Steamed fermented cornmeal patties (Aboloo)

1. Polished corn flour -2kg (Maize = 3kg/1 Olonka; washed and dehulled = 2.2kg)

2. Water -2 liters

3. Wheat flour -¼ margarine tin

4. Baking powder -2 teapoon

5. Salt -1 table spoon

6. Leaves (food base e.g. plantain, anworomoo, corn husk)

Method           

1. Clean maize by picking bad and mouldy

2. Wash in clean water

3. Grind into small grits

4. Sift to remove chaff

5. Wash grits in clean water to further remove chaff

6. Mix washed grits with sifted flour and allow to stand for one hour. Mill the mixture into fine texture

7. Divide fine finely milled flour into 2 parts

8. Add salt and a little water to one part of the flour

9. Put on fire and cook partially to obtain what we commonly refer to as aflata?

10. Add the wheat flour (or cooked sweet potato) and mix well

11. Add also the rest of the corn flour, stir to form a stiff paste

12. Fetch and wrap the soft paste in clean leaves.

13. Arrange in a steamer and steam for 30-40 mins over boiling water

14. Remove from steamer and serve with your desired sauce, stew, or soup plus fried fish.

NB: Steps 3 and 4 can be done by dehulling machines.

FLAKU (Plantain – Maize porridge)

Cooking Time; 1 hour

Ingredients (3 servings)

1. Ripe plantain - 700g (2 fingers); peeled = 420g

2. Pepper - 5g ( 1 teaspoon)

3. Tom brown - 160g

4. Salt - 1 ¾ teaspoon

5. Water - 1200ml

6. Sugar (optional)

BN: Banana can be used. In that case, it is not boiled as with ripe plantain.

Method

1. Roast maize till brown. Mill into tom-brown (It is also known as roasted corn flour)

2. Boil ripe plantain and drain off water (stock)*

3. Mash ripe plantain

4. Grind pepper and salt and add

5. Mix mixture with tom-brown

6. Add water

7. Put mixture on fire and stir with a wooden ladle into a pulp until it thickens

8. Add sugar and serve hot.

* The stock alone could be added to the tom brown to sweeten it.

BANKYE TO (ROASTED CASSAVA DELIGHT)

Bankye-to is Akan dish. The main ingredients are fresh cassava palm oil.

Ingredients (1 serving)

1. Fresh cassava – 900g, roasted & peeled = 415g

2. Pepper – 10g (3 fingers)

3. Onion – 60g (½ medium size)

4. Salted fish or Koobi (option) – 50g (De-bone koobi = 30g)

5. Palm oil – 100ml

6. Roasted Groundnut – 60g

Method

1. Roast cassava till brown and soft, and peel

2. Wash and grind pepper and onion into paste

3. Roast, wash and de-bone koobi

4. Add koobi to pepper and onion sauce

5. Mash roasted cassava and mix thoroughly with pepper sauce. Add seasoned palm oil and mix well

6. Sprinkle and mix roasted groundnut

7. Serve immediately as lunch

SOYA KHEBAB

Ingredients:

1. Soybeans – 1 American tin (2.4kg)

2. Epson salt – 3 sachets OR 6 lemons

3. Vegetables (for garnishing: Onion, green pepper)

4. Spices

5. Khebab powder

6. Cooking oil

Method:

1. Remove all stones, broken and mouldy soybeans and debris

2. Wash and soak soybeans for at least 4 hours or overnight

3. 3.      Drain off the water and wash again with clean water

4. 4.      Mill soybeans into paste in a clean machine. If necessary add a little water while milling

5. Add 3 parts water to 1 part of paste and mix

6. Strain using a clean muslin or white cloth to obtain milk and store residue in a separate container    

7. Put the milk on fire and bring it to boil without stirring for 20-25 minutes

8. If foaming too much sprinkle cold water to prevent the milk from spilling over in the boiling process.

9. , sprinkle coldwater

10. Add juice from rough lemon (500ml) or Epson salt to curdle the milk. For 1 American tin of soybean, add 500ml of lemon juice or 3 sachets of Epson salt.

