Ghanaian cuisine

Ghanaian cuisinerefers to themealsof theGhanaian people. The maindishesof Ghana are centered around starchystaple foods, accompanied by either asauceorsoupas well as a source ofprotein. The primary ingredients for the vast majority of soups and stews are tomatoes, hot peppers, and onions. As a result of these main ingredients, most Ghanaian jollof rice, soups, and stews appear red or orange.
Ghanaian foods heavily rely on traditionalfood crops grown in Ghana, combined with crops introduced through colonial and globalized crops, gardens and cuisine.
The typicalstaple foodsin the southern part ofGhanaincludecassavaandplantain. In the north, the main staple foods includemilletandsorghum.Yam,maizeandbeansare also staple foods across Ghana.Sweet potatoesandcocoyamare also important in Ghanaiancuisine. With the advent ofglobalization, 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.
LEAF in Dangme language is "BA" hence the final product earns its name "BA MI KU" as it was wrapped in leaves in and shaped into a ball. It is usually enjoyed with different kinds of soup, stew, or grinded pepper, onion and tomato grinder together. One particular clan of the Ga-Dangme (Adangbe clan) tribe is credited with the original recipe for the mealbanku, a claim which may be argued among the other clans.Sometimes onlycorn flouris used, but in many areas, cassava dough is cooked together with fermented corn dough in different ratios.
A deviation from the starch and stew combination areRed redandtubaani,primarily based on vegetable protein (beans). Red red is a popular Ghanaian bean and fish stew served with fried ripe plantains and often accompanied withgari, fish, and pulses. It earns its name from thepalm oilthat tints the bean stew and the bright orange color of the fried, ripe plantains.Tubaaniis a boiled bean cake, calledmoin moininNigeria.
Most Ghanaian side dishes are served with astew, soup, ormako(a spicy condiment made from raw red and greenchilies, 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,cocoyamleaves,ayoyo,spinach, wildmushroom,okra, garden eggs (eggplant), tomatoes, and various types of pulses are the main ingredients in Ghanaian soups and stews and in the case ofpulses, may double as the main protein ingredient.
Beef, pork, goat, lamb, chicken, smoked turkey,tripe, driedsnails, 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.
They include crabs,shrimp,periwinkles, octopus,snails, grubs,duck,offal, andpig's trotters. Alsooysters.
Meat, mushrooms, and seafood may besmoked, salted, or dried for flavour enhancement and preservation.Salt fishis widely used to flavour fish-based stews. Spices such asthyme, garlic, onions,ginger,peppers,curry,basil,nutmeg,sumbala,Tetrapleura tetraptera(prekese) andbay leafare delicately used to achieve the exotic and spicy flavours that characterize Ghanaian cuisine.
Palm oil, coconut oil,shea butter,palm kernel oil, andpeanut oilare important Ghanaian oils used for cooking or frying and may sometimes not be substituted for in certain Ghanaian dishes. For example, using palm oil inokrostew,eto,fante fante,red redorGabeans,egusistew, andmpihu/mpotompoto(similar topoi).Coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and shea butter have lost their popularity for cooking in Ghana due to the introduction of refined oils and negativeGhanaian mediaadvertisements targeted at those oils. They are now mostly used in a fewtraditional homes, for soap making, and by commercial (street food) food vendors as a cheaper substitute to refined cooking oils.
Common Ghanaian soups aregroundnutsoup,light (tomato) soup,kontomire(taroleaves) soup,palm nut soup,ayoyosoup andokrasoup.
Ghanaian tomato stew orgravyis a stew that is often served with rice orwaakye. Other vegetable stews are made withkontomire, 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) orademe (jute mallow). These are eaten with the various varieties of akple, abolo (steamed corn dough) or yakayake (steamed cassava dough).
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 calledhausa koko(northern porridge). It is usually prepared in Northern Ghana, is sweet, and often eaten withkooseor 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) orkooko(fermented maize porridge), andkoose/akaraormaasa(beans, ripe plantain and maize meal fritters).Other breakfast foods include grits,tombrown(roasted maize porridge), and milletporridge.
Bread is an important feature in Ghanaian breakfasts andbakedfoods. Ghanaian bread, which is known for its good quality, is baked withwheat flourand sometimes cassava flour is added for an improved texture. There are four major types of bread in Ghana. They are tea bread (similar to thebaguette), 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.
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,bakedorsteamed.
Fried sweet foods include cubed and spiced ripe plantains (kelewele) sometimes served with peanuts.Koosemade from peeled beans (and its close twinacarajéorakaramade from beans that are not peeled),maasa,pinkaaso,andbofrot/Puff-puff(made fromwheat flour);waakyedzoweyandnkatecake (made from peanuts);kakloandtatale(ripe plantainfritters);kubecake andkubetoffee (made from coconut);bankye krakro,garibiscuit,andkrakye ayuosu(made from cassava); condensed milk,toffee, plantain chips (orfried plantain)andwagashi(friedfarmer's cheese) are fried Ghanaian savory foods (confectionery).
Kebabsare popularbarbecue foodsand can be made from beef, goat, pork,soy flour,sausages, andguinea fowl. Otherroastedsavoury foods include roasted plantains, maize, yam andcocoyam.
Steamed fresh maize,yakeyake,kafa,akyeke,tubani,moimoi(bean cake),emo dokonu(ricecake), andesikyire dokonu(sweetenedkenkey) are all examples of steamed and boiled foods, while sweet bread (plantain cake), meat pie similar toJamaican patties, andempanadasare baked savoury foods.Aprapransa,eto(mashed yam), andatadwemilk (tiger nutjuice) are other savory foods.Garisoakings are a modern favorite. It is a blend ofgari(dried, roasted cassava), sugar, groundnut (peanut) and milk.
In southern Ghana, Ghanaian drinks such asasaana(made from fermented maize) are common. AlongLake Voltaand in southern Ghana,palm wineextracted from thepalm treecan be found, but it ferments quickly, and then it is used to distillakpeteshie(a local gin).Akpeteshiecan be distilled from molasses too. In addition, a beverage can be made fromkenkeyandrefrigeratedinto what is in Ghana known asice kenkey. In northern Ghana, bisaap/sorrel,toose,andlamujee(a spicy sweetened drink) are common non-alcoholic beverages whereaspitoo(a local beer made of fermented millet) is an alcoholic beverage.
In urban areas of Ghana, drinks may include fruit juice,cocoadrinks, fresh coconut water,yogurt,ice cream,carbonateddrinks,maltdrinks, andsoy milk.In addition, Ghanaian distilleries produce alcoholic beverages from cocoa, malt,sugar cane, local medicinal herbs, and tree barks. They includebitters,liqueur, drygins, beer, andaperitifs.
Street foodis 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 askenkey,red redandwaakye. 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 kenkeyis 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.
There are some cookbooks which concentrate on Ghanaian food, including the following: