Put corn flour into a bowl and add the warm water and stir until you get a smooth batter.
Cover the bowl the bowl and set in a warm place for 4 days.
When you are ready to use the dough start by scraping off and discarding any mold that might have formed. Add more water and let it settle and discard the excess of water.
In large saucepan, add the mixture of corn flour on medium heat.
Cook for 10 minutes and stir to prevent scorching – or until it comes together but not totally cooked.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir and mix thoroughly.
Divide the dough into large portions and put them onto corn husks.
Shape the dough into balls.
Wrap the corn husk around the ball tying it at the top.
Pour hot water into a steamer pot and put a rack on top of it.
Put the wrapped Kom on the rack and bring the water to a boil using high heat.
Reduce to low heat and steam for around 60 minutes.
kom is usually served with Ebesse fionfion, Yebessessi, sardine, and fish.
Other names: Kom, Dokunoo, Dokono, Dokunu, Dokonou, Kenkey
Kenkey, dorkunu, dokonou or kom is a staple dish in Togo, Benin and Ghana similar to sourdough dumpling, usually served with pepper sauce, shitor (Yebesse fionfion) and fried fish or stew. It is usually made from ground corn (maize), like banku, Akoume, sadza and ugali. Making Kenkey involves letting the maize ferment before cooking for at least 5 days. Therefore, preparation takes a few days in order to let the dough ferment. After fermentation, the kenkey is partially cooked, wrapped in corn husks, plastic or foil, and steamed.
My one and only!!! My favorite food: Kom (Togo) Dokonou (Benin). Ghana has a similar dish Kenkey.
Our Kom is softer than Kenkey. Kom is served with a soup or stew or sauce. I prefer to eat my Kom with Yébésséssi, Ebesse fionfion, fried fish and sardine.
6 – 8 cups of corn
Agbelima (optional)
In a large container cover the corn with just enough water to dampen all of it. Set it in a warm place, such as a warmed oven or on top of the refrigerator, for 5 days. Fermentation may take longer than two days, especially in cool climates.
When it is properly fermented, it should have a slightly sour, but not unpleasant aroma, rinse and grind the corn.
Knead the fermented dough with your hands until it is thoroughly mixed and slightly stiffened. Divide the dough into two equal parts.
In a large pot, cook one part of the fermented dough. Cook for about ten minutes, stirring constantly and vigorously. Remove from heat. This half of the dough is called the “aflata”.
Combine the aflata with the remaining uncooked dough. Mix well.
Divide the aflata-dough mixture into serving-sized pieces. Wrap the pieces tightly in corn husks, or foil. At this point you can put it in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to cook
Steam the Kom for 30 to 60 mins, depending on their size and thickness. Serve room-temperature.
Grind 1 onion, 2 tomatoes and green chilies together, grind until smooth, but with a little texture remaining in the sauce. Add Salt to taste
Season and fry your fish with some garlic, ginger, salt and pepper.
Sever with Yébésséssi, fried fish, sardine and Yébéssé fionfion
Peel and cut the yam tuber into 1 inch cylindrical discs. Make several cuts across the discs to get large chips. Wash the yam chips and place in a bowl.
Add a little salt and toss the contents to distribute the salt. Set aside for 20 mins
Fry the yam at 350F
When the oil is heated, add a few yam chips, leaving enough room for flipping the chips.
Stir the chips till they have turned golden.
Remove the chips and place in the paper towels to absorb the oil.
Add the butter, onion, Shrimp, garlic, turmeric, cumin, cube and ginger to a medium sauce pot. Sauté over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, or just until the onion has softened.
Add the dry rice to the pot. Stir and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes to slightly toast the rice. You may hear a slight popping or crackling noise as the rice toasts.
Add the water and place a lid on top, increase the heat to high, and bring the pot to a rolling boil. As soon as it reaches a full boil, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer (with the lid in place) for 20 minutes.
After letting it simmer for 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest (do not remove the lid) for an additional 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.
For the chicken:
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp ginger
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 cup olive oil
1 cube
Salt to taste
Preheat oven to 400F.
Combine the lemon juice, salt, pepper, ginger, garlic powder and olive oil. Whisk well.
Marinate the chiken and refrigirate for 4 hours.
Cook for 20 minutes, uncovered. Lower oven temperature to 375F and cook for another 20-25 minutes, or until chicken reaches 160F.
