19-04-2025
Canned Beans, Air-Fried Plantains, And Questionable Casting: Get Into This Red Red Competition
Canned Beans, Air-Fried Plantains, And Questionable Casting: Get Into This Red Red Competition
They each step into the kitchen, dish in hand, ready to claim the title of Red Red connoisseur.
The lineup is full of flavor before the cooking even starts.
Vic's Ghana-born and LA-based. Nadou's Togolese by birth, Ghanaian by blood. And Gloria?
Ghanaian-born, but raised in…Scotland.
Yeah, I had to pause too. Black folks in Scotland? Apparently, yes. And she's here to show what her Scottish-Ghanaian combo can bring to the stew pot.
For those unfamiliar, Vic broke down what Red Red is.
It's a rich tomato-based stew cooked down with onions and black-eyed peas, often paired with plantains and rice. Naodu insists garri — dried cassava — is a must-have addition.
Gloria goes first, pulling up with yellow plantains, canned beans, an avocado on the side, and a sprinkle of garri on top of her stew.
Vegetarian, vegan-friendly, but still full of flavor thanks to her secret weapon: shito.
That's the spicy, smoky condiment from Ghana made with dried fish and peppers — a flavor bomb. Visually, the plate had me ready to risk it all and dive through the screen.
But the taste test? Not so kind.
Vic wasted no time pointing out the canned beans.
He wasn't impressed, and Nadou echoed the same.
Vic also said the stew had too much oil, and Nadou wasn't feeling the garri — said it had a 'sandy texture.'
Vic kept it blunt: he didn't like anything on the plate and questioned the lack of meat. Safe to say Gloria's dish did not win over the crowd.
Final score: 10
Then came Nadou. And listen, how she made it here is a mystery in itself.
Sis had to phone-a-friend to figure out the recipe — literally.
Admitted she doesn't like cooking, but here she is in a cooking competition. Make it make sense.
Someone needs to pass me the casting sheet next time.
She pulled up with palm oil, garlic, peppers, curry, and a splash of peanut butter — plus fried plantains and boiled eggs on the side.
Presentation-wise, Vic and Gloria were kind. They liked the look and texture. But once they tasted it? The vibes switched. Vic said it smelled like cow's feet. Gloria found it mushy, and Vic legit spat it out. The palm oil was doing the most and not in a good way. The only thing they liked was the egg.
Final score: 7
Last up: Vic, who's been the loudest critic all episode.
Now it's his turn to show us how it's really done.
He air-fried his plantains, went with a mix of white and yellow rice, and served up a stew with black-eyed peas, tomatoes, curry powder, short ribs, and maggi cubes — which, by the way, are a staple in African dishes but hard to find in LA (thank God for Amazon).
The ladies didn't hold back.
Gloria came for the rice, asking if it even belonged on the plate.
Nadou said it was just 'okay.' Flavor-wise?
Gloria said it was 'uneventful,' and Nadou called it 'one-dimensional.' The man who dragged everyone else got dragged right back. They chewed through the critiques — and him.
Final score: 9
Gloria walks away with the crown, and honestly, from what I saw, she earned it.
While I go find someone who actually knows how to make Red Red properly, do yourself a favor and check out this episode.
