Exploring Food
on The Ghana Experience (Ghana), 31/Jul/2010 17:20, 34 days ago
26 July 2010Today I thought I should write some small description of thetraditional Ghanaian foods which I have tasted till date.Most of the Ghanaian staples which are eaten as main meals include aball of cooked starchy substance served with some soup. Here soupmeans not just only the liquid but it is more like a curry where meator vegetables are served with some sauce which is generally lightlyspiced with chillies and sometimes garlic and onions. I have eatentill date always in the restaurants and at road side eateries whichare relatively safe.Generally what I have observed here in Upper East Region of Ghana thatall the jobs in the restaurants are done by women. Majority of thesmall restaurants in Bolgatanga offer only meals and that too for alimited time. The restaurants are known by various names here. Theyare called as spots, bars and chop bars. Generally spots are theplaces where mainly drinks are served. Bars are the places where drinkas well as food is served and chop bars are the places where only foodis served. But as I am writing this I realise that it is not a rule assuch and one can find so many exceptions to this system ofclassification. The snacks are mainly sold at some roadside stalls orby moving vendors.One is expected to wash the hands thoroughly before eating and theyserve washing bowls, water and soap before they serve the food.Another rule which is common with India is one is expected to use onlyhis right hand for eating and use of left hands for eating isconsidered bad manners. Only exception to the rule is of course whenyou are holding some piece of meat.I shall start with the meals. General Ghanaian affair for a typicalmeal is a ball of some starchy substance served with a preparation ofgravy. One is expected to take some of the substance out of the ballwith all of their fingers and dip into the gravy and get it into themouth. No chewing is expected and one is supposed to gulp them down. Ifound out that if you keep on chewing it, it is so sticky that youhave a feeling of vomitting. I am yet to acquire the skill of eatingthe way the locals do.I have eaten following types of starch balls till date,Fufu- It is made with cooked tubers such as yams, cassava or sometimes plantains. Some oil is added and then it is pounded in bigwooden mortar and pestle to make a thick gooey ball. It is so stickythat we non Ghanaian VSO's jokingly say here that if one wants to killa person then just choke him with fufu.Banku- It is a ball of partially cooked fermented maize dough. Sometimes they also add some cassava flour in it. It is less stickybrother of Fufu.Kenke- It is a ball of cooked maize dough and foreigners like me whoare not used to gulping those startchy balls find it better thanBanku. It is commonly sold on the streets by the women vendors. It iscooked in banana leaf and has longer shelf life.It seems that the principle of gulping those starchy and stickysubstances is actually logical as all these dishes are cooked in sucha way that process of partial breaking of starch which happens inmouth when we chew it is already completed during the process ofpreparation of these dishes.(There are some other variants in this but since I have not tastedthem personally, I shall write about them some time later.)Now something about the soups or dishes with gravies,Okru soup- This gravy dish is made from Okra or ladies fingers. (Thepopular Indian vegetable Bhendi). Since it is not fried and justcooked in the gravy, the dish is very slimy. So if one eats Okru soupwith fufu, it becomes a doubly difficult task because fufu is stickyand okru is slimy. Actually if you try okru with plain rice (the waywe eat bhenid rassa with rice in our region), it goes very well. Butmy Ghanaian friends disagree with it and they are not even ready totry it.Bitor soup- This is made from Indian Hemp plant (मराठी: अंबाडी) whichis locally known as Bitor. Unlike India, the leaves are cut and soakedin water to remove sourness of the leaves and cooked. Very good intaste though as like Okru, they do not eat with rice but I do like itwith rice.Light soup- This is a spicy soup made from meat stock and with someaddition of onion and tomato paste.Goat/ chicken/ fish soup- This is a gravy dish made from meat of these animals.Groundnut soup- Light spicy soup made from groundnut paste and meat stock.Two types of rice are served in the restaurants,Fried rice- It is some version of chinese fried rice and I suspectthat it is not an original Ghanaian dish. It is fried rice added withsome carrots, cabbage and eggs.Jollof rice- It is a rice cooked with tomato paste. They praise it alot but I found it just OK.These rice dishes are served with some plain cooked noodles (again nonGhanaian) and two equivalents of chutneys which they call as sauce.One sauce is made with grinding tomato, chillies and onions. There isno cooking involved. It is very tasty. Another sauce is darker incolour and has some fish sauce, tomatoes, onions etc. It is known asShito. I found nothing very great about it though some non Ghanaianspraised it a lot but not bad either. Generally rice is served withfried chicken or fish. One has to specifically tell the waitress ifyou don't want it along with your rice.Red Red- This is an all oily dish served as a meal. These are friedchips of half ripe plantains served with cow peas cooked in lot of oiland some spices. I found some shreds of meat in my cowpeas once in myRed Red. Tasty but too oily!Now something about snacks,Corn- It is the corn season and every where on the busy roads, ladiesare selling corn cobs roasted on charcoal fire as it is common inIndia. But these are not soft and some of the grains have started tomature so there is a chance that you get popped corns on the cobs.They don't even apply salt to it. But it is something which is safe toeat and one can find easily on the street when one is hungry.Mbemsa- Try pronouncing it first if you can. I have not beensuccessful in doing it as Gurunes do it. These are made from fermentedbean curd. Small elongated balls of bean curd steamed and then servedwith a dash of oil and a mixture of salt and chilli. Heavy to digest,one should not eat too many at once.Kose- This is a deep fried version of Mbemsa. Taste is just deliciousand similar to Udid Dal Vada (deep fried fermented Black gram flourballs made in Konkan region.) They sale it on the street side but Ihave not found them being freshly prepared and sold so I have avoidedit buying them on the street till date. I have eaten them only twicein restaurants.Guinea fowl eggs- Cooked guinea fowl eggs are commonly sold on thestreets. They taste just like chicken eggs but the size is smaller andshell is hard to break. The membrane and white of the egg keepsloosely attatched to the egg shell. Eating it is time consuming, butthey say it is a healthy option as guinea fowls are free range animalsand not fed on commercially prepared poultry feed.Kelewele- Fried half ripe banana chips. I found it in Accra but yet tosee them in Bolga. It is my most favourite of the Ghanaianpreparations which I have tasted till date.More updates on my food exploration of Ghana after I taste some more things.