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

Kenkey is another fermented food, a variation on Banku, and is also one of the basic staples taken with meals in Ghana, prepared from fermented ground white corn (maize). Dried corn kernels are first ground into a flour-like substance, and then mixed with warm water. It is then allowed to ferment for 2-3 days, after which it has turned into maize dough.

This dough is then kneaded by hand until thoroughly mixed and a little stiff, and next it is divided into two equal halves. One half of the fermented dough is then cooked—partially—in a big pot of water for ten minutes or so, with constant, vigorous stirring. When done with this process, the cooked half of the dough is called “aflata”. Next, the aflata is recombined with the other half of uncooked dough and mixed together.

Now you have an aflata-dough mixture, which is molded into balls—about the size of a small fist—and then tightly wrapped in banana leaves, corn husks, or you can use tin foil if you don’t have either of those. The wrapped balls are then put on a wire rack above a large pot of boiling water and, depending on the size of the balls, allowed to steam for one to three hours.

And that, folks, is how to make Kenkey

Kenkey is typically served with any traditional stews, sauces, or any fish or meat dish.

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