Woman Connected to Recipe: Mercy Dake (Dada)
Submitted by Ethelind Kaba (Mercy’s granddaughter)
About Mercy Dake:
It's almost the one-year passing--3/22/19 to be exact-- of my grandmother, whom we all called Dada. Dada was a mighty oak. She raised 11 biological, five others that my grandpa brought home at various points. And by the time of her passing, there were some 41 grandchildren and 34 great grandchildren.
Dada’s home was the the home of family refugees, those whose parents had to move to other countries to pursue their dream, those who could not afford their children, and those who just showed up. I was one of the refugee grandchildren.
My mother and father moved to Liberia shortly after getting married. When I was six months old, Dada came to take me back to Ghana so that mom and dad could focus on their careers. I lived with Dada in Ghana, or rather Nsawam, a small town outside of the capital city of Accra, we lived in a compound that had four bedrooms and a living room which served as a bedroom sometimes, a veranda for the lazy afternoon sun while we indulged in mangoes or tangerines from the trees in the yard. At some point, before they built bathrooms in the house, we bathed in covered huts outside and used a wooden enclosure as the toilet house.
We cooked meals outside. Dada tended to our small farm and looked after Papa, my grandfather, who had suffered a stroke. Dada would walk barefoot from the farm, feed the chickens, send us to the market, coordinate dinner, and yell or whip us in the name of love and the Lord, all in one unbelievable swoop. She woke up around 4am daily (I know because I slept on the floor or beside her in her bedroom) sang her prayers while calling out the names of every single child, grandchild, cousin, pastor, pastor’s wife, and anyone else she thought deserved a prayer.
On Sundays, she wore her best dress and a gold or pearl necklace. It didn’t matter if she was walking from the bedroom with a pail containing Papa’s bodily fluids to spill in the gutters, if you asked her for a picture, she’d have to adjust her headwrap and yell for some jewelry so she can “be presentable.” We feared her, we adored her, and no other opinion mattered but hers.
What have I learned from Dada? Selflessness without asking for anything back (even though I falter in this often), hard-work (yes, I can be lazy at times), grace (always grace) through any challenge, and a lot of good meals.
Dada's Kontomere (Spinach Stew)
INGREDIENTS
½ cup palm oil or vegetable oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons minced ginger (1 ounce)
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
1 cup diced tomatoes
¾ cup egusi (ground melon seeds) OPTIONAL
Smoked salmon (or any choice of protein)
1 pound spinach, washed, dried and roughly chopped; or frozen spinach
3 large sweet (yellow) plantains, peeled and boiled in salted water until just tender
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Heat oil in a saucepan, saute onions; add garlic, ginger, and tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.
2) Add salmon (or choice of protein cut into preferred pieces), salt, and pepper to season. Cook for 10 minutes or until meat is half-way tender and cooked through.
3) Add spinach.
4) Mix egusi in half cup water and add to the stew.
5) Cook for another 10 minutes or until spinach is tender and meat is completely cooked.
6) Serve with hot boiled/steamed plantain (or cooked rice).
7) Garnish with slices of avocado.