Egusi and Pounded Yams

I know in all my blogs, I have been talking about all the Ghanaian foods I have eaten. My purpose for writing about these foods is because I enjoy eating them and I will like others from different countries to try them as well. I have not only tried Ghanaian foods, but I have also tried Liberian, Togolese, Mexican, Jamaican, Benin, Nigerian, and American foods as well. I like all the different tastes and styles of foods I have tried so far. But there is one more dish that I have been craving for. It is a Nigerian dish called Egusi soup and pounded yams. I have a Nigerian friend who promised to prepare it for me but unfortunately, she couldn't. We both had to prepare to leave for college so we never had the chance to spend time together. And we never had the chance to say goodbye. 

Alright, back to Egusi and pounded yams. This dish is so popular in Nigeria that other countries in Africa even know about it. Most Nigerian movies have a character eating this dish. Everyone should know what pounded yams looks like. It is just cooked yams that are pounded and shaped into a ball. So I will not say much about it.

Egusi, on the other hand can also be called Pumpkin seed. It is made thick when the pumpkin seed is grounded. This soup is not only eaten with pounded yams, it is also eaten with fufu. Fufu is a starchy dish made from pounding cassava or plantains. Pounded yams is just preferred to be eaten with Egusi soup. Every time I watch Nigerian movies and I see someone eating this dish, I could always picture myself being that person. I have heard from so many people about how delicious the meal is. 

                                        

The recipe in making this dish is very simple. This dish does not take long to cook at all. The most used and well known recipe is listed below: 

Ingredients

1 cup of grounded pumpkin seeds

Beef or chicken

1 cup palm oil

Tomatoes

Onions

Crushed peppers 

Tomato sauce

Tomato pastes

Water 

Spinach 

These are the special ingredients used to make the best Egusi soup. The reason why I added beef and chicken to the ingredients is because, most countries in Africa have a belief that a soup or stew is never complete without meat. I hope anybody who has never tried Egusi soup and Pounded yams should not hesitate to try it . 

Ghana Jollof vs Nigerian Jollof

There is a huge debate going on between the Ghanaians and the Nigerians about the Jollof rice. The arguments between these two groups of people are about whose jollof rice tastes better. Since I am a Ghanaian, I will try not to be too biased because I have never tasted the Nigerian jollof rice before. Some say the Ghanaian jollof rice tastes better, and others disagree and say the Nigerian jollof rice is better. The truth is, jollof rice can have many different tastes depending on who prepares it. Some can taste sweet and spicy, while others can taste sweet and salty. Jollof rice can also have different textures to it depending on what kind of rice a person uses to cook it. If jasmine rice is used, which is very common, it'll be dense and really soft.

Jollof rice can be eaten with a lot of side dishes. The most popular side dishes are plantains and chicken. Jollof rice is made out of rice, tomato paste, onions, peppers, vegetable oil, salt, magi cubes and spices. It is West Africa's most cooked meal for dinner. It is very popular in Nigeria and Ghana because it is known to be the main type of rice that is prepared and eaten.

Nigerians have two types of Jollof rice. The homemade and party jollof. I have some Nigerian friends who said the homemade version is good but the party jollof rice is delicious. The party jollof is eaten with chicken and coke. Most people like that version more because of its crunchy and smokey taste. The smokey taste comes from it being cooked on the stove.

The Ghanaians use Thai Jasmine rice to cook their jollof , while the Nigerians use long grain rice to cook theirs. The jasmine rice that is used to cook the dish makes the food very starchy and dense.
The Ghanaians are well known for their use of tomato paste in all the food they prepare. Because Ghanaians love spicy food, they believe that the more peppery the dish, the better. So they eat their rice with a spicy sauce called shito, which is a black sauce that is made out of ginger, shrimp oil and peppers.

So who wins? In my opinion nobody wins because the Nigerians and the Ghanaians are great cooks.

Do you like it Mild or Spicy?

