How To Prepare Shito (Ghana Hot Chilli Sauce)

How To Prepare Shito (Ghana Hot Chilli Sauce)

Today I’m going to share with you, How To Prepare Shito also known as Ghanaian Hot Black Pepper sauce. In Ghana, shito can be eaten with about 70% of all our local dishes. It is consumed mainly with dishes made with corn or rice.

Some of the popular Ghanaian foods that can be eaten with shito include Waakye, kenkey, and Jollof. Shito is a side dish, Just like layou in China, Shito is eaten with fried rice in Ghana. And the funny thing is, these foods are mostly eaten in the morning as breakfast. Yes in Ghana we eat spicy meals for breakfast too.

How To Prepare Shito

Before we start my Ghanaian hot and spicy delicious shito recipe, Let me give you a brief history of how shito became what it is today. So basically shito is the word for pepper in Ga (a Ghanaian language spoken by the people from the Capital of Ghana, Accra )

Other Tribes in Ghana also have their own names for the Ghanaian Black chili sauce but “Shito” is the most popular name used for the sauce. Shito is now a word used by Ghanaians and Nigerians when referring to anything Hot.

Shito is not only eaten in Ghana but has now been extended to some parts of Nigeria. If you do not like spicy foods, I’m really sorry but you are missing out big time. The people of Ghana Love Spicy food, we eat a lot of pepper in Ghana.

Shito is made of oil and pepper mainly. It is often bought from the streets and is barely prepared in Ghanaian homes because the recipe has been hidden for years and there hasn’t been much information on how to prepare this sauce on the internet until recently when a couple of famous Ghanaian food YouTubers and Bloggers started sharing the recipe and the preparation procedure online.

In this article, I’m going to give you the exact steps on how I prepare my shito at home. Now without taking all your time, Let’s jump right into the preparation process. I’ll also like to remind you that the shito taste will depend on the number of spices and types of spices you’ll use in preparing the sauce.

Ingredients

• Fish powder ( Anchovies )
• Shrimp powder
• Vegetable oil
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Spices ( chicken cube/shrimp cube )
• Tomato paste
• Onion
• Red powdered pepper

Method

Step 1.
Chop the onions, garlic, and ginger into pieces and blend them together

Step 2. Now you’d want to pour about an adequate amount of vegetable oil into a hot saucepan
And stir till mixture is thick

Step 3. Add about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and keep stirring

Step 4. Then pour the shrimp powder and fish powder and stir until the sauce turns into a black looking color

Step 5. Add about 2 to 3 tablespoon of red powdered pepper ( depending on how “hot” you want the sauce )

Step 6.. Now add your desired spices (chicken cube or shrimp cube ) and a pinch of salt to taste

Step 7. Leave on fire under low heat for about 10 minutes and let it cook.

step 8. Wait until the color of your sauce is deep brown or black before pouring out.

And You are Done! You made shito at home. After it’s ready, Pour it into a glass container for preservation. Shito can be served with yam chips / fried sweet potatoes or anything you prefer.

FINISHED PRODUCT: Ghanaian Hot Shito Chilli Sauce
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In my next food recipe post,  I’m going to show you how to make another popular Ghanaian food, so bookmark this blog and subscribe to our newsletter to get a notification for all our new content and posts published on this site.