Category: Ghanaian cuisine

Ghanaian cuisine

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Sorrel (Bissap) drink

Sorrel (Bissap) drink

Sorrel (Hibiscus sabdariffa) Sorrel has one of the highest levels of antioxidants of any widely available food. According to some studies, antioxidants enhance nitic oxide production in the body which reduces blood sugar, reduce cancer and oxidized lipids. Sorrel also exhibit activities against atherosclerosis, liver disease, cancer, diabetes and other metabolic syndromes. Sorrel harvested fresh to produce pro-health drink due to high contents of vitamin C and anthocyanins. French (Oseille de Guinée, Hibiscus sabdariffa, Bissap, carcade ou Roselle) English (Sorrel and Rosella) Sorrel is a species of Hibiscus probably native to West Africa. In Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, and Jamaica sorrel drink is made from sepals of the roselle infused with cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, ginger and rum or wine. In Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Burkina Faso and Benin calyces are infused with mint leaves, dissolved menthol candy, and/or fruit flavors (pineapple). It often sold as popsicle. The Middle Eastern and Sudanese “Karkade” is a cold drink made by soaking the dried Karkade calyces in cold water overnight in a refrigerator with sugar and some lemon or lime juice added.

Sorrel (Bissap) drink

  • 2 cups dried red sorrel
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • ¼ cup chopped ginger
  • 5 whole cloves
  • 5 whole allspice
  • 1 orange zest
  • Sugar to taste
  • Rum (optional)
  1. Bring all 4~10 cups water to a boil in saucepan.
  2. Add all the other ingredients except the sugar.

  3. Set aside overnight .

  4. When ready to serve sieve ingredients, with fine sieve and discard all particles. Reserve drink

  5. Add the sugar as needed, together with rum according to preference.

  6. Serve with ice or make suck suck out of it.

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How to make fried patties?

Cabbage and hot-dog fried patties  || Cabbage and hot-dog fried empanadas

This is my easy recipe for homemade empanada dough for frying. The process to make this empanada dough for frying is very similar to the empanada dough for baking. A few differences are that this dough has a little bit less butter, but adds baking powder. The empanadas are light fluffy texture when you fry them.

Fried patties

Dough

  • 4 cup all-purpose flour (, plus more for dusting)
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 cup butter ((1 stick) melted)
  • 1 cup water (cold)

Filling

  • 4 cup cabbage (shredded)
  • 5 hotdogs (sliced)
  • 1/2 cup onion
  • 1/2 Maggie cube
  • 1/2 cup bell pepper (diced)
  • 1/2 cup carrot (diced)
  • 2 eggs (boiled)
  • hot peppers ((optional))
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil (to sautee the hotdogs and veggies)

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix in cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add just enough cold water so dough comes together. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Make the filling

  1. On medium heat sautée the onion. Keep turning mixture with a spatula, as if cooking hash, until onion is softened and browned, about 5 minutes. Add cabbage cut until tender and add the hotdogs, and stir well to incorporate. (Add a little more fat to pan if mixture seems dry.) Add bell pepper and carrot. Season with cube, salt and pepper and let mixture fry for 2 more minutes. Turn heat to simmer, stirring well to incorporate everything.

Time to make your patties

  1. Divide chilled dough into 1-ounce pieces and form into 2-inch diameter balls. Roll each piece into a 4 1/2-inch circle. Lay circles on a baking sheet lightly dusted with flour.
  2. Put about 2 tablespoons filling in the center of each roundand some hard-cooked egg to each. Moisten outer edge of each round with water. Wrap dough around filling to form empanada, pressing edges together. Fold edge back and finish by pinching little pleats or crimping with a fork
  3. Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 365 degrees F (180 degrees C). Place 3 or 4 pies into the fryer at a time. Cook for about 5 minutes, turning once to brown on both sides. Draion paper towels, and serve hot.

 

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Makoume Recipe

Togolese Akoume: or Emakoume (fermented corn paste). Some even call it the maize foufou. The Togolese staple food is Akoumé (Emakoume or Ewokoume).

Akoumé (Makoume or Banku) is a Togolese dish made from fermented corn (one can also add manioc purée or Agbélima) cooked in a homogeneous paste, whitish and homogeneous. Traditionally, corn is washed and milled and crushed roughly. Then all the sound is removed, and the rest is milled again until a fine flour. The corn purée is mixed with water in a pulp, which is left for a few days to acidify (fermented). This porridge is then cooked and turned into quenelles before serving. For those living abroad, the fermentation of the dough is reduced to a few hours and the acidification is obtained by adding vinegar.

Wash the corn and coarsely grind.

Dry and sift the corn fibers

Crush the mixture until it is smooth.

Leave in a warm place and ferment for 2 ~ 5 days

  • 450 g fermented maize paste (made from ground corn and water)
  • 120 g of cassava paste (fermented cassava and water)
  • 600 ml of water
  • 1 teaspoon of salt (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium heat at first.

Stir gently with a wooden spoon until the mixture is firm; reduce the intensity of the fire and cover the pot.

Add a little boiling water if the dough is too hard.

The Akoumé is accompanied with sauces such as Yébéssési, Ferti dessi or Okra sauce, Gboma déssi, Adémè déssi, Gbolan déssi, Gnifoti déssi, Agbanme dési, Dekou déssi, Lanmoumou dessi, Gbekui dessi …