finalist

Summary

Episode Summary: New Cookbook of Ghanaian Cuisine From ‘Top Chef' Finalist

All Of It with Alison Stewart delves into the rich culinary world of Chef Eric Ajapong in the episode titled "New Cookbook of Ghanaian Cuisine From ‘Top Chef' Finalist," released on March 11, 2025. Hosted by Alison Stewart of WNYC, the episode explores Eric's journey bridging his Ghanaian heritage with his culinary expertise honed in New York City, culminating in his latest cookbook and the opening of his new restaurant, El Amina, in Washington, D.C.

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Chef Eric Ajapong's Journey and Culinary Vision

Alison Stewart introduces Chef Eric Ajapong, highlighting his unique background of growing up between New York and Ghana. This bicultural upbringing has significantly influenced Eric's culinary style, blending traditional Ghanaian flavors with contemporary techniques.

Notable Quote:

"I started the restaurant around eight years old, at least, thinking about it and really romanticizing about the idea of bringing West African food, specifically food from Ghana... Elmina is sort of doing that in a space where people can kind of convene and commune and eat together in restaurants."
— Eric Ajapong (01:30)

The New Cookbook: Honoring Tradition While Embracing Innovation

Eric's cookbook, Ghana: To the Recipes and Stories That Look Forward While Honoring the Past, serves as both a homage to traditional Ghanaian cuisine and a platform for modern culinary experimentation. The book features a dual-annotation system: one set of recipes remains faithful to ancestral methods, while the other introduces innovative takes inspired by Eric's travels and collaborations with other chefs.

Notable Quote:

"It's one of the really cool moments of the cookbook where you can kind of go back and forth back in time, but then also sort of look towards the future of what hopefully... some West African food and Ghanaian food specifically can look like."
— Eric Ajapong (02:30)

El Amina: A Culmination of Culinary Passion

El Amina, Eric's recently opened restaurant in Washington, D.C., embodies the essence of his cookbook. It serves as a communal space where patrons can experience both traditional and modern Ghanaian dishes, fostering a deeper appreciation for the culture through food.

Notable Quote:

"It's very similar to the book, bringing stories from the past, traditional sort of recipes and sort of more modern takes on food... the culmination of all of that in one space."
— Eric Ajapong (01:30)

Research and Inspiration: A Return to Ghana

To authentically capture Ghanaian cuisine, Eric embarked on a research trip to Ghana, immersing himself in the local culture and culinary practices. This experience deepened his understanding of communalism and the pivotal role women play in Ghana's economy and food industry.

Notable Quote:

"Communalism. It's a matriarchal sort of society. Women are the backbone, creating the economy, building the economy."
— Eric Ajapong (04:21)

Exploring Ghanaian Markets: A Vibrant Culinary Ecosystem

One of the highlights of Eric's research was his time spent at McColla Market in Ghana. He describes the market's bustling atmosphere, the dedication of local merchants, and the sheer variety of ingredients available, all of which reinforced his connection to Ghanaian culinary traditions.

Notable Quote:

"It's chaotic, it's a lot. It's busy, but it's home for so many people to earn their living... you can get everything from spices to crab to clothing to, you know, cosmetics. It's all there."
— Eric Ajapong (05:03)

Essential Ingredients for West African Cooking

For listeners interested in venturing into West African cuisine, Eric outlines key pantry staples essential for authentic flavor profiles. He emphasizes the importance of ingredients like ginger, garlic, tomato, curry, turmeric, peanut paste, and various heat sources such as habanero and scotch bonnet peppers.

Notable Quote:

"Ginger, garlic, tomato, spices, like curry and turmeric... so many amazing."
— Eric Ajapong (06:17)

He also notes the accessibility of these ingredients in diverse urban centers like New York City, thanks to the internet and multicultural neighborhoods, making Ghanaian cooking more attainable for home cooks everywhere.

Signature Dishes: From Stews to Swallows

Eric discusses several standout recipes from his cookbook, providing listeners with a glimpse into the depth and versatility of Ghanaian cuisine.

Red Red Stew

A staple in Ghanaian households, the Red Red Stew derives its name from the vibrant palm oil used in its preparation. Eric describes the stew as a harmonious blend of black-eyed peas, palm oil, crayfish powder for umami, and various accompaniments like avocado and sweet plantain.

Notable Quote:

"Red red gets its name from the palm oil that it's cooked in... absolutely, absolutely delicious."
— Eric Ajapong (08:40)

Swallows: The Culinary Vessel

Swallows such as fufu, benku, kenke, and motu serve as the foundational vessels in Ghanaian meals, similar to how rice or pasta functions in Western cuisines. Eric highlights the cultural significance of eating with hands, fostering a deeper connection with the food.