11. Lower heat when curds start forming

12. Remove from fire after curdling

13. Strain using muslin or clean white cloth

14. Tie the curds in the muslin or clean white cloth.  

15. Press for about 30-45mins under a weight to drain off liquid until compact. (Screw or hydraulic press can be used for instant results)  

16. Remove the curd from the cloth and cut into cubes.     

17. Add spices (ginger, garlic, onion, curry powder and salt) of your choice

18. Fry until golden brown

19. Remove from oil and drain

20. Skewer (arrange on a stick) by alternating fried curds with cut vegetables such as sweet pepper, carrot, onion to obtain a khebab.

21. Spread gravy over khebab or roll it out in gravy

22. Sprinkle with khebab powder and serve hot.

NOTE:

1. Start milk preparation immediately after milling to prevent the dough from fermenting

2. The residue can be used as animal to enrich other foods e.g. kontomino stew feed.

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AKAW (COCOYAM BOILED UNPEELED)

Akaw is a dish commonly consumed by most Akans. It is cocoyam boil in its peels. It is consumed with pepper sauce. The peels are removed as it is being consumed.

Ingredients (3 servings)

1. Weight of cocoyam (unpeeled) -1088g

2. Pepper -40g

3. Onion -47g

4. Tomatoes -110g

5. Koobi (salted fish) -110g

6. Salt – 1 table spoon

7. Palm oil -2 table spoon (30ml)

Method:

1. Wash cocoyam without peeling

2. Put into saucepan, add water and salt

3. Cook till cocoyam is tender

4. Grind pepper, tomatoes and salt

5. Grill (or roast) koobi and add to pepper and grind

6. Season palm oil with onion and add to pepper

7. Serve cooked cocoyam with the pepper

AKOKORA/ KOKOO MPOTOMPOTO

Akokora or Kokoo Mpotompoto is an Akan dish. It is a meal that is elderly friendly, hence its name. It is because elders are believed to have problem with chewing and with this meal one is not required to chew. The main ingredients are ripe plantain and palm oil.

Cooking Time: 30minutes

Ingredients (2 servings)

1. Unpeeled ripe plantain – 1260g (5fingers); peeled weight = 840g

2. Water – 500ml

3. Salt – 2 teaspoon

4. Pepper – 15g (3 round type)

5. Onion – 40g (¼ of big size)

6. Momoni (stinging fish) – 10g

7. Palm oil (Red oil) – 75ml

Method:

1. Peel ripe plantain and boil, add salt

2. Drain off water and mash

3. Grind pepper onion and momoni and add

4. Add palm oil and mix all together

5. Serve

Seidubille Yam Pizza

Ingredients

Grated Seidubille yam 600g(3cups)

Seidubille Yam flour 200g(1cups)

Minced meat /Fish flakes/corned beef 1 tin (300g) of any one

Carrots 200g(4/5 pieces)

Spring onion 200g

Green pepper 1 medium size

Eggs 2

Margarine 100g (for baking)

Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Method

1. Beat the grated Seidubille yam slightly.

2. Add salt and pepper to grated yam

3. Beat the eggs and add to mixture.

4. Add finely chopped green pepper, carrots, spring onion and mix lightly.

5. Add margarine to mixture

6. Add a little yam flour to mixture and sprinkle the rest in greased tins

7. Pour mixture into greased baking tin

8. Bake in a moderately hot oven

Number of servings – 4 adults 

APRAPRANSA

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups heaped roasted corn flour

2. 1 serving spoonful palm oil

3. 2 medium sized tomatoes

4. 1 medium sized onion

5. 1 small piece smoked fish

6. Salted fish/momoni (optional)

7. ½ beans (optional)

8. Pepper and salt to taste

9. Crabs optional

Method:

1. Wash and boil beans till tender and set aside

2. Put palm oil on fire

3. Add sliced onion to fry till brown

4. Add momoni and allow to fry for 5minutes

5. Add ground pepper and tomato and then fish

6. Allow to cook whilst stirring occasionally

7. Add water, cover and allow to boil

8. Add boiled beans

9. Add the roasted corn flour and stir till well cooked

10. Remove from fire and serve hot – Garnish with cooked crabs

AYIPKLE 

Cooking time: 1 ½ hours

Ingredients:

