Banku with Grilled Tilapia

Name: Banku with Grilled Tilapia
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: For the banku: 2 cups fine white cornmeal; ⅔ cup cassava flour; 2 tbsp plain yoghurt (for the fermented tang); about 2½ cups warm water; 1 tsp salt; For the fish: 2 whole cleaned tilapia (about 500 g each), scored on both sides; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 1 grated onion; 1 tbsp garlic-ginger paste; 2 tbsp oil and 1 tsp salt; For the pepper sauce: 3 tomatoes, 1 onion, 2–3 hot peppers, a small piece of ginger, salt and 2 tbsp oil

InternationalGhanaian90 minServes 4

Along Ghana's coast and near its lakes, many people feel lunch is not complete without a soft white ball of banku beside grilled tilapia. Banku is made from fermented corn and cassava dough, stirred in the pot with a wooden spoon until it turns stretchy and glossy, which takes a strong arm and patience. It is eaten by hand: pinch off a small piece, dip it in the fresh pepper sauce, and take it with a bite of fish. It is said that good banku is known by its feel: smooth and elastic, never sticking to the pot.

Origin of the dish: Ghana (the south and its coast) — Well known among the Ga and Ewe peoples and eaten across Ghana

Photo: Banku and Grilled Tilapia.jpg by Flixtey, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Ingredients for Banku with Grilled Tilapia

2 cupsfine white cornmeal (For the banku)
⅔ cupcassava flour
2 tbspplain yoghurt (for the fermented tang)
about 2½ cupswarm water
1 tspsalt
2whole cleaned tilapia (about 500 g each), scored on both sides (For the fish)
2 tbsplemon juice
1grated onion
1 tbspgarlic-ginger paste
2 tbspoil and 1 tsp salt
3tomatoes, 1 onion, 2–3 hot peppers, a small piece of ginger, salt and 2 tbsp oil (For the pepper sauce)

Method

Mix the cornmeal, cassava flour and yoghurt with 1½ cups of warm water, cover and leave somewhere warm for 8–12 hours to ferment slightly. (Traditionally the dough ferments for two to three days.)
Season the fish with the lemon, onion, garlic-ginger paste, oil and salt and leave for 30 minutes.
Grill the fish over charcoal or in a 220°C oven for about 12 minutes per side until cooked and browned.
Roughly blend the tomatoes, onion, peppers and ginger (short pulses in a blender, or in a mortar), season with salt, then heat the oil and pour it over.
For the banku: put the fermented dough in a pot with ½ cup of water and the salt, and mix well over medium heat.
Keep stirring with a wooden spoon for 20–30 minutes, adding a little warm water when needed, until the dough is smooth, stretchy and glossy and pulls away from the side of the pot.
Shape the banku into balls with a wet bowl or plastic wrap and serve with the fish and the sauce.

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