Fufu

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Fufu

Alternative names	Fufuo; foufou; foofoo; foutou; sakora; sakoro; couscous de Cameroun
Type
Main ingredients	Usually cassava, plantains and cocoyams
Food energy (per 100 g serving)	267 kcal (1118 kJ)
Nutritional value (per 100 g serving)	Protein 2 g Fat 15 g Carbohydrate 84 g
Similar dishes	Pap; nsima; sadza; ugali
Cookbook: Fufu   Media: Fufu

Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou) is a dough-like food made from fresh or fermented cassava, found in West African as well as Caribbean cuisines. In addition to Ghana, it is also found in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, both Congos, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Angola and Gabon, as well as in the Caribbean. It is often made in the traditional Ghanaian, Cote D'ivoire, Liberia and Cuban method of separately mixing and pounding equal portions of boiled cassava with green plantain or cocoyams, and or mixing cassava/plantains or cocoyams flour with water and stirred on stove. It is then adjusted to increase or decrease the viscosity of the fufu based on personal preference and eaten with broth like liquid soups. Nigerian in particular and some other African countries version of Fufu is made from fermented Cassava dough called Akpu by Nigerians and it's eaten with thick textured stew like soups and this serves as one of the favourite meals in these parts Africa. ^[1] Other flours, such as semolina, maize flour or mashed plantains may take the place of cassava flour. Fufu is eaten with the fingers, and a small ball of it can be dipped into an accompanying soup or sauce.

Names[]

• Angola: funge, fúngi
• Benin: santana, foufou
• Cameroon: couscous, couscous de manioc
• Central African Republic: foufou
• Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville: fufú, moteke, luku
• Gabon: foufou
• Ghana: fufu, fufuo, sakɔro
• Guinea: foufou
• Ivory Coast: foutou, foufou
• Liberia: fufu
• Nigeria: fufu, akpụ, ụtara, loi-loi, swallow, Mr White
• Sierra Leone: fufú
• Togo: foufou

African fufu[]

Portuguese traders introduced cassava to Africa from Brazil in the 16th century.^[2] In Ghana, fufu, also known as fufuo, is white and sticky (if plantain is not mixed with the cassava when pounding). The traditional method of eating fufu is to pinch some of the fufu off in one's right hand fingers and form it into an easily ingested round ball. The ball is then dipped in the soup before being eaten.

In Twi, fufu or fufuo means "mash or mix" for a soft and doughy staple food. It is believed to originate in what is modern-day Ghana,^[3] by the Asante, the Akuapem, the Guans, the Akyem, the Bono and the Fante peoples of the Akan ethnic group of Ghana. In Ghana, it is made out of pieces boiled cassava and/ior other tupers such as plantains or cocoyams, pounded together in a giant wooden mortar (waduro) using a wooden pestle (woma). In between blows from the pestle, the mixture is turned by hand and water gradually added till it becomes slurry and sticky. The mixture is then formed into a ball or a rounded slab and served. With the invention of the fufu machine preparation has become much less labour-intensive. The resulting food is eaten with liquid soups (nkwan) such as light soup (nkrakra nkwan), abenkwan (palm nut soup), nkatenkwan (peanut butter soup), and abunabun soup. Today, it also features in Beninese cuisine, Cameroonian cuisine, Guinean cuisine, Nigerian cuisine,^[4] and Togolese cuisine, where it is eaten with hot pepper soup, okra, or other kinds of stew. Fufu's prevalence in the West African subregion has been noted in literature produced by authors from that area. It is mentioned in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, for example.

In Nigeria, fufu or akpu is a popular food made from fresh or fermented cassava.^[5] Requiring several days to make, akpu is a wet paste often eaten with egusi soup. Akpu is traditionally made by peeling and washing raw cassava until it is white. Left in water for 3-4 days, the cassava ferments and becomes soft. It is then filtered with a porous calabash or sieve. Excess water is typically and quickly drained by pouring the wet paste into a sack, upon which is placed something heavy and flat (e.g., a plank and brick). The paste is then pounded and molded into large balls and simmered for 30-60 seconds, after which it is thoroughly pounded to remove lumps, molded again into smaller balls, boiled for 10-15 minutes, and then pounded until smooth. ^[6] It is popular throughout Nigeria, particularly in the south.^[7]

In Côte d'Ivoire, the word “foutou” is also used. Ivorian “foufou” is specifically sweet mashed bananas, whereas the “foutou” is a stronger, heavier paste made of various staple foods such as yam, cassava, banana, taro or a mix of any of those.