1. 1 dry coconut

2. ½ cup red cowpea

3. 2 cups roasted corn or rice flour

4. 1 medium onion

5. 2 medium tomatoes

6. Pepper and salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and boil beans till it is soft. Remove from fire and set aside

2. Grate coconut and squeeze juice out

3. Put the coconut juice on fire for 1hour or till it becomes thick and oil begins to appear on the surface

4. Add the boiled cowpea to the coconut juice on fire

5. Fetch small quantity of the coconut juice aside

6. Grind tomato, pepper and onion and add to the rest of the coconut.

7. Gradually add roasted corn flour to the coconut juice till it becomes semi-solid. Cover for 10minutes

8. Make stew with the rest of the coconut milk and serve

AKLOR (Fisherman’s soup) 

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 3 medium size cleaned fresh marine fish

2. 3 medium size tomatoes

3. 1 medium sized onion

4. Pepper and salt to taste

5. 1 small piece ginger washed and peeled

6. 5 cups water

Method:

1. Put water on fire to boil

2. Wash fresh fish with lemon

3. Grind ginger and salt and smear on the fish and leave for some 10-15 minutes.

4. Put pepper and tomatoes with chopped onion in boiling water. Cook for 15mins

5. Remove pepper and tomatoes, mash and return to soup.

6. Allow to boil for 15mins. Add fresh fish to cook

7. Serve hot with kenkey

ƐTɔ

It is known as “OTƆ” and “ƐTƆ” amongst the Gas and the Akans respectively.

Yam

The main ingredients use to prepare “Ɛtɔ” are Unripe plantain, Full or Half Ripe plantain, Cocoyam and Yam. Ɛtɔ, prepared from both ripe and unripe plantain or half ripe plantain is called KƆKƆƆ-TƆ. In the same way, Ɛtɔ from yam and cocoyam are Bayere-tɔ and mankani-tɔ respectively.

Green plantain alone can be used to prepare ɛtɔ . This is known as ‘Bordie-tɔ’ or ‘SIBAA’. Ɛtɔ prepared from roasted cocoyam is also called SASA or OGOR. The yam and the plantain can equally be roasted and use to prepare the Ɛtɔ.

There is a special type of ɛtɔ known as APOTOSU. Unripe and almost ripe plantains are used. They are roasted and mashed with grounded pepper with its accompaniment. After oil is added, water is also added and mixed. The content is then put on fire, in earthenware, for the water to boil off.

Salted fish (koobi) or Stinging fish (momoni) may be used to enhance the flavor. Koobi/momoni should be cooked by roasting or frying in the palm oil before grinding with the other ingredients.

Some people can add okro (boiled or roasted) to it. Again, in the absence of groundnut, dried cocoa beans can be used to improve the protein content of the food. Groundnut paste could be added to the pepper instead of roasted groundnut.

1. KƆKƆƆ-TƆ 

a. Ripe Plantain and Unripe Plantain @ 1:2 ratio

Cooking time: 30minutes

Ingredients:

1. Ripe plantain – 420g (2 s/s fingers); peeled wt =280g

2. Unripe plantain -780g (2 b/s fingers); peeled wt=500g

3. Roasted groundnut – 80g (2/3 milk tin)

4. Koobi – 35g ( ½ palm size)

5. Pepper – 10g (3 fingers) or to taste

6. Salt – ½ teaspoon or to taste

7. Onion – 100g (1 medium size)

8. Red Palm oil (melted) – 50ml (5 teaspoonfuls)

9. Eggs (optional)

10. Avocado pear (optional)

b. Half Ripe Plantain

Ingredients:

