Ghanaian cuisine

Ghanaian cuisine refers to the meals of the Ghanaian people. The main dishes of Ghana are centered around starchy staple foods, accompanied by either a sauce or soup as well as a source of protein. The primary ingredients for the vast majority of soups and stews are tomatoes, hot peppers, onions and some local species. As a result of these main ingredients, most Ghanaian jollof rice, soups, and stews appear red or orange.

Ghanaian foods heavily rely on traditional food crops grown in Ghana, combined with crops introduced through colonial and globalized crops, gardens and cuisine.

Main staple foods

The typical staple foods in the southern part of Ghana include cassava and plantain. In the north, the main staple foods include millet and sorghum. Yam, maize and beans are eaten across Ghana; sweet potatoes and cocoyam are important vegetables in Ghanaian cuisine. With the advent of globalization, cereals such as rice and wheat have been increasingly incorporated into Ghanaian cuisine notably in the form of bread. The foods below represent Ghanaian dishes made out of these staple foods.

Foods made with maize

* Abolo, steamed corn dough and sugar mixture. It is a delicacy among the Ewe. It is eaten with various soups or sauces.
*'' Akple, ba mi ku or banku'' are balls of slightly fermented corn and cassava flour mix that are boiled in hot water. It is a traditional meal of the Ewe, it can be eaten with pepper sauces, stews, or any soup. It is typically served with okra soup ( fetridetsi) or herring stew (''abɔbitadi''). Sometimes only corn flour is used, but in many areas, cassava dough is cooked together with fermented corn dough in different ratios. ''Banku'' cooked with cassava and corn dough mixture is called ''agbelimorkple'' by the Ewe people while the one without cassava dough mixture is known as ''kutornu-kple'' (''cotonou banku'') while ''mmore'' is the Akan name of cooked fermented corn dough without cassava.
*'' Kenkey''/''komi''/'' dokonu'' is fermented corn dough wrapped in corn, originating from the Ga people of the Ga-Adangbe, who call it ''komi'' or Ga ''kenkey''. Another variety originating from the Fanti people is ''Fante dokono,'' or ''Fanti kenkey,'' which is wrapped with plantain leaves that give it a different texture, flavor, and colour as compared to the Ga ''kenkey''. Both are boiled for long periods into consistent solid balls. ''Fanti kenkey'' is wrapped in plantain leaves that give it a different texture. It is boiled for long periods into consistent solid balls.
*''Fonfom'' is a maize dish popular in south-western Ghana.
* ''Nkyekyeraa'' is a Ghanaian dish made up of dry corn and few groundnuts, which is mostly found in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions. It is usually wrapped in corn leaves or a fresh leaf and boiled until it becomes soft enough to be chewed easily.
*'' Tuozaafi'' is a millet, sorghum or maize dish originating from Northern Ghana. The grain is boiled until it becomes firm.
* Yoroyoro is widely eaten across Dagbon and many parts of Northern Ghana. It is made by boiling maize until it is softened. The food is eaten with pepper and onions.

Foods made with rice

*'' Angwa moo'', or oiled rice, is cooked by onion-frying the oil until the onions brown, then adding water and rice, which is cooked in the water-oil mixture that gives it an oily texture. It may be cooked with vegetables or minced meat, added to taste. It is mostly served with earthenware-ground pepper, with either tinned sardines or fried eggs.
*Jollof rice, rice cooked in a stew made of stock, tomatoes, spices, and meat. This dish originated from the Jolof traders from Senegal who settled in the Zongo settlements before the colonial period. Adapted to local Ghanaian tastes, it is typically eaten with goat, lamb, chicken, or beef that has been stewed, roasted or grilled.
*''Omo tuo'', or rice ball, is sticky mashed rice, often eaten with groundnut or palm nut soup.
* Fried rice, Chinese style dish adapted to Ghanaian tastes.
*Plain bolied rice that accompanies many of the variety of red stews.
*'' Waakye'', a dish of rice and beans with black-eyed peas or kidney beans, coconut and ''Sorghum bicolor'', which gives waakye a reddish color.

