Valentine Cascarino
food
Fish has swum its way into most Ghanaian dishes not only because it’s cheap and more readily available than meat, but also because it adds flavour, while balancing the nutritive deficit in the starch-packed Ghanaian meals.
One aspect of Ghanaian tradition is a wide range of delicacies. And now, for your delectation and delight, a restaurant in Yeoville is offering a broad range of Ghanaian meals, from fufu, kenkey and banku to plantains, yam, rice and green banana, all served with weird but highly-flavoured fish soups, stews or sauces.
“The establishment of this restaurant is a welcome revelation to many people with a love for Ghanaian food,” says Baba Ewusi, one of the two Ghanaian immigrants running the African Corner Restaurant. She says the restaurant caters for people of all nationalities, but is most frequented by Africans.
Among the dishes they’re seeking is fufu, which is made from cassava, plantains or yam, pounded to a pulp before being cooked with little or no water to make a gooey ball that’s normally served submerged in soup.
Another traditional meal similar in taste and texture to fufu is kenkey. It’s prepared from fermented maize meal, cooked in an easily detachable wrapping of plantain leaves, and eaten with a very spicy and equally fiery peppery tomato relish, topped with roasted or fried fish.
The pepper that’s used in Ghanaian cuisine is arguably the oldest and hottest in the world. In fact, historians claim that in ancient times a Roman market known as Piper Horatorium got its name from the red and green Ghanaian pepper that was the main spice traded there. Diners suffering from gastric complaints, however, may ask that only a small quantity of it be used in the preparation of their food.
One may also order fried yams, which are served with a soup of your choice. Most Ghanaian soups are made from grains and vegetables and rely on condiments to provide extra flavour. The most abysmally intriguing of all their soups is okra or okro, a mucilaginous pod that comes from a tall plant bearing a close resemblance to hibiscus. This slimy pod is chopped into tiny pieces, then mixed with dried, salted fish, smoked ham, aubergine, tomatoes, onions and pepper, with other migrant additions black pepper, pickles and cinnamon to give an indescribably ravishing smell. Ghanaians say the primary function of okra is to act as a thickening agent for very light soups.
If you find okra soup scary, you may try egusi soup. It’s made from crushed pumpkin or melon seeds, which, like okra, are used as a thickener. It’s a bit oily and has a slightly nutty flavour. A zesty addition to the family of thickeners is Bambara groundnut, or ordinary peanut, which is crushed and used in soup.
Those escaping the thickener family will land on an accompaniment known as palava sauce, made from spinach, palm oil, fish and eggs and served on smoked herrings, spicy beef kebabs or, on special order, prawns or goat kebabs.
Ghanaian food tends to be oily, although diners may order a dish made with very little oil. The oil comes from crushed palm nut, or mbanga, and may either be white or red the latter more nutritious but perhaps more oily than the alternative.
The Ghanaians have invented a salad that may be served as an appetiser or take the place of dessert. It has a kaleidoscope of colours with a variety of ingredients, an exciting combination of flavours and textures: Spanish onions, lettuce, red salmon, sweet corn, mayonnaise, soya milk, snow peas, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.
It’s customary for diners to eat with their fingers and only using their right hand but it’s not compulsory.? African Corner Restaurant, on the corner of Kenmere and Hunter Streets, Yeoville, is a small restaurant, with seven tables, and is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Tel: 083 492 2111