1. Half Ripe plantain – 775g (3 b/s fingers); peeled wt=510g

2. Roasted groundnut – 80g (1/3 milk tin)

3. Momoni – 15g ( ¼ palm size)

4. Pepper – 25g (5 fingers) or to taste

5. Salt – ½ teaspoon or to taste

6. Onion – 110g (1 medium size)

7. Red Palm oil (melted) – 20ml (2 teaspoonfuls)

8. Eggs (optional)

9. Avocado pear (optional)

Method:

1. Peel, wash and boil plantain

2. Wash onion, and pepper. Add part (in this case 40g was used) of the roasted groundnut, and salt and grind.

3. Add boiled plantain, mash and mix well

4. Heat oil and add to the mixture and mix

5. Boil eggs and slice.

6. Garnish ɛtɔ with the rest of the roasted groundnut, sliced eggs and avocado pear, if available.

Number of servings – 2 adults +1 Pre-school child

2. SASA or OGOR:

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1. Fresh Cocoyam – 800g (wt of roasted – 535g); 4medium

2. Onio – 85g (1 medium)

3. Pepper – 6g (2 fingers)

4. Red palm oil (Dzomi) – 50ml

5. Koobi – 20g

6. Roasted groundnut – 40g

7. Salt – ½ teaspoonful

Method

1. Roast cocoyam. Turn frequently in the process to avoid being burned

2. Remove from the fire and scrapes the outer skin

3. Grind pepper, onion, groundnut and salted fish (optional).

4. Add cocoyam to the grinded pepper and mash all together

5. Add dzomi and mix

6. Serve

Number of servings – 1 adult +1 School Going Child

Recipe #93: Akple (corn and cassava dough) 

In July I discussed cassava (yucca, manioc) dough, and began describing how to make it--at least as far as grating the peeled cassava and pressing it to drain it for 2 or 3 days. Today's post follows up on that. After 3 days, you will have a dry, tightly pressed together clump of cassava. I added a cup of water to a blender, and blended the cassava to a dough/paste. That is what I'm using today. (I had several cups of dough, and have the rest stored it in the freezer). A photo at that previous blog posting shows the Ewe answer to banku: akple. Once one has the cassava dough, it is simple to make. I decided akple would go well with the yesterday's garden egg stew, so only made a small amount since I'm home alone this week. You might want to try this small recipe first, and if you like it, increase the recipe next time you make it.

Recipe #93: Akple (cooked corn and cassava dough)

The proportions for making akple are 1/3 of cassava dough to 2/3rds corn dough. It is my understanding that akple is made from unfermented corn dough. I used

1/2 cup of cassava dough

1 cup of corn dough

To make the corn dough, I put a cup of white Indian Head cornmeal in a blender to make it a little finer (optional), then mixed it in a bowl with a teaspoon of cornstarch (also optional) to make a slightly smoother dough, then mixed 1/2 cup of water into it. (NOTE: the photo shows the cassava dough on the left and the corn dough on the right.

Mix together the 2 doughs in a saucepan with a half cup of water to get a smooth creamy

mixture, and add a little salt (I used ~1/4 teaspoon). A nice heavy wooden spoon or stick works well.

Put the mixture on the stove on a medium heat and stir it as it heats, adding another half cup of water all at once and continue stirring until it forms a solid mass (about 10-15 minutes). Do not allow the dough to become lumpy or scorch on the bottom. Turn it as you stir.

When the mixture becomes fairly solid and no longer "wet" looking, take a calabash (or bowl), wet it thoroughly and put a spoonful of the dough into the calabash, shaking it vigorously and rolling the dough inside into a circle or oval shape.

Originally, akple was eaten mainly with fetri ma or fetri detsi, but now it goes well with other dishes, such as fried fish with pepper sauce or shito, or palaver sauce. As I said, I'm enjoying mine with garden egg stew.

Agusi Frowee (melon seed) Stew with Fish 

I have referred several times in the past to nutritious, delicious agushi (aka agusi, agushie, egusi) seeds.Today's recipe is a classic stew that combines the seeds with fish. There are, of course, other versions using meat or poultry, but this is my favorite.