Foods made with cassava

*'' Attiéké'' or ''Akyeke—'' a culinary specialty of the lagoon people (Ebrié, Adjoukrou, Alladian, Abidji, Avikam, Ahizi, Attie) of southern Ivory Coast. It is popular among the Ahanta, Nzema and Akan-speaking people of Ivory Coast.
*'' Garri'', cassava flour, can be eaten dry with beans, or mixed with tomatoes and spicesm and then kneaded. Garri is often served with red red, a fish and black-eyed pea stew, or ''shito'' and fish.
*''Fufu'' is a dish made from pounded cassava and plantains, yam and plantain, or cocoyam/taro. It is a side dish that is always accompanied by one of the many Ghanaian soups.
*'' Kokonte'', or ''abete'', is made from dried peeled cassava powder and is usually served with groundnut soup that includes some meat such as tripe or lamb.
*'' Plakali'' is similar to banku, but is made from cassava only. It is popular among the Ahanta, Nzema and Akan-speaking people of Ivory Coast.
* Yakayake, made from steamed grated cassava is an Ewe dish. It is eaten with various stews or soups.

Foods made with beans

A deviation from the starch and stew combination are bean-based foods such as red red and '' tubaani''.
* Red red is a popular Ghanaian bean and fish stew served with fried ripe plantains and often accompanied with '' garri'', fish, and pulses. It earns its name from the palm oil that tints the bean stew and the bright orange color of the fried, ripe plantains.
* ''Tubaani'' is a boiled bean cake, called '' moin moin'' in Nigeria.
* ''Koose'' is a pea fritter that can be served between two slices of bread, or with porridge.

Foods made with yam

*''Ampesie'', boiled yam. It may also be made with plantains, cocoyams, potatoes, yams or cassava. It is a side dish traditionally eaten with fish stew containing tomatoes, oil, and spices.
*Fried yam can be served with a variety of stews and pepper sauces. The yam chips are deep-fried so that the outside is crispy and the inside is soft.
*'' Mpoto mpoto'' (yam casserole or porridge) are slices of yam cooked in a lot of water with pepper, onions, tomatoes, salt and seasoning.
*Roasted tam, a popular street snack made from white yam with brown bark.
*''Yam fufu'' is ''fufu'' made with yam instead of cassava, plantains, or cocoyam. It is also traditionally eaten with Ghanaian soups. It is popular in Northern and southeastern Ghana.
*Yam balls are similar to Scotch eggs, with fillings like meat pie, spring rolls, samosa, or shawarma.

Soups and stews

Most Ghanaian side dishes are served with a stew, soup, or ''mako'' (a spicy condiment made from raw red and green chilies, onions, and tomatoes ( pepper sauce)). Ghanaian stews and soups are quite sophisticated, with a liberal and delicate use of exotic ingredients and a wide variety of flavours, spices and textures.

Vegetables such as palm nuts, peanuts, cocoyam leaves, ''ayoyo'', spinach, wild mushroom, okra, garden eggs (eggplant), tomatoes, and various types of pulses are the main ingredients in Ghanaian soups and stews and in the case of pulses, may double as the main protein ingredient.

Beef, pork, goat, lamb, chicken, smoked turkey, tripe, dried snails, and fried fish are common sources of protein in Ghanaian soups and stews, sometimes mixing different types of meat and occasionally fish into one soup. Soups are served as a main course rather than a starter. It is also common to find smoked meat, fish and seafood in Ghanaian soups and stews, including crabs, shrimp, periwinkles, octopus, snails, grubs, duck, offal, pig's trotters, and oysters.

Meat, mushrooms, and seafood may be smoked, salted, or dried for flavour enhancement and preservation. Salt fish is widely used to flavour fish-based stews. Spices such as thyme, garlic, onions, ginger, peppers, curry, basil, nutmeg, sumbala, ''Tetrapleura tetraptera'' ('' prekese'') and bay leaf are delicately used to achieve the exotic and spicy flavours that characterize Ghanaian cuisine.

Palm oil, coconut oil, shea butter, palm kernel oil, and peanut oil are important Ghanaian oils used for cooking or frying and may sometimes not be substituted for in certain Ghanaian dishes. For example, using palm oil in okro stew, ''eto'', ''fante fante'', ''red red'' or ''Gabeans'', ''egusi'' stew, and ''mpihu/mpotompoto'' (similar to poi). Coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and shea butter have lost their popularity for cooking in Ghana due to the introduction of refined oils and negative Ghanaian media advertisements targeted at those oils. They are now mostly used in a few traditional homes, for soap making, and by commercial (street food) food vendors as a cheaper substitute to refined cooking oils.