Notable Quote:

"We eat with our hands. So there's a ritual that goes behind it... it's one of the most delicious bites that you'll have."
— Eric Ajapong (09:28)

Arugula Salad with Ghanaian Ingredients

A fusion dish from the cookbook, this arugula salad incorporates toasted egusi seeds (melon seeds) to add texture and depth. Eric explains his inspiration for combining crunchy elements with fresh greens to create a balanced and flavorful dish.

Notable Quote:

"Having that recipe and using these ingredients in that specific way is so unique, but then also very familiar."
— Eric Ajapong (10:48)

Bofruit: A Nostalgic Dessert

Reflecting on his childhood, Eric shares his favorite dessert, bofruit—a fried dough treat akin to beignets. In the restaurant, this dessert is elevated with cinnamon sugar and paired with Milo ice cream, offering a delightful contrast of flavors and textures.

Notable Quote:

"It's the perfect bite. You know, summer, winter, fall, whenever the season is, it's always time for bofruit."
— Eric Ajapong (11:31)

Cooking Tips: Simplest and Most Challenging Recipes

Eric provides practical advice for aspiring cooks delving into Ghanaian cuisine. He recommends starting with making ginger garlic paste, a fundamental base for many dishes, as the simplest recipe. For those seeking a challenge, he suggests attempting wache, a more involved dish that encapsulates the complexity and richness of Ghanaian flavors.

Notable Quote:

"The easiest thing to do is just blending ginger and garlic together... And then the most difficult thing. Wow, the wache, probably."
— Eric Ajapong (12:35)

Conclusion: Building a Culinary Community

As the conversation wraps up, Alison Stewart reiterates Eric's upcoming speaking event at Padmore's in Brooklyn, encouraging listeners to engage with his work and partake in the burgeoning Ghanaian culinary scene.

Notable Quote:

"We're talking about his new cookbook, Ghana: To the recipes and stories that look forward while honoring the past. He'll be speaking tonight at Padmore's in Brooklyn."
— Alison Stewart (13:28)

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Chef Eric Ajapong's episode on All Of It offers an inspiring exploration of Ghanaian cuisine through the lens of personal heritage and modern culinary innovation. Whether you're a seasoned chef or a curious home cook, Eric's insights and recipes provide a gateway to experiencing the vibrant flavors and cultural richness of Ghana.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

WNYC Studios is supported by Carnegie hall, which presents the Cleveland Orchestra with Franz Welser must performing Stravinsky's Petrushka and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. March 19. [e-mail].

[Eric Ajapong]

Listener Supported WNYC Studios.

[Alison Stewart]

You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Chef Eric Ajipong has spent his life straddling two worlds. Here in New York, which was his home base, and across the ocean in Ghana, where he spent years of his childhood, these two worlds come together to form Eric's culinary sensibility. Home cooks can bring those recipes to their own kitchen with Eric's new cookbook. It's titled Ghana to the recipes and stories that look forward while honoring the past. Inside, you'll find classic dishes like Jollof rice alongside the fusion and fine dining recipes that are Eric's speciality. Eric also opened his very first restaurant a few weeks ago, El Amina in Washington, dc. Eric Adjebahn will be speaking tonight at an event with Bem Books and More at Padmore's in Brooklyn. But first, he joins me here in studio. Welcome to all of it.

[Eric Ajapong]

Such a nice intro, Alison. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

[Alison Stewart]

I am so interested in El Amina. I almost went to Ghana last year, and then we were gonna go to Elimena. Yeah, it was. When did you start the restaurant? Why did you start the restaurant? I hear all about it.

[Eric Ajapong]

Sure. You know what? In a really, I started the restaurant around eight years old, at least, thinking about it and really romanticizing about the idea of bringing West African food, specifically food from Ghana, where my family's from, to the masses. And now in my adult age, I feel like I slap my younger self a high five every time I walk in the building. It's a pretty cool moment to have Elmina here or Washington, D.C. and, you know, very similar to the book, bringing stories from the past, traditional sort of recipes and sort of more modern takes on food and things like that stuff that I've been inspired by through travel, through, you know, other chefs that I've worked with. It's sort of the culmination of all of that in one space. So very similar to the book. Elmina is sort of doing that in a space where people can kind of convene and commune and eat together in restaurants. So it's awesome.

[Alison Stewart]

How did you want to update and modernize these recipes while remaining true to the traditional?

[Eric Ajapong]

So what's really cool about the book is that we have two annotations so there's one specifically for traditional recipes, stuff that my ancestors would have cooked, right? Grandparents, great grandparents. And I wanted to keep those recipes as pure as possible, as true as possible. But then there's another annotation for more sort of recipes that I've been inspired by with these West African ingredients and sort of taking the liberty to sort of do some 2.0, 3.0 versions of different dishes and stuff like that. So it's one of the really cool moments of the cookbook where you can kind of go back and forth back in time, but then also sort of look towards the future of what hopefully, I would imagine, some West African food and Ghanaian food specifically can look like. So it's not a monolith. I can't speak for all Ghanaians and all West Africans, but it's a really cool moment for me to sort of put my own sort of spin on everything and obviously do it in a book.