I'm posting 2 versions of the same recipe: one is a richer, more nuanced, and expensive version. It uses salted cod, smoked fish, real agusi seeds, fresh tomatoes and peppers and palm oil; the other, is faster, cheaper, and lighter and uses canned tomatoes, canned fish, dried pepper, pumpkin seeds, and peanut (or canola) oil. Take your pick, or combine elements of each in your preferred version. The green seeds in the photo below are the pumpkin seeds, the white ones the agushi seeds

Let's begin with the slightly more complicated, fancier one.

Recipe #70: Agusi Frowee (melon seed) Stew with Fish

Version 1: Assemble ingredients

4 oz agushi seeds (about a cup), ground or unground

7-8 ounces of smoked fish (I'm using smoked whiting today), after bones and skin are removed

2 good-sized ripe tomatoes (plus a Tablespoon of tomato paste if you like)

1/2 cup (4 ounces) of palm oil (dzomi if available)

a small piece of salted cod (about an inch cube, about 1/3 of an ounce), or koobi (salted tilapia)

1 large onion (about a cup, chopped)

fresh red pepper to taste

Prepare the ingredients:

1. If the agushi is not ground, grind it in a blender. Mix it with a cup of water and set aside until later.

2. To remove some of the salt, I rinse and soak the salted fish in hot water while I prepare the other ingredients.

3. If the fish has bones and skin remove them and discard.

4. Peel and chop the onion.

5. Prepare the pepper and garlic (I grind mine together in a blender with about a Tablespoon of water). You will need to judge your preference for heat. You can always adjust the heat later by adding more ground dried red pepper later.

6. Chop the tomatoes (if you want to be extra fancy, peel and seed them first--drop in scalding water, then cold, to remove the peelings, and grind them in a blender). Mix in a Tablespoon of tomato paste if you like.

7. Heat a heavy frying pan on the stove top, add the oil and chopped onions, stir well, then add the salted fish.

8. Fry together on medium heat for several minutes, then add the pepper and garlic and cook a couple more minutes, then add the tomatoes and tomato paste.

9. Stir in the smoked fish.

10. Stir the agushi to see that all of the lumps are gone.

11. Stir the agushi-water mixture into the stew, lower the heat, then cover and allow it to simmer, without stirring, for half an hour.

12. The cooked agushi will look a little like scrambled eggs.

13. If you're like me, go ahead and skim off any oil that has risen to the top (or just stir it back into the stew) and check the seasonings. Add some dried red pepper if it isn't spicy enough for you. I cannot imagine it needing more salt, but add some if you must.

This stew goes well with rice, ampesi (plain boiled starchy vegetables like yam, potatoes, plantains, banku, or kenkey. (Note: You can search Betumiblog for recipes for banku and kenkey).

Here is the second, lighter, cheaper, and faster version:

Version 2

Assemble the ingredients:

In place of the smoked fish, substitute a 15 oz can of mackerel

In place of the agushi substitute raw pumpkin seeds

In place of the fresh tomatoes, substitute tomato puree (a cup), OR 2 or 3 Tablespoons of tomato paste mixed with a little water OR a small can of tomato sauce

simply slice, rather than chop, the onions

Do not bother soaking the salt fish

In place of the palm oil, substitute any white oil like canola or peanut of safflower (I avoid olive oil because of its distinctive flavor) and reduce the amount to 1/4 cup (2 oz)

In place of the fresh hot peppers, substitute dried ground red pepper to taste (about 3/4 teaspoon to begin)

Omit the garlic

Follow the same basic steps as above, omitting any steps unnecessary due to using already processed ingredients: grind the pumpkin seeds, mix with a cup of water in a small bowl, chop the onion, open the can of mackerel. Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat and add the onion and salt fish. Cook a few minutes, then add the tomato puree (or paste, sauce), cook a couple more minutes, then add the canned fish and dried red pepper. Stir the water-pumpkin seed mixture into the stew, lower heat and cover and allow to simmer for 30 minutes without stirring.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EbxwysHQ_NQ/Tg4VERlazhI/AAAAAAAAAvU/Dd15YE9vDdE/s1600/agushiernest.jpg