To eat: Maria Bradford’s recipe for Shwen Shwen’s pepe sea bass cooked in banana leaves
Published 14 July 2025

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Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Maria Bradford learned to cook at the age of nine alongside her mother and grandmother. Having started out in accountancy, Bradford switched career path, founding Shwen Shwen (the name comes from the Krio word for ‘fancy’), her catering company, supper club and online store in 2017. Now she has opened the doors to her first restaurant of the same name, here is her recipe for pepe sea bass.

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INGREDIENTS

  • One whole sea bass, approximately 1.5kg, cleaned, scaled and gutted
  • Sea salt, for seasoning
  • 300g pepe marinade
  • 4-6 banana leaves for wrapping, or baking paper
  • Lime wedges to serve
  • Fresh coriander to garnish

For the smoked paprika oil:

  • 4 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 350ml olive oil

For the pepe marinade:

  • 2 large onions
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 25g fresh ginger
  • 50ml fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp West African pepper blend (see below)
  • 2 stalks lemongrass
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 200g unsalted peanut butter
  • 30g tomato puree
  • 1 medium tomato, chopped
  • 1 stock cube (vegetable or fish)
  • 2-3 scotch bonnet chillis

For the west African pepper blend:

  • 2 ½ grains of paradise
  • 2 tbsp black peppercorns
  • 2 tbsp white peppercorns
  • 1 tbsp cubeb pepper
  • 3 tbsp allspice berries

METHOD

Make the pepper blend:

Toast all the peppercorns in a dry pan over a medium heat until fragrant. Allow to cool and then grind in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. Store in an airtight jar and use within three months.

For the pepe marinade, put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan and cook on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring from time to time until the marinade has reduced and thickened. Leave to cook.

Prep and cook the fish:

Make 2-3 diagonal silts in each side of the fish and place in a shallow baking tray. Season well and spread the pepe marinade over the fish and work it well into the slits and cavity. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C.

Wrap the fish in the banana leaves or baking paper and foil and cook on a baking sheet for 40 minutes or until the flesh comes away from the bone at the thickest part when tested with a skewer.

Serve with lime wedges, coriander and rice.