For a crispier skin, broil chicken for a couple of minutes!
Le Ablo is a Togolese (Abolo Beninese) steamed rice and corn flour dish. The traditional method takes time, although most of it involves inactive waiting periods. The process spans three to four days from the first rice soaking to taking the finished product out of the steamer. In the original recipe the mixture of rice four is steamed in a banana leave or an aluminum mold lined with plastics.
No cornstarch Rice cakes (Ablo)
I use real cute silicone molds. Properly prepared, the Ablo imparts the slightly yeasty aroma of fermented rice batter. It should be neither sticky nor dry and crumbly. The Ablo should be soft, moist, and with a fine, uniform grain. The essential flavor should be of freshly cooked rice, but it may be sweetened a bit. A lot of people requested the recipe of Ablo without cornstarch, So here it is:
Ingredients
2 cup rice
4~6 tablespoons granulated sugar (or more according to your taste)
1 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoons yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
How to make No cornstarch Rice cakes (Ablo)?
Soak the rice overnight
The next day, drain the water and blend the rice with 1 cup water.
Boil 1 cup of water and 1/3 of the blended mixture and cook for 3 mins
Mix the cooked mixture, the remaining blended rice, sugar, yeast (and water if needed). Place in a warm place for 30 mins.
While the mixture is rising, prepare your molds.
Add baking powder and salt. Whisk the batter until just smooth.
Fill the mold to the 3/4. Let the mixture rise in the mold for 30 min.
Bring a steamer with water to running boil.
Working in batches and place the mold in the steamer. Steam for 25 minutes, or until the Ablo have risen and are firm to the touch.
Remove from the molds and enjoy warm or at room temperature. Serve warm with mgbagba, jus de tomate, piment…
Tips on how to make fluffy Ablo:
It is not recommended to use rice flour for this recipe as it will yield a slightly sticky cake with tint of yellow instead of snow-white rice cake.
Make sure the rice-sugar mixture is cool completely before adding the dissolved yeast.
You will need a steamer for this recipe. Make sure your steamer is ¾ filled with water. Let the steamer boils on high heat for at least 10 minutes before steaming the cakes.
If your yeast isn’t frothy or bubbly after 10 minutes, it’s probably expired. The active dry yeast is the key ingredient in this recipe.
Remove unwanted particles and wash beans and soak beans overnight to reduce the cooking time.
Boil beans in a large saucepan with enough water and the Potash.
Wash rice, drain water and add it to the cooked bean with the onion and oil. (follow the instruction for the manufacturer for the Yasmine rice)
Add salt and stir, leave to cook whiles frequently checking to ensure desired texture.
Add the blended onion to a saucepan, and cook for 10 min until the water evaporates.
Add the oil and fry for 10 mins and add the tomato paste.
Cook for 5 min and add the blended tomato, ginger and garlic. Reduce the heat to a low setting and cook for 25 minutes, by which time the sauce has reduced by half.
Add the baking soda, doevi, cube and the red chili pepper.
Alloco (Aloco or Alloko) are Ivorian fried plantains. Alloco is also consumed in Benin, Nigeria (Dodo), Democratic Republic of Congo (Makemba), Togo (Amanda) and Ghana (Kelewele). The Alloco is served with crushed chilli, braised chicken, braised fish and boiled eggs. In Ivorian capital, the Alloco is sold in the Allocodrome.
Alloco (Aloco or Alloko) is a popular Ivorian dish made from fried plantains. Sliced plantains are sliced and fried in peanut oil. Some recipes include ginger, cayenne pepper, salt, onion, anise, clove or cinnamon. I used peanut oil but other uses palm oil. I served my alloco with braised chicken.
Some ripe plantains
A little salt
Oil for frying
Peel and cut the plantains into cubes.
Then salt the bananas.
Heat the oil in a large skillet and fry the plantain until each side is golden brown.
Remove and place them in a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
6 chicken legs
1/3 cup cilantro
1/3 cup fresh oregano
1/3 cup onions
4 garlic cloves
2 red hot chili pepper (or substitute with 1/2 a teaspoon of red pepper flakes)
3/4 cup oil
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
1 cube
Bend all the spices together all of the ingredients and set aside.
Place the chicken legs in a medium bowl, add the marinade. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least several hours, or better yet, overnight and up to 24 hours.
Preheat the grill to 300F at the grate level. Basically, the grill should not be very hot.
