How to Make Fufu

For today’s post we will continue with recipes for making traditional and authentic Ghanaian staples, and next up is how to make fufu.

Ghanaian Fufu is traditionally made from cassava root (Yuca Root) and plantains. In Nigeria, fufu is mostly made from boiled cassava and unripe plantain beaten together, as well as from cocoyam. Recently, these products have been pre-manufactured into a powder/flour that can be mixed with hot water to obtain the final product—thus taking away the laborious chore of beating it in a mortar with a pestle—a long pole with a flared pounding end on it—until the desired consistency is obtained.

I had the pleasure of pounding Fufu a while back. It is an arduous task, but one that can be fun if you are in good company. Check out The Old Silly pounding Fufu with Fafali, his native Ghanaian wife.

In Western and Central Africa, the typical method is to serve a mound of fufu along with a soup or stew dish. After washing your hands, you pinch off a small piece of fufu and make an indentation with your thumb. This cavity is then dipped into the soup, and the whole ball is eaten. As with Banku and Kenkey, Fufu is not only a food, but serves as a utensil as well.

How to make Fufu the traditional way …

Ingredients:

• One to two to pounds each of plantains and cassava root (Yuca Root)

• one or two teaspoons butter (optional)

 

What you do:

• Peal plantains and cassava roots and place in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until the ingredients are soft—typically about 30 minutes. Remove pot from heat and cool ingredients with cold running water. Drain. Add butter (optional). Put ingredients in a large ceramic earthen bowl and beat them together with a Fufu stick, which is a tall (usually 6’ long) wooden stick with a flared blunt end for pounding, folding and mashing the ingredients together repeatedly. This is usually done by two people, one doing the pounding, while the other adds water to keep the mash moist and malleable and does the folding.
• This folding, pounding, and watering process continues until the mash is stiff enough to mold into shapes that will hold.
• You then mold the fufu into balls and serve immediately with meat stew or any dish with a sauce or gravy. To eat it, tear off a small handful with your fingers, create an indented cup shape, and use it to scoop up your meat and sauce.

And How to Make Fufu the Easy Modern Way …

Ingredients:

• The ratio is:
• 2 cups of fufu powder for 4 cups of water.
• You can find Fufu powder in most local African food stores, but if you don’t have one nearby, you can purchase some in our online grocery store.
• Fufu banana is traditionally made by pounding the bananas but now you can get the powder on the market too.

Directions:
• Step 1: bring the water to boil and then remove 1-1/2 cup of the hot water and set aside.
• Step 2: Add the fufu powder while mixing vigorously . Then pour in the remaining water and mix well.
Note: if you have a friend around, ask him to hold the pot for you while you are kneading the fufu until smooth. This step requires all your strength and it may take up to 10 min. If you are alone, then the easiest way is to beat the fufu on the ground near a wall.
• Step 3: when the fufu is smooth and elastic, mold it with the use of a deep spoon.
• It can be served with soup or stew.

And that, folks, is how to make fufu.

Tune in for the next post, which will show you how to make Kenkey, the other of the three main Ghanaian meal staples.

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