Cuisine of Ghana
Encyclopedia
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. There are diverse traditional dishes from each ethnic group, tribe and clan from the north to the south and from the east to west. Foods also vary according to the season, time of the day and occasion. Ghanaian main dishes unlike other cultures are organized around a starchy staple such as rice, fufu
Fufu
Fufu, , is a staple snack of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste usually made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding with a mortar and pestle until the desired consistency is reached...
, banku / etew, kenkey
Kenkey
Kenkey or Dokonu or Komi is a staple dish similar to a sourdough dumpling from the Akan, Ga and Ewe inhabited regions of West Africa, usually served with a soup, stew, or sauce. Areas where Kenkey are eaten are southern Ghana, eastern Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, western Benin and Jamaica. It is usually...
/dokonu , tuozafi, dzidzii, akplidzii, yakeyake, eto, akyeke, etc with which a sauce or soup saturated with fish, snails, meat or mushrooms is served.
Main staple foods
The typical Ghanaian staples in the south include cassava and plantain. In the northern parts of the country, their main staples include millet and sorghum,. YamYam
Yam or YAM may refer to:*Yam , common name for members of Dioscorea*Sweet potato, specifically its orange-fleshed cultivars, often marketed as 'yams' in North America and as 'kumara' in New Zealand...
, maize and beans are used across the country as staple foods. Crops such as peanuts and cocoyam are also important in the local cuisine. With the advent of modernization and colonialism, imported crops such as rice and wheat have been increasingly incorporated in Ghanaian cuisine. The foods below represent the different dishes made out of these staple foods.
- FufuFufuFufu, , is a staple snack of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste usually made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding with a mortar and pestle until the desired consistency is reached...
– pounded cassava and plantain or pounded yamYam (vegetable)Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
and plantainPlantainPlantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
, or pounded cocoyamCocoyamCocoyam can mean:* Taro - old cocoyam* Malanga - new cocoyam...
/taroTaroTaro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is... - Banku/Akple – cooked fermented corn dough and cassava dough
- KenkeyKenkeyKenkey or Dokonu or Komi is a staple dish similar to a sourdough dumpling from the Akan, Ga and Ewe inhabited regions of West Africa, usually served with a soup, stew, or sauce. Areas where Kenkey are eaten are southern Ghana, eastern Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, western Benin and Jamaica. It is usually...
/Dokonu – fermented corn dough, wrapped in corn or plantain leaves and cooked into a consistent solid balls - Tuo Zaafi – a maize dish from northern Ghana
- Fonfom – a maize dish of the AhantaAhantaThe Ahanta are an Akan people who live to the north of the Nzema. Ahanta literally means the land of Twins. The Ahanta land has been historically known as one of the richest areas on the coast of what is now Ghana....
and NzemaNzemaThe Nzema are an Akan people numbering about 328,700 people of whom 262,000 live in southwestern Ghana and 66,700 live in the southeast of Côte d'Ivoire.In Ghana the Nzema area is divided into two electoral districts of Nzema East District and Nzema West which is also referred to as Jomoro District...
people in Southern Ghana - Konkonte – from cassava powder
- GariGarriGarri is a popular West African food made from cassava tubers. The spelling 'garri' is mainly used in Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and 'gari' in Ghana....
– made from cassava - Omo Tuo – pounded rice staple of northern origins.
- Waakye – rice and beans
- Jollof riceJollof riceJollof rice, also called 'Benachin' meaning one pot in the Wolof language, is a popular dish all over West Africa. It is thought to have originated in The Gambia but has since spread to the whole of West Africa, especially Nigeria and Ghana amongst members of the Wolof ethnic group.There are many...
- Cooked plain rice with stew
Tilapia
Tilapia
Tilapia , is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe. Tilapia inhabit a variety of fresh water habitats, including shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. Historically, they have been of major importance in artisan fishing in Africa and the...
, fried whitebait
Whitebait
Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between 25 and 50 millimetres long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along the coast, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught with fine meshed fishing nets...
(chinam), smoked fish
Smoked fish
Smoked fish are fish that have been cured by smoking.Foods have been smoked by humans throughout history. Originally this was done as a preservative...
and crayfish
Crayfish
Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...
are all common components of Ghanaian dishes. The cornmeal based staples, banku and kenkey are usually accompanied by some form of fried fish (chinam) or grilled tilapia and a very spicy condiment made from raw red and green chillies, onions and tomatoes (pepper sauce. Banku and tilapia is a very popular combo served in most Ghanaian restaurants.
