Fufu, foufou, foofoo or foutou is a staple starchy dish for African countries, specifically, West Africa’s Nigeria and Ghana. It consists of cooked dough from coco-yam, cassava (garri) or oatmeal kneaded together to form a soft substance. Fufu in itself cannot make a whole meal, therefore an accompaniment of a delicious stew, soup or sauce has to be made to go with it. It is popularly eaten with hands by pulling a small portion and dipping it the accompaniment. Here are 10 delicious ways to eat the African fufu.
1. Egusi (Melon) Soup
Egusi is one of the finger licking soups of the West African descent. The preparation of the soup requires ingredients like melon (egusi) or pumpkin seeds, crayfish and chicken bouillon all finely ground. Smoked catfish, goat meat and vegetables like spinach would also be added together with onions, tomatoes and olive oil. The preparation of this delicious soup starts by frying onions and adding tomatoes, then the pumpkin seeds after 10 minutes. Thereafter, you can add all the fleshy substances and let it thicken on low heat for 20 minutes. The final step is the vegetables then you can serve the soup with hot African fufu.
2. Pumpkin Soup
This is a thick stew made by the West Africans to go with rice but can also be a perfect accompaniment for fufu. It is very easy to prepare. The preparation is traditionally done using any kind of vegetable oil, but mostly, palm oil. Once you have your pumpkin squashed and de-seeded, you may want to add any other ingredients to make it special for yourself. It only takes 40 minutes to prepare.
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3. Greens and Peanut Butter Stew
Like its name suggests, this stew is made of plenty of greens and creamy groundnut butter. Other several additions to enhance and give it taste like pepper, salt, peanut oil and seasoning cubes are added to taste. Start by frying the onions in the peanut oil and add the pepper and greens in 5 minutes intervals each. Next you can add the tomatoes and bouillon cubes. Meanwhile, be mixing the peanut in hot water and add to the greens once they are tender.
4. Pepper soup
This is also another very common hot yet delicious soup that goes well with fufu. It is primarily made of tripe, vegetables and rich broth pepper. This is very cheap to prepare due to its affordable ingredients. Most of the time, garlic, thyme, meats, scallions and other things are added to make the soup sweeter and hotter.
5. Okra soup
This comprises of okra, beef steak, bouillon chicken and garlic powder, onions, maggi seasonings and salt to taste. After washing thoroughly your beef steak, let dry and season in a pot of onions, pepper, salt and garlic. Add water and let simmer for 40 minutes on minimum heat. Once tender, add seasoning sauce, oil, and bouillon chicken cubes. After 12 minutes, add okra and stir. Then the soup is ready to be served
See Also: 5 Greatest Ghana Recipes you’ll love
6. Cassava leaves soup
This delicacy is eaten in the West African countries almost every day. It is popularly prepared using peanut butter or sometimes coconut milk. First, your cassava leaves must be pounded. You may also add in any meat type cubed and your desired choice of fish. Preparation time for cassava leaves soup will take 25 minutes and cooking between 60 and 80 minutes.
7. Fish stew
Depending on which kind your favourite fish is, fish stew is easy to prepare and cook. When taken with fufu, fish stew gives your taste buds some real work. You could add cabbages, potatoes, spaghetti, carrots into your fish stew to make it unique.
8. Chicken mixed with Fennel stew
Within an hour or less, you will have a combination of your most favorite flavors of chicken stew done with a variety of other spices and ingredients like lemon and chickpeas.
9. Palm butter soup
There are various ways to make your soup as unique and delicious as you may want it to be. You would choose to use any kind of meat together with the cream from butter and other ingredients you may desire to add.
10. Chicken yassa
The chicken yassa is another delicacy that would go well with fufu. In preparation, the chicken is first marinated using mustard and lemon juice most preferably overnight. Yassa sauce can also be prepared using lamb beef or any kind of fish.
There you got it, 10 delicious ways to eat African fufu. Remember also, you may choose to make your fufu as unique as you may want it using either bananas, yams, cassava or oatmeal with several more ingredients.
