With the prominence of tropical ingredients, including corn, beans, millet, plantains, cassava, hot peppers, and tomatoes, most meals in Ghana are hot and spicy. Tropical fruits and vegetables help to round out the diet (Miller, 2021). A starchy staple, such as yams, cornbread, or plantain, is generally served alongside meat or beans in a stew or soup. Sauces are staples of Ghanaian cuisine, typically served over rice.
Fufu, a mashed ball composed of plantain, cassava or yam, is cooked and mashed into a semi-plastic condition. Kenkey is traditionally made by boiling balls of fermented cooked maize meal and raw maize dough wrapped in a dried cornhusk. The finished product has a crispy and crunchy flavor, is readily kept, and can be consumed with fish, stew or soup.
Other meals commonly offered in Ghana include kenkey, banku, kelewele, yam pottage, tuo zaafi, Omo Tuo, and wasawasa. Fresh dishes with a local flavor are frequently available in street stores and marketplaces (Miller, 2021). Kelewele, fried plantain flavored with chili pepper and ginger, is a favorite treat.