Some people call it rice and beans, and others just call it brown rice. I call it Waakye, it is not just rice and beans or brown rice. It is a combination of both. I grew up eating this food and I am still not tired of it yet. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it at all. Waakye is one of those foods that you can eat every single day and never get tired of it.



Waakye is one of Ghanaians favorite meal to eat for breakfast or lunch. It is Ghana's most popular food. It is cooked at home and sold on the roadside where people pass by and buy it. Waakye is rice and beans cooked together, and it's eaten with so many variety of side dishes. These side dishes could be Shito (which is the sauce on the side. It can be very spicy or mild), salad, plain spaghetti, boiled eggs, fish/chicken, and last but definitely not least is gari. Gari is my favorite side dish to eat with waakye. I like it most when it is mixed with palm oil.



When gari is eaten with waakye, it gives it a crunchy taste which makes it fun to eat with the meal. Gari can be eaten with anything. In the last blog I talked about Red Red and how it is eaten. Red Red can be eaten with gari as well. Some people prefer eating gari by itself. It can be cooked with boiling water and salt, which makes it thick and starchy.



Or it can be soaked in water and eaten with sauce. By the way the main focus should be on Waakye, not gari. I know anybody who reads this will be curious of how to make this Ghanaian dish. The ingredients of how to prepare it are listed below;

Ingredients

• 2 cups of rice
• 1 cup of red beans or black-eyed peas
• 4 dry sorghum leaves
• salt
• 10 cups of water 

It is very easy to prepare. Waakye is known to originate from Ghana's Northern most region. It is served in many different ways and it's high in protein. It's also very starchy and high in carbs. This dish is able to cover two meals no matter how small the portion is. This dish is one of the tasty and well known dishes that nobody should miss. I've known Non-Africans who have tried it and they can't stop eating it. 

If you are reading my blog, do not hesitate to try making this dish because I guarantee you will love it. ENJOY!!!

Red - Red

One of the most popular dish in Ghana is called Red - Red. It is normally made vegetarian but some people prepare it with broth from meat or fish. This dish is a Ghanaian stew made from beans and it gets its red oil from the palm oil that is used to cook it. If not palm oil, tomato sauce will be used to cook it. I remember red - red was the last food I ate before leaving Ghana to the United States. As I mentioned on my last blog, banku and okro stew is my favorite food. My second favorite food is red-red. In my opinion, my mother is the best at preparing it. If you haven't tried this dish yet, I think you should give it a try. It is very delicious and satisfying. It is high in carbs and protein. The recipes used to prepare this dish is listed below:

Ingredients:
250 grams black eyed beans
Red palm oil
4 medium size red onions
1 small box tomato paste
1-2 red chili
2-3 cm fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic
5 tomatoes
Water
2-3 tbs of salt
A pinch of sugar

Red-Red is eaten with fried plantain, or preferably rice. I personally enjoy it with fried plantain. The plantain has to be ripped and not green. The dish tastes delicious with a ripped, fried plantain. In order to cook this dish properly you have to wash and boil the beans for about 30 minutes or until its soft. Drain them and put them aside. Chop the onions and add it to the palm oil, and boil for 15 minutes. The onion, chili, ginger and tomatoes will be grounded to a smooth paste.

If you choose to eat red-red with plantain, peel off the skin and cut it into little pieces. Find an olive oil and fry the plantain until it turns completely brown. If you don't have access to plantain, the red-red can be served with rice. But that is common in Ghana.



I miss the aroma and the taste of this dish when my mother prepares it. I especially love it when she prepares it spicy. The thickness of this dish makes it high in carbs and fiber. Some Ghanaians use it as a source of cleansing the stomach because the richness of the fiber makes you want to use the bathroom. This dish can cover two meals a day. This dish is mainly eaten with the hands because all Africans believes that eating with the hands makes you enjoy the meal more. And it is also cultural to eat with the hands in many of the African countries.