Other popular dishes include ampesie (boiled yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
and unripe plantain
Plantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
) which is usually accompanied with kontomire, groundnut soup, or nyadowa (garden egg stew).
An alternative to the starch and stew combination is "Red Red", a very popular and easy to find dish. It is a bean stew served with fried ripe plantain
Plantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
. It earns its name from the palm oil that tints the stew and the bright orange color of the fried plantain.
Soups and stews
Most Ghanaian dishes are served with a stewStew
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...
or soup
Soup
Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
. Ghanaian stews and soups are quite sophisticated with liberal and adventurous use of exotic ingredients and a wide variety of flavors, spices and textures. Spices such as thyme, garlic, ginger and bay leaf; vegetables such as wild mushroom, garden eggs (egg plant), tomatoes and various types of pulses; beef, pork, goat, sheep, chicken, smoked meat and fish; crab, shrimp, periwinkles, octopus; bushmeat
Bushmeat
Bushmeat initially referred to the hunting of wild animals in West and Central Africa and is a calque from the French viande de brousse. Today the term is commonly used for meat of terrestrial wild animals, killed for subsistence or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas,...
, snails, and duck
Duck (food)
Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...
; offal, trotters and cow skin are all featured in Ghanaian cuisine.
Palm oil
Palm oil
Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...
, coconut oil, shea butter
Shea butter
Shea butter is a slightly yellowish or ivory-colored fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree . It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve or lotion. Shea butter is edible and may be used in food preparation...
, palm kernel oil
Palm kernel oil
Palm kernel oil is an edible plant oil derived from the kernel of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis. It should not be confused with the other two edible oils derived from palm fruits: coconut oil, extracted from the kernel of the coconut, and palm oil, extracted from the pulp of the oil palm...
and peanut oil are important local oils used for cooking and frying. In certain soups, palm oil is the preferred oil for preparing it. Classic examples are okro stew, fante fante, red red, egusi stew and mpihu / mpotompoto (taro
Taro
Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...
porridge). Coconut oil, palm kernel oil and shea butter were used for frying most local fried foods. However with the introduction of refined oils and negative media adverts targetted at these local oils, their use have become less popular. They are mostly used in few traditional homes, for soap making and by commercial food vendors to cut down cost on using the refined vegetable oils.
The most popular soups are groundnut
Peanut butter
Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...
soup, light (tomato) soup, kontomire (taro
Taro
Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...
leaves) soup, palmnut soup and okra
Okra
Okra is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It is valued for its edible green seed pods. The geographical origin of okra is disputed, with supporters of South Asian, Ethiopian and West African origins...
soup. Tomato stew or gravy is a popular stew which is often served with rice. Other vegetable stews are made with kontomire, garden eggs, egusi
Egusi
Egusi seeds are the fat- and protein-rich seeds of certain cucurbitaceous plants. Authorities disagree whether the word is used more properly for the seeds of the colocynth, those of a particular large-seeded variety of the watermelon, or generically for those of any cucurbitaceous plant...
(pumpkin seeds), spinach, okra, etc. mixed with any protein of one's choice.
Usually rice is served with a soup or stew, kenkey is served with fried fish and hot pepper while banku is usually served with okra
Okra
Okra is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It is valued for its edible green seed pods. The geographical origin of okra is disputed, with supporters of South Asian, Ethiopian and West African origins...
stew or soup and occasionally with tilapia
Tilapia
Tilapia , is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe. Tilapia inhabit a variety of fresh water habitats, including shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. Historically, they have been of major importance in artisan fishing in Africa and the...
. Fufu
Fufu
Fufu, , is a staple snack of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste usually made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding with a mortar and pestle until the desired consistency is reached...
, akple and konkonte are served with soup.
Breakfast meals
Most of the popular dishes mentioned above are often served during lunch and supper in modern Ghana. However, it is not uncommon to find traditionally agrarian communities having these meals before farm work in the morning.In large cities, working class people would often take tea, cocoa drink, oats, rice porridge (locally called rice water), kooko (fermented maize porridge) and koose/akara or maasa (rice and maize meal fritters). Other breakfast foods include ekuegbemi, oblayo(maize porridge), tombrown (roasted maize porridge) and millet porridge.