[Alison Stewart]

You obviously spent time there as a child, but you went back and you did research for this book in Ghana. What were you looking for?

[Eric Ajapong]

Inspiration. I really wanted to speak with the folks on the ground. You know, everyone is doing everyday life everywhere, right? So we're living, we're. We're commuting. We're, you know, we have families that we look after, but we're all doing it in different places of the world. And I wanted to sort of immerse myself. You know, I grew up in Ghana a little bit, you know, from two to five, just about. And going back and forth as an adult, it's really great to see and sort of humble myself and how life is lived, you know, somewhere else outside of New York City. The bustle of New York City. And it's a bustle and a cry, right? It's just a different sort of bustling, you know, a different sort of hustle. So just being able to go see how life is lived, how people eat, how food is a huge part of that, was the inspiration.

[Alison Stewart]

What stood out to you?

[Eric Ajapong]

Wow. Communalism. It's a matriarchal sort of society. Women are the backbone, creating the economy, building the economy. It really is, I mean, international women's month and day and, you know, just here. But truly, it's really the hallmark of Ghanaian sort of food and economy is the woman. But really the inspiration was just to pick up on all that I can, you know, and I have a great cook and a mom and aunt, but also seeing how things are done in the market and how merchants are sort of bringing food together. And really, you know, communing around that.

[Alison Stewart]

It's so interesting how much takes place in the market.

[Eric Ajapong]

Oh, my gosh. Insane.

[Alison Stewart]

That is pre production.

[Eric Ajapong]

You said it, right? Exactly. Oh, I'm so excited that you said that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The pre production of it all, it's truly like, it's magical. When you see early morning people coming into their stalls and setting up their stations and selling food and promoting what they have and the freshness of the ingredients and the inspiration and sort of the vigor that these women have, these merchants have to sell their product. There's so much pride in there as well. McColla Market is where I spent a lot of my time. It's chaotic, it's a lot. It's busy, but it's home for so many people to earn their living. And just to be sort of engulfed in all of that and watching sort of the economy grow in a very visceral way was awesome, you know, and I loved being there. I still love going there. And you can get everything from spices to crab to clothing to, you know, cosmetics. It's all there. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is chef Eric Ajapong. We're talking about his new cook, Ghana. To the recipes and stories that look forward while honoring the past. He'll be speaking tonight at Padmore's in Brooklyn. So let's say I want to get into this. I want to get into West African cooking. What are some staples I should have in my pantry?

[Eric Ajapong]

Ginger, garlic, tomato, spices, like curry and turmeric. Wow. Peanut paste, peanut butter, heat. You need a little bit of habanero, some scotch bonnet, mangoes, soursop. I can keep going, Nelson. So many amazing.

[Alison Stewart]

Where would I go shopping?

[Eric Ajapong]

You know, we're in New York City. Yeah. You know, the beauty now, you know, maybe 10, 15 years ago, wasn't as accessible, but, you know, the Internet, you can grab a lot of these indigenous ingredients online, and they can come to your house in a matter of minutes or days. And being in a city like New York, there's so many different eclectic sort of neighborhoods and, you know, communities that sell these products and food directly. So it's a pretty cool moment. But even for folks in the middle of America, I mean, again, using the Internet, but also one thing about this book as well, it doesn't sort of, like, pigeonhole you to only using these ingredients. You can find inspiration in other things that sort of give you the same textures and flavor profiles as well. So I wanted to be able to have accessibility for everywhere, everyone, and hopefully this book does that justice.

[Alison Stewart]

I want to talk about Stews. Stews are special.

[Eric Ajapong]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Wache.

[Eric Ajapong]

Wache, yes.

[Alison Stewart]

Stew has a lot of different components to it. How do you. How do they all come together in one dish?

[Eric Ajapong]

I have no idea. I have no idea. Some of the things on huace are, you know, still are a little bit of a conundrum, but when you put it together, it's one of the most delicious bites. We sell huache at the restaurant in Elmina. And, you know, there's some. So many popular dishes that are coming off the menu, but I think the huache itself is my favorite. It's. I call it the original rice and peas. It's black eyed peas that are cooked down in millet or sorghum leaves. So it leads off this beautiful sort of magenta red color. Very rich, very earthy. The rice is. But then the stew is spicy, it's savory. We add things like gari, which is dried cassava or dehydrated cassava. We add chitar, sort of like our exosauce, the number one sort of sauce condiment in Ghana. Eggs are there, sometimes spaghetti. It's weird. It can get pretty crazy. But when you put it all together as your point, Allison, it's one of the most delicious bites that you'll have. And it's just so comforting and warm.

