{"id":5097,"date":"2018-11-15T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T18:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.touchalifekids.org\/?p=5097"},"modified":"2018-11-15T10:00:31","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T18:00:31","slug":"food-in-ghana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/touchalifekids.org\/food-in-ghana\/","title":{"rendered":"Food in Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Evelyn\"<\/a>THANKFUL. This word that has crossed my mind frequently since returning home from my visit to Ghana. The joy that radiates from Ghanaians conceals the hardships that most of them face on a daily basis. Little access to clean water, children working the streets, and the piles of waste along the road were my foremost concerns as we traveled through the different towns from Accra to Kumasi. It is hard to comprehend how societies live in these conditions, yet be incredibly joyful and thankful to be alive.<\/p>\n

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I made a few dishes for my friends and colleagues to try, I was not certain that one friend in particular would be open to trying these dishes. To my surprise, and I believe hers, she actually enjoyed some of the food, mainly the Red Red (not surprising). We discovered that there are many delicious and unique Ghanaian dishes. The dish that we all fell in love with is called Red Red, a dish composed of black eyed peas cooked in palm oil with fried plantains. A few other dishes that we tried and enjoyed were: Jollof Rice, Fufu, Kontomire (a spinach stew), Tomato Gravy, Turmeric Cauliflower, and a wonderful watermelon ginger juice. Dinner was served in three courses:<\/p>\n


\n\"Light<\/a>Course 1: Fufu in Light Soup<\/strong><\/p>\n

I prepared the soup the night before and began with a simple blend of tomatoes, onions, hot peppers, ginger, and garlic. After the puree came to a simmer, I added diced potatoes and let them simmer until they were tender. The soup was as simple as that. Fufu is a starchy ball of dough, generally made from yams, cassava, plantains, or corn. Traditionally, the raw vegetables are pounded over and over with a pestle in a massive mortar until they develop into an elastic dough. The dough is then cooked in a large kettle, stirring constantly, until it all comes together into a large ball. Most American households do not have the right equipment to prepare the fufu this way; however, I found cassava powder in our local international spice store that is cooked in a large pot with water, stirring constantly until it reaches the same consistency. The texture was, as my friend stated, \u201clike thick grainy mashed potatoes,\u201d which for the most part makes sense, as cassava is closely related to potatoes. The fufu is served in the soup, and traditionally is picked apart with your hands and used as a utensil to eat your soup.<\/p>\n

The verdict: The soup was light, full of flavor, and had a nice heat to it. The fufu is definitely different than starchy foods that I am used to eating, and while I am glad I took the time to make it, it is probably not something I would necessarily add to my usual diet.<\/p>\n

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\"Red<\/a>Course 2: Red Red<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mmmmmmmm, Red Red. The two ingredients that make this dish unique and special are the black eyed peas and palm oil. To begin, I cleaned the black-eyes peas and let them soak overnight. Because I decided to use a slow cooker to prepare the Red Red, I simply combined all of the ingredients (black eyed peas, onions, brown sugar, palm oil, ground crayfish, salt, red bell peppers, plum tomatoes, scotch bonnet peppers, and garlic) into the vat and let it go low and slow for 6 hours. This allowed for me to have more time to focus on the other dishes that needed more attention.<\/p>\n

The verdict: Wow! It almost tasted exactly what we had in Ghana. It is rich with bold flavors, but I need to work on perfecting the accompanying fried plantains.<\/p>\n

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\"Kebabs<\/a>Course 3: Kebabs with Tomato Gravy over Rice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Evelyn, the cook at the care center, served a delicious tomato gravy with every lunch we had at the care center. Her gravy had such a distinct, perfect tomato flavor, which I assumed she had to have stewed for hours. The gravy I made did not have quite the depth of flavor that Evelyn\u2019s did, but it was still delicious with the beef and pork kebabs. I seasoned the pork and beef with ground peanuts and other herbs and spices, seared them in a grill pan, and finished them in the oven. It was a nice finish to the meal, but we were so full that we were only able to tackle half of each of our kebabs.<\/p>\n

The verdict: Yum! I could definitely could eat this once a week and be completely satisfied.<\/p>\n

If you would like to take a dive into the Ghanaian cuisine, the recipes for each of these dishes are below:<\/p>\n

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Light Soup<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/p>\n