The food love language of Ghana in West Africa is centred basically around starchy staples, accompanied by soup or stew as well as a source of protein. Tomato plays a key role in almost all stews and soups. Ghanaian food bursts with delightful flavours and one cannot help but try them. Below are ten examples of some of the most common dishes you cannot afford to miss.
Waakye
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Waakye is a popular Ghanaian dish made from rice and beans. The dish is cooked in a special way, with the rice and beans cooked together in the same pot. It is typically served with a spicy pepper sauce, fried plantains, fish or meat, and a boiled egg. Waakye is a filling and flavorful meal that is often eaten for breakfast or lunch.
Jollof rice
This is a dish from the rice grain family. Tomatoes, onions, pepper and spices are cooked with oil to form a stew in its preparation. Raw rice is then mixed into the stew. As it cooks under medium sturdy heat, it becomes orange-like in colour. Jollof rice is popular in every home and at every social function.
Beans or Red/Red
Beans is a vegetarian dish. It is a high protein dish. It is full of fibre, keeping one feeling full and satisfied for the most part of the day. Beans is cooked in red palm oil or in tomato stew. Ghanaians call this dish “Gob3 or Red Red”.
Banku
This is a swallow dish made of slightly fermented cooked mixture of maize and cassava doughs formed into single-serving balls. It is cooked in hot water until it turns into a smooth whitish paste. It is served with soup, okro stew/soup or a pepper sauce.
Hausa Koko
It is a spicy millet porridge, popularly known as “hausa koko”. It is mostly eaten as a breakfast food. Flavoured with ginger and indigenous spices like grains of selim, calabash nutmeg, cloves, black peppercorn and cayenne pepper. Hausa koko can be expressly described as a soured and spicy smooth porridge. Its sourness results from the fermentation of the ground millet. Traditionally, it is served with fried bean cake or doughnut known as “bofrot” in Ghana.
Tuo Zaafi
This is prepared by heating corn dough and including a small amount of cassava. Tuo zaafi seems like banku but softer and less sticky. The healthy herbs such as dawadawa and ayoyo leaves as an accompanying soup is what uniquely identifies it.
Omotuo
Omotuo is a Ghanaian dish made from rice. The rice is boiled until it is soft and sticky, and then moulded into small balls. It is often served with soup made with a variety of meats, vegetables and spices. Omo tuo is a hearty and satisfying meal that is popular in Ghana.
Fufu
Fufu is a signature dish of the Akan tribe in Ghana. It is created by pounding a mixture of boiling cassava and plantains into a soft, sticky paste to combine with flavourful hot soup. The “fufu name” resonates loudly and extensively in all corners of the country.
Kontommire stew
Kontommire, in other parts of the world is referred to as spinach leaves. However, in Ghana, it is cassava leaves. It is mostly prepared as a stew delicacy. It is highly nutritious and it is paired with our local carbohydrate staples such as yam or plantain.
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