[Alison Stewart]

This stew is called the red red stew. It's on page 149. What makes it red? Red.

[Eric Ajapong]

So red red gets its name from the palm oil that it's cooked in. Palm oil is very deep in color, very flavorful, very earthy. And it's black eyed peas that are cooked in that palm oil combination of palm oil and coconut oil. And again, crayfish powder is in there for umami. So think about like a dip of a little bit of fish sauce in your. In your black eyed peas. And we serve that as well at the restaurant. And it's one of the more popular sort of dish, typically served with avocado for a little bit of fattiness. Some sweet plantain as well. So you get a little bit of everything in the dish. Man, I'm getting so excited talking about it now. Red. Red is absolutely, absolutely delicious. Yeah. One of my go tos.

[Alison Stewart]

We're going to talk about the swallows. Tell us more about the swallows and the role it plays in Ghanaian. Am I saying correctly, Ghanaian cuisine?

[Eric Ajapong]

I say the swallows are the vessel, sort of like pasta or rice. But what's really cool and unique about using those swallows, there's fufu, there's benku, there's kenke. There's motu, the R balls. The really nice part about it, and I think what's so unique about West African food, and to be honest, a lot of food all throughout, let's say outside of the Western mindset of food, is that we eat with our hands. So there's a ritual that goes behind it, cleaning your hands. And there's a visceral sort of communication, a visceral sort of relationship that happens when you're picking up food with your hands. And there's no utensils, there's no spoon, there's no fork, so you know exactly if it's hot. And your brain sort of gives you that immediate connection to the food and you have a deeper sort of relationship with it. So the swallows are a vessel where you pick up the stews or the sauces, or a little bit of the meat or a little bit of the beans or whatever the case is, and you take a little bit of everything and you literally just swallow. You might chew a little bit, but then it's gone. And it's how a lot of babies sort of get into food. That's how I grew up eating food. It's perfect. But I love it.

[Alison Stewart]

I wanted to ask you about a specific recipe in here. It's an arugula salad and it features two Ghanaian ingredients. What are they and how did you come on this combination?

[Eric Ajapong]

Yeah. So the arugula salad, we're using egusi seeds, which is the melon seed, and we are sort of toasting that. This is one of those inspirations again that we take, or at least I took inspiration from having crunch and texture right in building a recipe. So you want things that are not so mundane in a bite. You want a little bit of pop, you want a little bit of crunch, you want a little bit of softness in it. And that arugula salad does just that. So having that recipe and using these ingredients in that specific way is so unique, but then also very familiar. And that's really what the inspiration was.

[Alison Stewart]

One of your favorite dishes when you were a kid was bofruit.

[Eric Ajapong]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

What goes into making this dessert? I should say it's a dessert.

[Eric Ajapong]

It's a dessert. Yeah, definitely. As a kid and as an adult, it's the running joke that can never leave me. When I was younger, at my grandparents house, I would scream out to the vendors every morning, bofro, my mom would say, and it's a fried dough. So you think about like a beignet or sapoli and you have, wow, flour, milk, nutmeg or warm spices like clove or cinnamon that gets mixed together and it's fried. So it's like a little bit of. And then we sort of elevate it. Or not elevate it. Honestly, it's elevated on its own, but we sort of push it with a little bit of cinnamon sugar. And man, in the restaurant, we put a milo, milo ice cream, you know, gelato paired with it as well. So it's right out the fryer. It's just the perfect bite. You know, summer, winter, fall, whenever the season is, it's always time for beau fruit. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

What is the easiest, simplest recipe in the book? And then what's one that our folks who like to cook, who think they can cook, should tackle?

[Eric Ajapong]

You know, I would say the basis of the flavor profile is like ginger garlic paste. My mom would have quarts and quarts of this in the freezer, and it was sort of like the backbone, the genesis of a lot of the dishes that she made. So I'd say the easiest thing to do is just blending ginger and garlic together. And really you have like the base of flavorful food right there, the umami. It's the herbaceousness. It's the sort of allium sort of back note for a lot of food. And then the most difficult thing. Wow, the wache, probably. Yeah, it takes a little time. Yeah, it's very involved. But yeah, you need that ginger garlic paste to get there anyway. So there you go.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest has been chef Eric Ajapong. We were talking about his new cookbook, Ghana. To the recipes and stories that look forward while honoring the past. Eric will be speaking tonight at Padmores in Brooklyn. It's nice to meet you.

[Eric Ajapong]

A pleasure. Thank you so much.

[Alison Stewart]

WNYC Studios is supported by Carnegie hall, which presents the Cleveland Orchestra with Franz Welsermust and soprano Asmit Gregorian performing works by Haydn, Strauss, Janacek and Puccini. March 18.

[Eric Ajapong]

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