Typical Ghanaian dishes...?

Question

Any people from Ghana on here?

Can you tell me some of the foods eaten in Ghana, both the traditional and more modern ones?

Snacks too?

Thanks .. and merry christmas!!

Answer 1

I don't know about modern Ghanaian food trends as I have not lived there for many years but traditional dishes include..
1. Groundnut stew. A peanut thickened stew with a hint of chili and flame grilled chicken pieces, or boiled chicken as preferred. You can find dozens of recipies for this on-line.
2. Fou Fou..a dish made from pounded yam and cassava..it takes about a day to prepare and sits in your stomach like so much lead, but it is a nutritious and filling meal that those who have developed a taste for love eating.
3.Tomato and sea food stew. This used to be sold as fast food in tiny cafes in Accra..it may still be..you take onions and fry them with tomatoes and spices of your choice and then cook anything and everything that was cheap in the fish market that morning in it..snapper,prawns,parrot fish, whole crabs, octopus..anything; serve with slices of steamed yam..that is real yam and not sweet potato..or bowls of rice.
4. Baked cassava. A whole cassava is put into the cooking fire and left there for two or three hours, the tough outer skin protects the buttery, potato like flesh and it is really delicious.
5. barbecued sweet corn or sweet corn kernals..you take a wok and put it over the fire then add a little groundnut oil and a pile of fresh corn kernels, stir frequently and keep going until the corn actually begins to pop, then add a little salt and serve portions of it in cones made from newspaper..street food.
5. barbecued sewer rat. Not joking. Excellent source of protien, cut the meat up into small pieces and thread onto wooden skewers, cook thoroughly and then roll each skewer in dried chili powder. Not for the faint hearted but surprisingly good. Works just as well with goat...although young goat would usually be spit-roast whole with a variety of spices rubbed into the flesh.
Chicken, tomato, onion ,sea food, yam and cassava and ,of course, groundnuts, are all popular in Ghana,especially oily fish when it can be got; their food is influenced by the British to a small extent, but the British in Ghana were strongly influenced by the foods of the British in India as the ingredients were more readily available than English foods were... there is also a strong Asian influence and even more of a Lebanese one, all of them tempered by wealth and the lack of it..mostly the lack of it..and availability of ingredients. It is a robust cuisine with strong flavors and no time for calorie counters.
Bush meat is highly prized but increasingly scarce, and unfortunately the coastal waters have been over fished, but if you place three ingredients in a kitchen..or beside a cooking fire and a pot, and add one Ghanaian woman she will make a meal somehow.
Merry Christmas.

Answer 2

Groundnut Stew (Ghana) serves 6
Nketia Fla (en-KEH-tee-ah flaw) The peanut is an important ingredient throughout west Africa. The beef in this recipe would be served on a special occasion or in a wealthier home.
In a heavy fry pan or saucepan, brown in 1 tablespoon oil:
1 pound round steak, chuck, or stewing beef, cubed
When browned, add another tablespoon oil and saute:
2 cups onions, chopped and 1 clove garlic, minced
Add: ground cayenne pepper to taste,
½ teaspoon ground ginger or 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, minced
2 cups stewed tomatoes, mashed
1 beef bouillon cube
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
beef
Cover and simmer 30 minutes, or until meat is tender.
In a small bowl, mix: ½ cup peanut butter and ¼ cup broth from stew

Slowly stir this into the stew. Cover and simmer, stirring frequently, another 30 minutes. Add more water to thin, if necessary. Add more cayenne and salt to taste.

Fufu (Ghana) serves 6 to 8
Fufu is usually made in west Africa by boiling a starchy substance, such as cassava, sweet potato, yam, plantain or rice, then pounding it into a stiff mass using a giant mortar and pestle. People who have been in rural west Africa report hearing the thump of the mortar and pestle every morning as food for the day is being prepared. The following is a "cheater’s" version using some processed North American style food.


