Ghana / Main
Banku with tilapia
Fermented maize and cassava dough worked smooth, with grilled fish and a hot pepper sauce.
Ingredients
- Maize flour, fermented for three days400 g
- Cassava dough200 g
- Tilapia, whole, gutted4
- Tomatoes4
- Habanero chillies3
- Onion2
- Ginger30 g
- Garlic4 cloves
- Vegetable oil80 ml
- Saltto taste
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 7 steps
Mix the maize and cassava doughs with a litre of water and salt to a smooth, lump-free batter.
Set it over medium heat and work it with a wooden paddle without stopping. It starts to thicken after five minutes.
Keep working it for twenty minutes, pressing it against the sides, until it turns dense and glossy.
Shape balls with wet hands and wrap each in film or a banana leaf.
Rub the fish with salt, ginger and garlic and grill or pan-fry it eight minutes a side.
Grind the tomatoes, habaneros, onion, salt and a spoon of oil in a mortar to a coarse sauce.
Serve a ball of banku, the fish and a bowl of sauce. It is eaten by hand, pinching off dough and dipping it.
