Banku (dish)
{{Short description|Staple food of Ghana}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Banku
| image = BALLS OF BANKU.jpg
| caption = Balls of banku
| alternate_name = Akple, ɛtsew
| country = Ghana
| type = Swallow
| course =
| served = Hot
| main_ingredient = Corn dough, cassava dough, salt and water
| variations =
| calories =
| other =
}}
In Ghanaian cuisine, banku and akple ({{IPAc-en|audio=Tw-Banku.ogg}}) are swallow dishes made of a slightly fermented cooked mixture of maize and cassava doughs formed into single-serving balls.
Banku is cooked in hot water until it turns into a smooth, whitish paste,{{cite book | last1=Briggs | first1=P. | last2=Rushton | first2=K. | title=Ghana: The Bradt Travel Guide | publisher=Bradt Travel Guides | series=Bradt Guides | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-84162-205-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/ghana0000brig | url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/ghana0000brig/page/73 73]}}{{Cite web|last=Muyambo|first=Freda|date=2019-06-25|title=Banku|url=https://www.196flavors.com/ghana-banku/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=196 flavors|language=en-US}} served with soup, okra stew or a pepper sauce with fish.online reference, by J Dzeagu-Kudjodji and others ;{{cite web|title=Banku|url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/food/banku.html|access-date=14 February 2015}}{{Cite web|date=13 December 2017|title=How to prepare Banku|url=https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/food/How-to-prepare-banku-609361|website=Ghana Web|access-date=6 June 2020|archive-date=6 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606151739/https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/food/How-to-prepare-banku-609361|url-status=dead}}
Akple is preferred by the people of the southern regions of Ghana—the Ewe people,(1) A Grammatical Sketch of the Akra or Ga-language - By Johannes Zimmermann, (2) Online Reference By J DZeagu-Kudjodji and Others.{{page?|date=September 2022}} the Fante people and the Ga-Dangme—but it is also eaten across other regions in Ghana. Banku is a softer variety eaten by the Ga-Dangme (Ga or Dangbe), while the Fante people also have a drier variant of the dish they call ɛtsew.{{cite book | last=Haard | first=N.F. | title=Fermented Cereals: A Global Perspective | publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | series=FAO agricultural services bulletin | issue=138 | year=1999 | isbn=978-92-5-104296-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtqY7dP7Ib0C&pg=PA37 | page=37}}{{cite web|title=Banku|url=http://ifood.tv/dough/banku/about|website=ifood.tv/|publisher=Future Today Inc|access-date=14 February 2015}}
Etymology
Banku is a distinctively Ga-Dangme term.{{Cite web |title=AFRICA {{!}} 101 Last Tribes - Ga people |url=http://www.101lasttribes.com/tribes/ga.html |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.101lasttribes.com}}{{failed verification|date=May 2022}} Banku is coined from the Dangbe phrase "ba mi ku". Ba means 'leaf(ves)'. Ku is the generic Ga-Dangbe term for all food of similar texture and prepared in a similar manner. Historically, banku was stored in leaves. The phrase ba mi ku simply means ku in leaves, and has been adulterated over time into banku. There are similar tonal terms with different meaning in the Ga language, such as Inku (for pomade in the Ga-language), Ashanku (for a variant of a plantain fritter called Tatale), and many other names ending in 'ku'.{{Cite book |last=Mensah |first=Joseph Nii Abekar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tYeAgAAQBAJ&dq=It+is+a+distinctively+Ga-Dangme+term&pg=PA63 |title=Traditions and Customs of Gadangmes of Ghana: Descendants of Authentic Biblical Hebrew Israelites |date=2013 |publisher=Strategic Book Publishing |isbn=978-1-62857-104-2 |language=en}}{{failed verification|date=May 2022}}
Ingredients and preparation
{{How-to|section|date=June 2022}}
The main ingredients for preparing banku are corn flour, cassava, salt and water. Banku and akple are made with similar ingredients.{{cite web|last1=Annan|first1=Dorcas Aba|title=Akple & Ground Pepper with Grilled Tilapia|url=http://www.accra-guesthouse.com/showArticle/34|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214200200/http://www.accra-guesthouse.com/showArticle/34|archive-date=14 February 2015|access-date=14 February 2015}}
Cassava is peeled, chopped and mixed with corn grains and soaked for a day. The water is poured off and the cassava and maize are milled into a smooth, fine and wet dough. The dough is then fermented for two to five days, depending on temperature.{{Cite web|title=Ghana: Banku|url=https://www.196flavors.com/ghana-banku/|date=2019-06-25|website=196 flavors|language=en-US|access-date=2020-06-01}}{{Cite web|last=Gracia|first=Zindzy|date=2018-03-01|title=How to prepare banku|url=https://yen.com.gh/106552-how-prepare-banku.html|access-date=2021-10-09|website=Yen.com.gh - Ghana news.|language=en}}
The corn and cassava dough is mixed with water and then boiled. The mixture is stirred gradually until the slurry becomes dough-like again and is then kneaded until it is smooth. Water is added around the "dough-in-pan-island", enough to almost cover the surface. It then needs to be covered well and allowed to boil, ensuring even cooking and steaming of the dough in the covered pan. Next, the dough is kneaded with a spatula to incorporate the water into it until it is smooth.
The process is repeated with centering, watering, and kneading until the dough is soft and evenly cooked. The cooked dough is portioned into small balls.
Banku and akple are traditionally eaten with hands.{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8WvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA50|title=Sensible Objects: Colonialism, Museums and Material Culture|last2=Gosden|first2=C.|last3=Phillips|first3=R.|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2006|isbn=978-1-84788-315-5|series=Wenner-Gren International Symposium Series|page=50}} Akple is usually eaten with an okro (okra) soup known as Fetri Detsi among the Ewes.{{Cite web|date=2019-06-26|title=Ghana: Okro Stew|url=https://www.196flavors.com/ghana-okro-stew/|access-date=2020-03-09|website=196 flavors|language=en-US}} It can be served with soup, stew or pepper sauce with meat or fish.
Gallery
Akple.jpg|Akple
Banku ne mako.jpg|Banku and pepper
Grilled tilapia with banku.jpg|Grilled tilapia with banku
Banku soup with crab and fermented maize.jpg|Banku with okro 'okra' stew and crab
BANKU WITH FRIED FISH & HOT PEPPER.jpg|Banku with fried fish and hot pepper
A ball of “Akple” tied in a rubber.jpg|A ball of akple tied in plastic
Akple and Borbi Tadi.jpg|Akple (upper-right) and borbi tadi
GH local food.jpg|A woman preparing banku in Ghana
Turning Banku 3.jpg|Preparing banku
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVOXDVG4B9A Video: How to Prepare Banku]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AEh15rh3NE Video: How To Make Akple & Abobi (Keta school boys ) Pepper Sauce ]
{{corn}}
{{African cuisine}}