All about Accra & Ghana is:
Ghanaian Food and Drink
Herbal Drinks
Pekese bitters
Prekese is the Twi language name for the tree Tetrapleura tetraptera(Leguminosae); Prekese herbal drink has extracts of Tetrapleura tetraptera fruit in basically gin. The fruit is low in sodium, rich in potassium,iron, magnesium , phosphorus, and vitamin C. The dried fruit which is available in Ghanaian stores in London is used in cooking.
Alomo Bitters
Biological study has shown that Prekese extract has some useful therapeutic action easing hypertension, and Asthma. Active constituents include Scopletin which appears to have a relaxing action on smooth muscle, helping to ease constriction in the Bronchioles of the lung, and on constricted blood vessels .Research has shown that Tetrapleura tetraptera also has anti-ulcerogenic, mollusicidal, and anti-microbial action.
Alomo has been around in Ghana for many years & is again a mixture of a spirit & herbal extracts. "Alomo" in Twi means love; enhanced sexual function is claimed as one of the benefits of drinking the spirit.
For research & development , and the advance of science the editor at great risk of life & limb , subjected himself to a tot every evening for a week. The editor isn't impotent, so i couldn't comment on the effect of Alomo when there is no erectile function, but I can say is that Alomo definitely enhances sexual function particularly on erectile stamina.
Alomo works without any perceivable stress on the body. i.e it doesn't work by increasing the heart rate or as far as I can tell, or by increasing blood pressure. I haven't heard from others or experienced any contraindication either.
Alomo is available in Ghanaian stores in London such as West Green Rd, N15 and Leytonstone High Rd, E11.
Food dishes
It might be assumed by those that have not traveled to Ghana, that perhaps some foods might be hot with Chilli powder because other hot countries like India have hot and spicy food. In fact I have found this to be predominately not the case.
They do use a little chilli, a lot of Ginger and some Garlic , also Peanuts in some dishes such as such as light soup
Like most dishes around the world there is usually some type of high carbohydrate food which accompanies the main meat or stew dish.
"Fufu" is a food consisting of plantain, and Cassava and is a traditional accompaniement to a stews in the Asante area of Ghana.
Kenkey & and Banku are more commonly eaten by Fanti tribes with fish , at sea side areas of Accra and other coastle areas of Ghana such as Cape Coast. Kenkey and Banku are similar in consistency to Fufu except instead of plantain they are made from ground corn. Kenkey traditionally comes wrapped in corn leaves; Banku is lighter & less stodgy than Kenkey
A root vegetable that takes the place of potatoes i guess in Ghanaian cookery is the humble Yam. I used to see yams in the vegetable racks outside international shops years ago when i was at University in London, but didn't have a clue what they were or and wouldn't know what to do with them if given one either.
Yams as I i have now found are quite easy to prepare & cook (see adjacent) and are a great alternative to the English potato. They also have about three times the fibre content of skinless potatoes.
Dishes to look out for in Ghana include:
Palmfruit Soup- containing crabs & fish
Nkati Kwan(groundnut soup)-the base of the soup is peanut
tsi ( Fresh Fish Soup) -contains Tilapia fish
Koobi Stew- made from dried and salted Tilapia
Jollof Rice - A bit like a Ghanaian version of Chinese special fried rice.
Recipes
FuFu is made by simply simmering pieces of fresh plantains in one pan, and Cassava in another pan . When they are adequately soft Cassava pieces are put into a large wooden Mortar & then pounded with a large wooden Pestle until they are like mashed potato.
Then pieces of cooked plantain are added & also pounded;the ratio is about 5:1 of Cassava to Plantain. The FuFu is ready when it arrives at a constituency like a light bread dough, and the Plantain & Cassava are completely blended together.
Fresh FuFu is difficult to prepare in the UK since it is almost impossible to get hold of the Mortar & Pestle required. Also it is time consuming & requires a lot of effort. Even Ghanaians in the UK tend to reach for a packet of " instant FuFu "
Simply pour an adequate quantity of FuFu powder into a pan & add boiling water , tir into a paste consistency & cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes. It requires a bit of practice; even my wife who is Ghanaian has in the past either burnt the Fufu or struggle with the consistency which can be like lumpy glue.
The normal proportion of beans to rice is twice the rice to the amount of beans. So if you have around 6
ounces of Black Eyed Beans you will need around 12 Ounces of rice and three or four Waakye Stalks
(Sorghum Stalks), and a pinch of salt.
The Sorghum stalks can be bought in any good Ghanaian shop in the U.K.First soak the Black Eyed Beans overnight, in twice the volume of water of the beans. I.e. if you have one cup of beans soak the beans in two cups of water. Put the Sorghum stalks in with the Beans and water and boil until the beans are half soft.
At this point tip off the water, let it the water cool a bit for safety if needed. Measure the volume of the rice in a cup or other vessel; you will need twice the volume of water to the rice.
Dont throw away the water from the beans but add more water to it until you have twice the volume to the rice. Add this volume of water back to the saucepan of half cooked beans.
Tip in the dried rice and boil again until all the water is absorbed. Thats about it; this Waakye can be used to accompany any Ghanaian meat dish usually tomato stew
The nearest way of describing jollof rice is to say it's like an African style of Chinese Special fried rice. You can choose the type of meat that goes into the dish but usually its chicken pieces which have been pre-cooked.
First take one chopped onion & put that in a deep saucepan with some frying oil , add a level tea spoon of chilli powder, 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon of curry powder and one teaspoon of ground garlic , a pinch of salt.
Fry the above ingredients, for a few minutes then add one tube of tomato puree (around 6 ounces) . Fry for a few more minutes, then add two tins of chopped tomatoes. Simmer for 5 or so minutes then you can add some chopped green peppers, small pieces of carrot or some frozen mixed vegetables.
Cook for around another 5 minutes or so. Then add three cups of rice ( 600 gram/ one and a quarter pounds) of cleaned rice (rise with a little water to clean & get any starch out ) and around a pound of pre-cooked chicken pieces or cubes of pre-cooked beef.
Add about one cup of water then simmer for another 20 minutes until the rice cooks; keep stiring so the rice doesn't burn. You should end up with a mixed rice dish that is moist, but with no free liquid since it should have all been absorbed by the rice.
Take a whole yam and slice it like a carrot, except make the slices about one inch thick ; you can not eat the skin of the yam , so take this off with a knife. The yam pieces are simply boiled in water with a little salt & cook in about 15-20 minutes.