2 ½ cups Bisquick 2 ½ cups instant potato flakes

Bring 6 cups of water to a rapid boil in a large heavy pot. Combine the two ingredients and add to the water. Reduce heat.
Stir constantly for 10 to 15 minutes, using two people, one to hold the pot and one to stir as vigorously as possible with a strong wooden spoon. The mixture will become thick and difficult to stir, but if you do not keep stirring it will turn into an awful lumpy mess, and waste food.
When the fufu is ready (or the stirrer is exhausted) dump about a cup of the mixture into a wet bowl and shake until it forms a smooth ball. Repeat with the remaining mix. Serve on a buttered platter with soup or stew.
To eat in the traditional manner, tear off a piece of fufu and make an indentation in it with your thumb. Use this hollow to scoop up stew or sauce from a communal bowl. In many countries, influenced by Muslim custom, one should use only the right hand to handle the food.

Answer 3

Red Red and ripe plantain - A stew served with black eyed beans, served in a spicy tomato sauce and fried yellow plantain.

Jollof Rice- A spicy rice dish similar to paella, gumbo or spicy fried rice. Can be served with spicy chicken, meat, shrimp pepper sauce (Shito) and fried yellow plantain.

Fufu - Cassava, plantain or mash potato soggy doe, served with a spicy soup similar to a curry. The soup can be any of the following, plain soup (tomato/stock based/with fish and meat or just meat, Peanut soup from either peanut butter or real nuts (Groundnut soup), Palm Soup (plain soup with palm oil extract which is very rich and oily) or Groundnut and Palm Soup mixed. Typical meats used would be chicken for Peanut soup, beef, mutton, trip, lamb, goat, deer, pork(rarely) or oxtail (rare). Other additions could include, dried smoked catfish (adrini), dried snails, shrimps, makeral or snapper fish.

Sewer Rat - Is normally eaten by the poorest Ghanaian people who lives in villages not the higher classes of people.

Ampesi Stew - Is a tomato based stew with spices/chillis served with Puna yam and green plantain

Kenkey - Is the Ghanaian version of Sushi. It is corn maize mixed with water and fermented for a few days until the dough has a vinegar flavour. It is served with a tomatos salsa, mashed up tomatoes, scotch bonnet, white onion and served with a shrimp chilli pasted called 'Shito.' It is eaten with some kind of fried fish. Normally Snapper or Herring fish.

Rice and Beans - Is the dish where Jamaican Rice and Peas originated. It is made up of fresh coconut cream or coconut boiled rice. The rice also contains a pulse such as Kidney or black eyed beans. It is then boiled together but prepared slightly differently to the Jamaican version. Waakye leaf is added if you are cooking the traditional Ghanaian version. The rice is served with a tomato based stew consisting of fish, chicken or meat. Gari (West African grounded cassava, similar to what is served in Brazil is added. Rice and Beans is known as Waakye in Ghana.

Kontomrai (Not sure of the spelling) Is a stew similar to West Indian Callaloo. The main ingredient is greens and tomatoes, prepared as a stew. Served with yam, green plantain, scotch bonnet/chilli. On rare occasions a boiled egg is added.

Chachinga - Ghanaian kebab, Consisting of spices, bell peppers and chicken or meat. Normally roasted or grilled.

Kelewele - Fried ripe/yellow/black plantain mixed with spices and chilli. Chopped up into small chunks, served as a starter.

Breakfast - Cocoa Porridge - Soaked corn maize, same procedure as Kenkey. Fermented. Served with evaporated milk, sugar and powdered chilli pepper is added. Tastes similar to a hot yoghurt.

Ghanaian fried rice - Originated from Chinese fried rice. Has a slightly burnt taste.

Garden Egg Stew - Stew made with spicy tomato based with garden egg plant added. Eaten with sweet potato, yam or plantain.

Okra Stew - Okra veg with spicy tomato stew. Served with ground rice dough.

Garri and Shito - Grounded Casava is coarse. So it is mixed with water. The texture and taste is similar to coarser version of Cous Cous. This is served with Shito (Shrimp chilli paste and fish). The fish can be sardines, herring or mackerel.

One thing to note in Ghanaian cooking is everything savoury for dinner or lunch will contain tomato as a base. So most soups and stews are red in colour.

Answer 4

Chicken PB Soup:

http://www.cp-pc.ca/english/ghana/eating.html
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Groundnut Stew:

http://www.pepperheadsinc.com/pages/recpepperheads.htm#ghanaian
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http://www.ghana.co.uk/food/recipes/recipes.htm

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/food/

http://www.deliciousglobe.com/InternationalRecipes/africa/west_africa.htm#Recipes%20Of%20Ghana