Whereas most guests to Ghana will leap on the alternative to strive fufu (a ball of mashed cassava, yam or plantain), the West African nation has loads of different conventional meals and drinks for vacationers to hunt out too.
From oily palm nut soup paired with starches like banku (cooked balls of fermented corn flour) to filling road snacks like rice water porridge, going hungry in Ghana would be the least of your worries. What’s extra, the capital Accra has an ever-evolving eating scene that provides every thing from top-notch sushi to connoisseur burgers. Here is what to eat and drink in Ghana.
Begin with a staple, groundnut soup
Groundnut soup must be one of many first meals you strive in Ghana. This warming, mild-to-spicy dish is cooked with peanut butter, ginger, and both fish or meat and is served at lunchtime or dinner. Like many Ghanaian soups, it’s often eaten with a carbohydrate like fufu or banku.
The place to strive it: Most native roadside eateries, generally known as chop bars, can have this staple dish on the menu.
Have palm nuts in soup kind
Original from tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chili pepper and palm nuts, this soup takes its shiny crimson colour from palm oil. The hearty dish boasts a thick texture and will be eaten with an assortment of meats like beef and rooster.
The place to strive it: Oseikrom Aduanipa is a 24-hour restaurant in Accra that serves Ghanaian classics seven days per week. Palm nut soup is all the time out there right here.
Get pleasure from red-red with a facet of fried plantains
You’ll study rapidly that Ghana is the house of stews and soups fused with flavorful spices, and red-red is not any exception. A bean stew usually served with fried plantain, red-red is among the many prime meals decisions it’s best to strive in Ghana. The dish is a mix of black-eyed peas, crimson palm oil, chili pepper and a bunch of different spices. It might probably generally embody smoked meat or fish.
The place to strive it: Identified for its genuine African meals, Buka Restaurant gives a few of the finest red-red in Accra, in accordance with many Ghanaians.
Swallow fufu at a chop bar
Mashed and combined from cassava, plantain or yam to get its thick, sticky texture, fufu is used as an accompaniment for a lot of soup and stew-based dishes in Ghana. You utilize the fingers in your proper hand to separate items of fufu from their complete round or oval form and dip them into your soup or stew of alternative.
The place to strive it: Bush Canteen on the College of Ghana is named some of the widespread native spots to eat in Accra – and a fair higher place to take pleasure in some freshly-pounded fufu.
Get pleasure from banku together with your stew
Used as one other accompaniment for meals in Ghana, banku is a carbohydrate composed of fermented corn and cassava dough formed into golf-sized balls. The qualities of banku and fufu are usually not too far off each other and might simply be combined up. Banku is distinguished by its barely bitter style and thickness compared to fufu. It’s added to stews and soups and is eaten with a spicy pepper mix.
The place to strive it: One other conventional restaurant in Accra, Dimaensa is price stopping by for some banku.
Strive the well-known banku and tilapia mixture
Apart from soups and stews, banku is often eaten with a freshly grilled piece of tilapia topped with inexperienced and crimson peppers and onions. Normally served with a facet of shito (scorching pepper sauce) and inexperienced sauce, the banku must be dipped into each earlier than diving into the tilapia.
The place to strive it: Azmera Restaurant in Accra locations a tasty spin on this dish with the choice of corn or billet banku and a facet of avocados.
Begin the day with rice water
Breakfast in Ghana is served early within the morning and is straightforward to overlook when you aren’t up and out earlier than 7-8am. For individuals who are up early, get your palms on a cup of rice water, and also you’re definitely in for a deal with. This Ghanaian breakfast meals has the consistency of porridge. White rice is often boiled till it’s utterly gentle after which combined with sugar and evaporated milk for a filling begin to the day.
The place to strive it: Rice water will be discovered alongside the roadside at any breakfast meals stand. Indicators are sometimes positioned to point if the porridge is being served at that exact stand.
Bask in all of the jollof rice your abdomen can deal with
When you go to Ghana and don’t strive jollof rice, did you ever actually go to? It’s uncommon to not see this spicy, rice-based dish on any menu you will get your palms on. Blended with a base of blended tomatoes and onions, jollof rice is often served with meat. Relying on who’s within the kitchen, the rice is likely to be served plain or combined with small greens.
The place to strive it: Noble Chef serves Accra across the clock and has a few of the finest jollof rice within the metropolis.
Sip on sobolo
Also referred to as hibiscus tea, sobolo is a well-liked drink in Ghana. Recognizable by its purple-red colour and sometimes bought in labeled water bottles, sobolo will be present in eating places, chop bars, and even on the roadside. The drink’s properties are stripped from the steeping of Hibiscus leaves, sweetened with sugar, and added ginger. Sobolo mimics a ardour fruit drink with a touch of spiciness from the ginger.
The place to strive it: Hold a watch out for any distributors promoting bottles of sobolo on the highway when you’re touring round by automotive or tro tro (small minivan or bus).
Go for a gladd of akpeteshie
Akpeteshie is a drink whose roots return to Ghana’s independence in 1957, when the drink was allowed to be distilled after decolonization. Derived from palm tree sap, akpeteshie is a powerful palm wine each in style and alcohol ranges.
The place to strive it: Akpeteshie will be discovered at most native roadside pubs.
Vegetarians and vegans
Whereas Ghana is a meat-heavy nation relating to meals, vegetarians and vegans have loads of choices to select from when visiting the nation. Even Ghana’s hottest dishes will be meatless upon request. Many restaurant dishes are made to order, leaving room to substitute sure substances if wanted. Within the capital, Accra, and numerous cities past, vegan and vegetarian eating places exist to cater to dairy and meat-free diets.
Vegan and vegetarian eating places to take a look at round Ghana embody Tatale Vegan Restaurant, Mahorgany and Purple Cafe in Accra; Baobab Vegetarian Moringa Restaurant in Cape Coast; and Saarnak Vegetarian Meals and Well being Store in Kumasi.
