Banku and Okra Stew

Banku is very similar to Fufu (Cassava and Green plantains). The only difference is that, Banku is made with fermented corn dough and cassava dough. Okro stew is made with palm oil, hot peppers, okro (type of green vegetable), tomatoes and, onions.

Banku and Okra stew is a favorite dish in the Greater Accra region but you can find this dish in almost all areas in Ghana. You can make the Okro stew with goat meat, beef, pork, fish or any other meat of your choice. In this recipe I will be using my personal favorite, fried fish with the skin on.

For those of you that are vegetarian, you may follow this same recipe, just omit the meat. I will suggest adding other vegetables like chopped egg plants, yellow squash, or chopped spinach, and vegetable broth for extra flavor. I’ll be using fish for extra flavor.

Ingredients:

5 slices of fish (Remember it can be any meat of your choice)
1 1/2 pound chopped okra
1 28oz can of tomato puree or 4 medium fresh tomatoes
1 large white/red onion
½ tsp ground hot pepper
3/4 cup Palm Oil
2 cups corn dough (for Banku)
1 cup cassava dough (for Banku)
½ tsp salt for taste
Maggi Cube (Or your choice of seasoning)
Wooden stirring paddle or wooden spoon (For mixing cassava and corn dough)

Instead of showing you step by step of how to make it, you can click on this link and it will take you directly to a site that shows you the full process

I hope you’ll enjoy it. Be sure to leave a comment below when you do try making it.

 Picture credit: Link

  

Kelewele

We Ghanaians enjoy a rather simple, but flavorful cuisines. The majority of our meals consist of thick, well-seasoned stews, usually accompanied by such staple foods as rice or boiled yams plantains, cocoyam, and many more. Our stews come in a variety of flavors, the most popular being okra, fish, bean leaf (or other greens groundnut (peanut), one of the country's national dishes.

Many spices are used to prepare stews and other popular dishes. Cayenne, allspice, curry, ginger, garlic, onions, and chili peppers are the most widely used seasonings. Onions and chili peppers (along with tomatoes, palm nuts, and broth) help to make up the basis for most stews.

Certain foods that make up the Ghanaian diet Depends on which region of the country you live in.

With that said, I’ll share with you what our food we'll be exploring today today.

Kelewele (Fried Ripe Plantains)

Ingredients

• 6 large ripe plantains
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 3 cups oil

Procedure

1. Peel the plantain and cut crosswise into ½-inch slices, removing any woody parts from the center.
2. Mix ginger, salt, and red pepper with water in a mixing bowl.
3. Drop plantain slices into mixture and turn them to coat.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet and fry the mixture-coated slices until golden brown.

 You can eat this in many ways. You can eat it with peanuts, serve it on the side of the jolloff rice we previously discussed or any type of rice. I personally like to eat mine with beans stew. 

Be sure to click on this link for more scrumptious food straight from the mother land.let 

Picture Credit

Ghanaian Food Sundays

Many of Ghana’s most popular foods are traditional dishes which reflect the country’s long history and agriculture.

Foods such as cassava, yams and plantains are boiled, pounded and rolled into balls known as fufu.

 Another staple is kenkey, a fermented cornmeal dumpling which is boiled or steamed in plantain leaves and served with a sauce called moko and shito.

Moko is just tomatoes, onions, peppers and a pinch of salt to taste.

Despite the starchy staples, food is rarely bland in Ghana. Many dishes are spicy. Ghanaians love using spices such as cinnamon and hot red peppers. (Chillies and red peppers are the fifth most important agricultural product for Ghana’s farmers in terms of.

Today I will be sharing with you one of my favorite Ghanaian food called Jollof Rice.

You can have jollof on its own as part of a vegetarian meal or with grilled meats, chicken or with whatever. You can also prepare a chicken or meat version of jollof rice. 

I personally don’t like meat as much. So when I make it, it’s usually without meat or if I feel like adding meat to it I’ll bake chicken and place it on the side of my jolloff instead of cooking it with my the rice.

Jollof is a type of rice. It’s never white, if someone ever serves you a plate of jollof rice and it’s white, don’t eat it. That is not jollof  rice. It’s always reddish orange. It gets it’s color from the stew which consist of tomatoes.

                 

Picture Credit: Laethy Sunaite Goose

Here’s a link to a Ghanaian food blogger

                              Stay tune for more Ghanaian Dish Sunday.

Picture of the Day

I have great respect and appreciation for people who are faithful, people who happily acknowledge their family and cultural roots, and those who never forget where they came from. 

There’s nothing more empowering than a person who knows and understands their heritage.  Not everyone feels a connection with their cultural heritage, but many people do. Some may think traditions are ancient and no longer relevant, and that they are unnecessary during these modern times. This might be true for some, and for others like myself, not so much. 

I like to think that I’m the proudest Ghanaian out here, but I think I only kid myself when I say that. And boy I am glad that it’s not the case. 

It really warms my heart when people take pride in their cultures.

Let’s keep in mind that our world is so diverse that no nationality is better than another. 

A lot of people connect to their cultural or ethnic group through similar food patterns. I love our Ghanaian dishes. One would think that for as long as I’ve lived in America that I would like or cook more of the American dishes, but the truth of the matter is that I don’t. 

Immigrants often use food as a means of retaining their cultural identity. People from different cultural backgrounds eat different foods. 

The ingredients, methods of preparation, preservation techniques, and types of food eaten at different meals vary among cultures. It sometimes tells us the areas in which families lived and where their ancestors originated.