Common Ghanaian soups are groundnut soup,BetumiBlog: Search results for peanut butter soup
/ref> light (tomato) soup, ''kontomire'' (taro leaves) soup, palm nut soup, ''ayoyo'' soup and okra soup.

Ghanaian tomato stew or gravy is a stew that is often served with rice or '' waakye''. Other vegetable stews are made with ''kontomire'', garden eggs, ''egusi'' (pumpkin seeds), spinach, okra, etc.

Among the Ewes, some soups are prepared with gboma (Solanum macrocarpa) and also yevugboma (European gboma). Water leaf) or ademe (jute mallow). These are eaten with the various varieties of akple, abolo (steamed corn dough) or yakayake (steamed cassava dough).

Breakfast

Most of the dishes mentioned above are served during lunch and supper in modern Ghana. However, those engaged in manual labour and a large number of urban dwellers still eat these foods for breakfast and will usually buy them from the streets.
Another popular breakfast is called Hausa koko (northern porridge). It is usually prepared in Northern Ghana, is sweet, and often eaten with koose or bread with groundnuts.

In large Ghanaian cities, working-class people would often take fruit, tea, chocolate drinks, oats, rice porridge or cereal (locally called rice water) or ''kooko'' (fermented maize porridge), and ''koose/ akara'' or ''maasa'' (beans, ripe plantain and maize meal fritters).Kokoking: Food and nutrition
. . Retrieved 11 October 2013. Other breakfast foods include grits, ''tombrown'' (roasted maize porridge), and millet porridge.

Bread is an important feature in Ghanaian breakfasts and baked foods. Ghanaian bread, which is known for its good quality, is baked with wheat flour and sometimes cassava flour is added for an improved texture. There are four major types of bread in Ghana. They are tea bread (similar to the baguette), sugar bread (which is a sweet bread), brown (whole wheat) bread, and butter bread. Rye bread, oat bread and malt bread are also quite common.

Sweet foods

There are many sweet local foods that have been marginalized due to their low demand and long preparation process. Ghanaian sweet foods (or confectionery) may be fried, barbecued, boiled, roasted, baked or steamed. There is a popular belief in Ghana that overconsuming sugar can make men impotent, and any consumption will impact their libido.

Fried sweet foods include cubed and spiced ripe plantains (''kelewele'') sometimes served with peanuts. ''Koose'' made from peeled beans (and its close twin ''acarajé'' or '' akara'' made from beans that are not peeled), ''maasa'', ''pinkaaso'', and ''bofrot''/ Puff-puff (made from wheat flour); ''waakye'' ''dzowey'' and ''nkate'' cake (made from peanuts); ''kaklo'' and ''tatale'' (ripe plantain fritters); ''kube'' cake and ''kube'' toffee (made from coconut); ''bankye krakro'', ''gari'' biscuit, and ''krakye ayuosu'' (made from cassava); condensed milk, toffee, plantain chips (or fried plantain) and ''wagashi'' (fried farmer's cheese) are fried Ghanaian savory foods (confectionery).

Kebabs are popular barbecue foods and can be made from beef, goat, pork, soy flour, sausages, and guinea fowl. Other roasted savoury foods include roasted plantains, maize, yam and cocoyam.

Steamed fresh maize, ''yakeyake'', ''kafa'', ''akyeke'', ''tubani, moimoi'' (bean cake), ''emo dokonu'' (rice cake), and ''esikyire dokonu'' (sweetened ''kenkey'') are all examples of steamed and boiled foods, while sweet bread (plantain cake), meat pie similar to Jamaican patties, and empanadas are baked savoury foods. '' Aprapransa'', ''eto'' (mashed yam), and ''atadwe'' milk ( tiger nut juice) are other savory foods. ''Gari'' soakings are a modern favorite. It is a blend of ''gari'' (dried, roasted cassava), sugar, groundnut (peanut) and milk.