Bread is an important feature in Ghanaian breakfast and baked foods. Ghanaian bread which is known for its good quality in West Africa is baked with wheat flour and sometimes cassava
Cassava
Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
flour is added for an improved texture. There are four types of bread in Ghana. They are tea bread (similar to the baguette
Baguette
A baguette is "a long thin loaf of French bread" that is commonly made from basic lean dough...
), sugar bread which is a sweet bread, brown (whole wheat) bread and butter bread.
Savory foods
There are many savory local foods which have been marginalized due to their demand and preparation process. Ghanaian savory foods may be fried, barbequed, boiled,roasted, baked or steamed.Some popular fried savoury foods include cubed and spiced ripe plantain (kelewele) sometimes served with peanuts. Koose ( also called Acarajé
Acarajé
Acarajé is a dish made from peeled black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in dendê . It is found in Nigerian and Brazilian cuisine...
or akara), maasa, pinkaaso, atsomo and bofrot (made from wheat flour); kuli-kuli
Kuli-Kuli
Kuli-kuli is a Hausa food that is primarily made from peanuts. It is a popular snack in Ghana and Nigeria. It is often eaten alone or with a mixture of garri, sugar and water popularly called "garri soakings". It is also eaten with kooko,fula, kamu; and is sometimes ground and put into salad.To...
, zowey and nkate cake (made from peanuts$2); krakro and tatale (ripe plantain
Plantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
fritters); kube cake and kube toffee (made from coconut); bankye krakro gari biscuitand krakye ayuosu (made from cassava
Cassava
Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
); condensed milk toffee
Toffee
Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 300 to 310 °F...
, plantain
Plantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
chips
Chips
-Food:*A thick version of French fries, strips of deep-fried potato*Potato chips , a snack food comprising thin slices of fried potatoes*Tortilla chips, a snack food made from corn tortillas*Corn chips a snack food made from corn...
and wagashi (fried farmer's cheese) are all fried local savory foods which are popular in some areas.
Kebab
Kebab
Kebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer...
s are also popular barbecues and can be made from beef, goat, pork, soy flour, sausages and guinea fowl. Other roasted savoury foods include roasted plantain, maize, yam and cocoyam.
Steamed fresh maize, Abolo, Yakeyake, Kafa, Akyeke, tubani / moimoi (bean cake) and emo dokonu (rice cake
Rice cake
A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten, and are particularly prevalent in Asia. The origin of rice cake seems to be...
) and esikyire dokonu (sweetened kenkey) are all examples of steamed and boiled foods whilst sweet bread, epitsi (plantain cake), ayigbe biscuit and meat pie similar to Jamaican patties or empanada
Empanada
An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Latin America, Southern Europe and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing...
are baked savoury foods.
Aprapransa, eto (mashed yam) and atadwe milk (tiger nut juice) are other savory foods which may undergo a combination of processes.
Beverages
Ghana has a wide variety of local beverages which pertain to various communities. In the south, local drinks such as asaana (made from fermented maize), akpeteshie (distilled local gin made from sugar cane) and palm wine extracted from the palm tree are common . In addition, a beverage can be made from kenkey and refrigerated into what is locally known as iced kenkey. Among northern communities, fula, bokina, bisaab / sorrelSorrel
Common sorrel or garden sorrel , often simply called sorrel, is a perennial herb that is cultivated as a garden herb or leaf vegetable...
, toose and lamujee (a spicy sweetened drink) are common non alcoholic beverages whereas pitoo (a local gin made of fermented millet) is an alcoholic beverage.
In urban areas cocoa drinks, fresh coconuts, yogurt, ice cream, carbonated drinks, malt drinks and soy milk are popular. In addition, Ghanaian distilleries produce good quality alcoholic beverages from cocoa, malt, sugar cane, local medicinal herbs and tree barks. They include bitters
Bitters
A bitters is an alcoholic beverage that is flavored with herbal essences and has a bitter or bittersweet flavor. There are numerous brands of bitters that were formerly marketed as patent medicines but are now considered to be digestifs, rather than medicines...
, liqueur
Liqueur
A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...
, dry gin
Gin
Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...
s, beer, and aperitif
Aperitif
Apéritifs and digestifs are alcoholic drinks that are normally served with meals.-Apéritifs:An apéritif is usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite. This contrasts with digestifs, which are served after a meal for the purpose of aiding digestion...
s.