Grill chicken legs over direct heat, flipping frequently, about every 3 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and internal temperature has reached a minim of 165F.
Let the chicken rest for 3 minutes and serve with the alloco
My family loves my amazing Liver fried rice. -Not just because the love me- It is easy to make and taste like a million box. This particular recipe is inspired by the Nigerian fired rice and I also served it with some African style fried chicken. This Liver fried rice Recipe is so easy and packed with flavor and totally adaptable. Cooked Liver can be tender, almost creamy if cooked, or tough, dry when overcooked. The liver pairs awesomely with the rice, mix vegetable and African fried chicken.
Liver Fried Rice
Why did I choose liver?
Liver is:
low in calories
low in fat
packed with nutrients, including riboflavin, copper, vitamins A and B12 and B6, thiamin, protein and iron
really delicious if prepared correctly
What ingredients can you add to your fried rice?
Vegetables: I personally use mix frozen veggie like carrots, onions, peas and fresh onion because it adds a sweetness to the fried rice. You can use your favorite vegetable like cauliflower, broccoli…
Chopped fruit: pineapple, orange, pears, apples or guava… It’s a cool way to make your fried rice sweeter while staying healthy.
Soy Sauce: It adds a beautiful color to the rice, however, I used cube bouillon instead. About 2 teaspoons of soy sauce should change the color to a beautiful brown.
Eggs: Eggs are a very good source of inexpensive, high quality protein. The beaten egg should be carefully fried in a medium-hot oil and later folded in the rice. For this recipe, I skipped the eggs, but this is another recipe of Liver friend rice.
Other proteins: You can easily switch things around and use whatever leftover you have in the fridge. Although for this recipe I used fried liver, you can use precooked chicken, pork, beef or shrimp. You can also swap the rice with quinoa.
Liver Fried Rice
Ingredients
2 cups rice (long-grain white rice like Jasmine is perfect for fried rice. The Jasmine rice should be cook with a reduced amount of water (or stock). The Jasmine rice should be firm and not soggy. You can use cold cooked, previously chilled, or leftover cooked rice. )
2 cups chopped mixed vegetables: bell pepper, spring onion, carrots, sweet corn, peas and green beans.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 Onions, chopped
2 clove
2 allspice whole
6 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoon ginger
2 cube
Salt to taste
10 pieces chicken
300 g Sliced beef liver
Canola oil for frying
How to make Liver Fried Rice?
Blend 1/2 onion, cloves, allspice, garlic and ginger.
Rinse chicken, add 1/2 seasonings, cube and salt.
Cut the liver in cube, add 1/2 seasonings, cube and salt
Cover both and refrigerate overnight or at least for 4 hours.
Add about 1/2 liter to the chicken and boil for 30 min.
Add about 1/4 liter to the liver and boil for 15 min.
Fry the chicken for 7-10 minutes till center is all cooked (outside will be dark, golden brown)
Lay paper towel on a plate to drain excess oil, transfer fried chicken to plate
Prepare the rice by rinsing in cold water until the water drains clear.
Add 1.5 cups of water to the chicken stock and bring to a boil.
Add the rice and cook on a medium heat until fluffy. Once the rice is cooked, fluff with a fork and lift the lid to cool down the rice. – spread it on a baking sheet and refrigerated for about an hour until it completely cooled (you can also freeze it for 15 to 20 mins).
Heat a large wok with 2 tablespoon of oil. Fry the chopped liver first until slightly brown then add the remaining onions.
After ~5 mins, add the rest of the vegetables and continue to fry the mix until it’s slightly brown but not burnt.
Create a hole in the wok by pushing aside the mix so you can add the cooked rice . Turn up the heat and mix together to create that perfect fried rice dish.
Serve with the chicken
Tips to make the best Liver fried rice.
To get the best “fried’ rice use clod rice because a fresh batch of rice tend to get soggy and stick to the bottom of the pan. For this recipe, I freshly made the rice, spread it on a baking sheet and refrigerated for about an hour until it completely cooled (you can also freeze it for 15 to 20 mins).
Always add vegetables to your fried rice. Fresh vegetable taste better but I use the frozen mix vegetable – it does the job. The vegetables add a beautiful color and a sweet taste to the fried rice.
The number 1 secret to a fried rice is high heat. The heat makes the rice and the vegetable crisp.