Beverages

In southern Ghana, Ghanaian drinks such as '' asaana'' (made from fermented maize) are common. Along Lake Volta and in southern Ghana, palm wine extracted from the palm tree can be found, but it ferments quickly, and then it is used to distill akpeteshie (a local gin). ''Akpeteshie'' can be distilled from molasses too. In addition, a beverage can be made from ''kenkey'' and refrigerated into what is in Ghana known as ice kenkey. In northern Ghana, bisaap/sorrel, ''toose,'' and ''lamujee'' (a spicy sweetened drink) are common non-alcoholic beverages whereas ''pitoo'' (a local beer made of fermented millet) is an alcoholic beverage.

In urban areas of Ghana, drinks may include fruit juice, cocoa drinks, fresh coconut water, yogurt, ice cream, carbonated drinks, malt drinks, and soy milk. In addition, Ghanaian distilleries produce alcoholic beverages from cocoa, malt, sugar cane, local medicinal herbs, and tree barks. They include bitters, liqueur, dry gins, beer, and aperitifs.

Street foods in Ghana

Street food is very popular in both rural and urban areas of Ghana. Many Ghanaian families patronize street food vendors, from whom all kinds of foods can be bought, including staple foods such as '' kenkey'', red red and '' waakye''. Other savoury foods, such as meat kebabs, boiled corn cob, '' boflot/bofrot'' (puff-puff), and roasted plantain are sold mainly by street food vendors.

Ice kenkey is a popular chilled dessert sold by street vendors in open-air markets.

''Kosua ne meko'' (eggs with pepper) is a street food sold mostly by street vendors.

Common Ghanaian dishes

File:Grilled tilapia with banku.jpg, '' Banku'' and grilled tilapia fish
File:Ghanaian Red-Red with Fish.jpg, Red-red: bean and fish stew with fried plantain
File:Ghanaian Beans, plantain (non-sweet banana) and chicken.jpg, Beans, plantain, and chicken
File:Shrimps and fried fingerlings also known as One Man Thousand in Ghana.jpg, "One Man Thousand": cooked shrimp and fried Tanganyika sardine
File:Charcoal Roasted Ripe Plantain.jpg, Ghanaian ''Kɔkɔ a y'atoto'' (nickname: Kofi Broke Man) charcoal-roasted ripe plantain
File:Banku ne mako.jpg, Ghanaian ''Banku Ne Mako'' (''banku'' and pepper-tomato sauce)
File:Kokonte.jpg, Ghanaian style ''konkonte''
File:Ghanaian Fufuo in light (tomato) soup with goat.jpg, Ghanaian ''fufu'' in palmnut soup with goat
File:Fufu and Light Soup with meat.jpg, ''Fufu'' and light tomato soup with meat
File:Fried yam.jpg, Fried yam with spicy chicken and ''kpakpo shito'' (ground green peppers)
File:Jollof.jpg, Jollof rice with coleslaw and barbecue chicken
File:Kenkey.jpg, ''Kenkey'' with fried fish and chili pepper
File:Yam and garden egg stew.jpg, Cooked yam and plantain, with "garden egg" ( aubergine) stew and chicken
File:Akan Ghanaian style Spicy Sauce.jpg, Ghanaian style spicy sauce
File:Akan Ghanaian style Spicy Grilled Kebab.jpg, Ghanaian style spicy grilled kebab
File:Waakye 2.jpg, '' Waakye'' (rice and beans) served with spaghetti and boiled egg
File:Grinded Red Pepper.jpg, Ground red pepper, a Ghanaian delicacy, mainly an accompaniment for ''banku'' and '' kenkey''
File:Ghanaian pepper and taro leaves (masterclass dish).jpg, '' Tubaani''
File:Ghanaian traditional cuisine. Northern Ghana.jpg, ''Tubaani'' wrapped in the leaves of '' Ewe eran''

See also

* Chop bar
* West African cuisine
* List of African cuisines
* La Tante DC10 Restaurant

References

Further reading

There are some cookbooks which concentrate on Ghanaian food, including the following:

*
* Adjonyoh, Zoe (2021). Zoe's Ghana kitchen. New York: Voracious. ISBN 978-0316335034
* Adjepong, Eric (2025). ''Ghana to the world: Recipes and stories that look forward while honoring the past''. Korsha Wilson. New York: Clarkson Potter.

External link

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West African cuisine