This sauce is heavenly goodness! It is smoky and spicy and everything you could ask for on a hot summer afternoon! I start it out like a regular Ghanaian tomato sauce, sautéeing onions in heated oil and continuing with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and spices. What sets it apart however is the Ghanaian-Italian fusion of sweet, sour, spicy and saucy! I include some cubanelle peppers, curly parsley and marinara sauce to an already rich flavor coming from Jamaican habanero peppers, ginger, onions and garlic. And the smoked flavor from the the turkey sends me down memory lane to those moments when smoked meats and fish featured prominently in my family’s cooking.

Ingredients

• Smoked turkey wings: 2 large wings (~1 Ib)-cut each into 3-4 pieces
• Red onions: 3/4 medium (chop 1/2 and save a 1/4 to blend with tomatoes)
• Tomatoes (cherry or chopped regular tomatoes): 1 cup
• Tomato paste: 4 tbsp
• Marinara sauce (or any tomato sauce): 1 cup
• Fresh curly parsley (or flat-leaf Italian parsley): 1 cup (chop 3/4 and save 1/4 to blend with tomatoes). Note: If you use flat-leaf parsley, reduce the quantity by half because this variety has a stronger flavor
• Sweet peppers: 1 medium green bell pepper, 1/4 cubanelle pepper
• Hot peppers: 2 red chillis, 1 green Jamaican habanero
• Vegetable (or olive) oil: 2 tbsp
• Wet spices (ground ginger, garlic, onion mix): 1 tbsp [recipe for blend here] Note: increase to 2 tbsp if you want it more gingery
• Dry Spices of choice, to taste: I used black pepper, chicken seasoning and a dash of Kosher salt

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Major Equipment

• Chopping board(s)
• Knives
• Blender
• Medium-sized Saucepan
• Measuring cups and spoons

Preparation

Start by blending the tomatoes with the hot peppers, cubanelle pepper, 1/4 onion, and 1/4 cup parsely, and set mixture aside. You may blend them till smooth or leave it rough depending on your desired consistency for the sauce. Also, you may need to add a tablespoon or two of water to ease with blending, but avoid adding extra water if you can, especially if the tomatoes are juicy.

1. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat
2. Add chopped onions and sautée for a few seconds
3. When onions look translucent, add ginger-onion-garlic blend, stir and cook for an additional minute. You can find recipe for my ginger-onion-garlic base here
4. Add tomato paste and stir. To prevent it from burning, add 3-4 tablespoons of water.
5. Cook for about 2 minutes and add blended tomato mixture
6. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes and then drop in the smoked turkey. Stir and simmer on slow heat
7. When sauce has simmered for about 10 minutes, add marinara sauce and dry spices of choice and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
8. Add chopped green bell peppers and cook for about a minute
9. Add curly parsley and cook under a minute. You may also choose to turn off the heat and allow parsley to cook in the residual heat of the sauce. Overcooking fresh herbs can disintegrate the aromatic oils and reduce their flavor (this is in contrast to dry herbs that need to cook longer to release the flavor)
10. Serve with rice or side of your choice, and enjoy

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Nutrition Information

Serves 6 (or 8 if you really stretch it!)
Calories per 1 cup serving: 233 kcal
Total Fat: 11.8 g
Total Protein: 23.5 g
Total Carbohydrates: 10.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.8 g
Total Sugars: 5.6 g

Note: Nutrient information is only for the turkey sauce and does not include the side of rice. If you have a serving of the sauce with 1 cup of cooked rice, you will be getting a total of 438 Calories (55g Carbs, 12g Fat and 27.8g protein).