Fufu
Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou foo-foo ) is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine originally made from boiled cassava, plantains, and cocoyam. Fufu's prevalence in West Africa has been noted in local literature, such as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
It is a Twi word originating from the Akans in Ghana, but the word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African countries including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Angola and Gabon. It also includes variations in the Greater Antilles and Central America, where African culinary influence is high.
In Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Liberia, they use the method of separately mixing and pounding equal portions of boiled cassava with green plantain or cocoyam, or by mixing cassava/plantain/cocoyam flour with water and stirring it on a stove. Its thickness is then adjusted to personal preference, and it is eaten with broth-like soups. Meanwhile, in Nigeria fufu is made solely from fermented cassava, giving it its unique thickness compared to that found elsewhere. It is eaten with a variety of soups (such as Egusi soup and Ogbono soup), vegetables, beef, and fish.
In recent years other flours, such as wheat semolina, maize flour, or mashed plantains may take the place of cassava flour. This is common for those in the diaspora or families that live in urban cities. Families in rural areas with access to farmland still maintain the original recipe of using cassava. Fufu is traditionally eaten with the fingers, and a small ball of it can be dipped into an accompanying soup or sauce.
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