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recipes |
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Fufu |
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This is the recipe and story of the dish "Fufu & Abenkwai", from the central region of Ghana in West Africa. |
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Once upon a time, on a sunny afternoon while contemplating what to have for dinner, my grandmother (Kwame's great grandmother) came up with the idea of preparing "Fufu and Abenkwai." We the children rejoiced and jumped around. We had to all work together to make this sumptuous meal. The ingredients consist of palmnut; meat or fish (or both); onion; water; vegies such as okra, mushroom, cassava, plantain, cocoyam, yam, tomatoes; tomato paste, ginger, salt & pepper. This dish is prepared by first boiling the palm nut until well done, and then using a mortar and pestle to beat it to extract the juice. The fish, meat and ginger are steamed in a big saucepan on a wood fuel mortar until light brown. The juice from the palm nut is added to a little bit of water, which in turn is sieved and slowly stirred into the steamed meat and its accompaniments. This mixture is allowed to simmer while the pepper, blended tomatoes and tomato paste are added. All the other ingredients (except cassava and plantain) are then added. When the soup is nearly done, the cassava and plantain are cooked separately and pounded to make the fufu. Cocoyam or yam can be used if preferred. If these ingredients are not available, instant mashed potato and potato flour can be mixed, cooked with a reasonable amount of water, and kneaded until done. When the fufu is done, it is portioned into pieces and put into a bowl. It is eaten with the fingers as it's a finger food. Spoons can be used if preferred. On this fateful day, as we were about to enjoy this palatable meal, an uninvited family member called in, and as custom demands, he was invited to dinner. The uninvited guest had his two children with him, who didn't wait to be invited. They washed their hands and joined us, where the eating became a competition, as it seemed they had been starving for months. We were disappointed and dissatisfied because we were still hungry at the end of the meal. Moreover, we had looked forward to enjoying this special meal with our grandma and close relatives in peace. Because of the tedious effort put into the food preparation, we demanded that we be rewarded. My grandma took us aside where she secretly gave us a special dessert, unknown to the others. |
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