[By Emma McFarland]

When I told one of my coworkers about my plans to make “breakfast for dinner,” I was met with a guffaw of disbelief. “Breakfast for dinner?! You need heavy food. French toast and eggs won’t even fill you up!”

So, what will fill you up? The answer: Ghanaian food.

If you plan on visiting Ghana or stumble upon a Ghanaian restaurant, you must have a complete dining experience. So, I compiled a list of some of my favorite dishes that are essential components of the everyday Ghanaian diet.

Here is a ‘beginner’s guide’ to Ghanaian food:

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Tomato Stew (to-mah-to)

Tomato stew is by far my favorite sauce that I have encountered in Ghana. I put it on everything. This stew is combination of fresh and canned tomatoes, fried in oil with spices until the mixture is reduced into a thick sauce to achieve the peak stew consistency. The result is a stew whose sweet and spicy flavor adds a deep richness of flavors to any dish it is placed on.

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Jollof Rice (joe-loff)

Jollof rice is a staple of the Ghanaian diet. It is essentially rice made with tomato stew, so it’s no wonder that it tastes so good. The spice level of jollof largely depends on where you go. Some are mild, and some require you to take breaks in between bites to cool off your mouth. Jollof is usually served with chicken or tilapia and is often topped with other sauces, like tomato stew.

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Red Red

Red red is a Ghanaian bean stew. It is made with a mixture of black-eyed peas, plantain, and tomato sauce that is cooked in palm or vegetable oil until the mixture becomes soft and stew-like. Many people add “gari”– a cassava flour– onto their red red to add texture and heft to their meal. However, I enjoy red red the most by pouring it over fries to make a Ghanaian version of chili fries. This is definitely not the traditional way of eating red red, but it is scrumptious to me. 

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Bofrot (bo-frut)

Bofrot, also known as “Ghanaian Doughnuts” are a dough balls traditionally fried in palm oil. The name “bofrot” is an evolution and language pronunciation divergence of the original name: “puff-puff.” When made fresh, their soft chew rests gently in your stomach. Its light sweetness satiates a small dessert craving but isn’t so overwhelming in sweetness for those without a desire for sugary delights. Almost like a less-sweet, more dense Hawaiian roll the size of a baseball. A perfect and filling snack.

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Waakye (wa-chee)

Waakye is a rice and black-eyed pea blend that provides an extra dosing of protein and heft to a meal. With a milder flavor than jollof, it is commonly served with several stews or sauces to add flavor dimension. Often, I have seen waakye wrapped inside a plantain leaf, transforming it into a to-go meal.

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Kelewele (kelly-welly)

Plantains in any form are extremely popular in Ghana. My favorite form of plantain that I have encountered is the “kelewele.” Kelewele is a diced and fried plantain mixed with spices—typically ginger and onion powder—and then fried. The result is golden brown bite-sized pieces of buttery satisfaction. I have eaten kelewele as a side on larger plates, but I firmly believe that it could stand on its own as a sweet treat.

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Fufu (foo-foo)

Fufu is made of plantains and cassava that have been boiled, pounded in a mortar and pestle, and rounded into balls. It is served in a soup—the most common being light or groundnut soup. The fufu itself takes on the flavor of whatever it is served with; however, the plantains provide a note of sweetness. Fufu is eaten with your fingers and is swallowed whole, not chewed. It took me a couple of bites to get familiar with the process, but once I got it down, I dug in.

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Banku (ban-koo)

Banku is similar to fufu in that it is eaten in a similar way. However, instead of being served in a soup, banku is served on the side of the soup or tilapia. The taste, too, is slightly more flavorful and bitter. This is because banku is made of cornmeal and cassava instead of plantain and cassava. Its weight, too, is somewhat heavier than fufu. Banku is a great meal to fill a hungry stomach and keep it whole for a long time.

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Reflection:

Ghanaian food is now one of the great loves of my life. My stomach and heart have never been so full. Throughout my time here, I have been able to use food as a means of connection– asking my morning Uber drivers for new recommendations, sharing meals with coworkers at a local restaurant, and talking to local vendors cooking in their shops.

I am excited to share these food connections with friends and family in the US. Through these meals, I hope to share a taste of their origins and the people I met while gathering recipes.

During my time here, there has only been one thing that has been hard to swallow: The fact that I will be saying goodbye to these people and this food in just two weeks.