← Nouns Cooking · West & East African

Ingredients

• 375 ml vegetable or rapeseed oil
• 3 Onion, chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 5 cm piece Ginger, peeled
• 3 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 4 tbsp hot chilli powder (or more to taste)
• 60 g ground dried shrimp
• 60 g dried smoked fish (or herrings), ground to a powder
• 1 tsp Black pepper
• ½ tsp ground cloves (optional)
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste

Method

1. Blend the onions, garlic and ginger with a splash of the oil until smooth.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion paste carefully (it will spit) and fry for 20–25 min, stirring often, until it turns golden brown and most of the moisture has cooked off.
3. Stir in the tomato paste and fry for 5 min. Turn the heat to low and add the chilli powder, ground shrimp, ground fish, pepper and cloves, if using.
4. Cook on low for 25–30 min, stirring every few minutes and scraping the bottom, until the sauce is very dark brown, almost black, and smells toasty. Don't let it burn.
5. Season with salt, cool completely and spoon into clean jars, making sure the solids are covered with oil.

Tips

• Contains shellfish and fish. Kept covered with oil in the fridge, shito lasts for several weeks; always use a clean, dry spoon.
• Open a window: frying chilli powder gives off fumes that can make you cough.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Low Carb Africa 196 flavors Eat Well Abi