In the French-speaking regions of Cameroon, it is called “couscous” (not to be confused with the North African dish couscous).^[8]

A similar staple in the African Great Lakes region is ugali. It is usually made from maize flour (masa), and is also eaten in Southern Africa. The name ugali is used to refer to the dish in Kenya and Tanzania, ubugali in Rwanda. Closely related staples are called nshima in Zambia, nsima in Malawi, sadza in Zimbabwe, pap or vuswa in South Africa, posho in Uganda, luku, fufu, nshima, moteke, semoule, ugali and bugari in the Republic of the Congo and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and phaletšhe in Botswana.

Caribbean fufu[]

In Caribbean nations with substantial populations of West African origin, such as Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico, plantains, cassava or yams are mashed with other ingredients.^{[citation needed]} In Cuba, the dish retains its original African stem name, termed simply as fufú or with added descriptive extensions like fufú de platano or fufú de platano pintón.^[9] On other major islands, fufú goes by the names of mangú in the Dominican Republic, mofongo and funche in Puerto Rico. What distinguishes the Caribbean "fufú" from its West African relative is a firmer texture with stronger flavors. As it moves away from Cuba, the fufú's core is less a gelatinous dough and more of a consistent mass.^[10]

In Haiti it is called tonm tonm and Foofoo. It is mostly made of breadfruit but can be made of plantain or yams and is usually served with an okra based stew or soup. It is primarily consumed in the Southernmost regions of Haiti namely the Grand'Anse and Sud departments. The city of Jérémie is regarded as the tonmtonm capital of Haiti.

Puerto Rican mofongo, in keeping with the creolized cuisine traditions of the Caribbean, tends toward a fufú of much higher density and robust seasoning. While keeping a conspicuous African character, mofongo has borrowed from the island's Iberian culinary tradition, to create a dish made of fried green plantains, cassava or breadfruit. Unlike the mushier Caribbean and West African fufús, mofongo is generally firmer and crustier. To prepare mofongo, green plantains are deep-fried once unlike twice fried tostones. Next, they are mashed in a 'pilon' (mortar) with chopped garlic, salt, black pepper and olive oil. The resulting mash is then pressed and rounded into a hollowed crusty orb. Meat, traditionally chicharrón, is then stuffed into the chunky ball of fried green plantains. A few recipes call for a meat or vegetable salsa criolla" (related to American Creole sauce) poured on top of the hot sphere. In the trendier "mofongo relleno," typical of western Puerto Rico, seafood is all over, inside and outside. Traditional mofongo, as previously cited, comes seasoned and stuffed with meat and bathed in a chicken broth soup.^[11] Because of its elaborate process of preparation and its sundry ingredients, poet and blogger Arose N Daghetto called the mofongo a type of "fufú paella" and branded it as "the big daddy of fufús."^[12] A dish called funche made with taro, green and yellow plantains boiled and mashed with butter, garlic, and pork fat was once popular in Puerto Rico. Once mashed it was formed into balls and eaten with broth made from sesame seeds. Funche is written in early Puerto Rican cookbooks around the 1800s, but can probably be traced back to African slaves on the island. Funche today in Puerto Rico is cornmeal cooked in coconut milk and milk.

The vegetable or fufú sauce in the Anglo-Caribbean is not fried first. Plantain is not used as much, as it is used in so many dishes. Fufu is usually part of, or added to, a soupy sauce or on the side with a soupy dish. In Antigua, fufu is served as part of the national dish but is called fungi/fungee and is made using cornmeal and okra. Similarly, in Barbados it serves as part of the national dish and is called cou cou and uses cornmeal or, less commonly, breadfruit instead, like several other English Caribbean islands.

Nutrition[]

Nutritionally, 100 g dry weight fufu contains 2 g of protein, 0.1 g of fat and 84 g of carbohydrate. There are 267 kcal of food energy in a 100 g serving made up with water.^[13] It is very low in cholesterol. It is very rich in potassium, and it is commonly prescribed by doctors for people who have low level of potassium in their blood.

Gallery[]

• 

  A plate of fufu (right) accompanied by peanut soup

• 

  Fufu (left) and palm nut soup (right)

• 

  Fufu

• 

  Nigerian food: fufu being sold on the street in Lagos

• 

  Wrapped fufu

• 

  Preparing fufu in Togo

• 

  Wooden pestle and mortar for pounding fufu

• 

  Fufu machine used by a food vendor

• 

  Pounded fufu

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

• "Ghana's cooks take to fast fufu". BBC News. 2006-05-29. Retrieved August 5, 2008. Microwavable instant fufu.