Ashanti cuisine, the cuisine of the Ashanti people, includes meat and fish (seafood) grilled over hot coals, wide and varied range of soups, stews, several kinds of starch foods, groundnut, palm, patties (or empanadas), ground corn (maize), sadza, ugali.
Dokonu & grilled tilapia is a type of dish prepared in the style of Ashanti cuisine that often includes tomatoes, onions, sweet or hot red and green peppers.
Description
Ashanti cuisine is influenced by the abundance of produce from the sea on one side and the fertile Brong Ahafo on the other.[1] The river and forest nature of the Ashanti territory (Ashnati and Ashantiland) has led to a difference between Ashanti people's Ashantiland coastal cuisine dominated by fish and seafood, and Ashanti people's Ashantiland inland cuisine with fresh and cured meats, many vegetables and starch foods, and freshwater fish and tilapia.[1]
Ashantis have also been quick to absorb new ingredients and techniques from their own trade and exploration links. When Ashantis began to trade with the Portuguese in the 16th century AD, they developed the appetite for a variety of freshwater fish and incorporated freshwater fish into the Ashanti cuisine. The Coromantee, an amalgamation of several Akan groups of Jamaica departed the Gold Coast region in the 17th century AD, in which the similarity between Ashanti and Jamaican cuisine is rooted.[1] Ashantis embraced the potato and the capsicum, used in hams, sausages and recipes, with pepper festivals around Ashanti settlements, notably Ashanti festivals; Akwasidae festival and Adae Kese festival.[1]
Cuisine and the kitchen are at the heart of Ashanti culture, and there is a Museum of Gastronomy in Kumasi Metropolitan.[1]
Ways of eating
In addition to the dishes and products of Ashantis, there are features of the way of preparing and sharing food unique to Ashanti and Ashantiland.[1]
- Fufuo
For instance fufuo in Ashanti or fufu a special kind of starch food eaten with soup. Originally, fufuo was made of yams. Although yams are still used, most fufuo cooked in Ashanti territories is now made with a combination of plantain (cooking banana) and cassava. The cassava is too soft alone, and the plantain is too hard.[1] Together they do well when cooked. Pounding of fufuo in Ashanti territories is done by first the yam (or combination of plantain and cassava) is boiled. Then a mortar and pestle are used to pound the fufuo.[1] A single person can make a small amount of fufuo, pounding it with one hand and turning with another. The starch changes its chemical composition because of the pounding; it agglutinates. It is not to be chewed or tasted. The taste comes from the soup with which it is eaten. Mouth sized bites are broken off by fingers of the right hand from the ball of fufuo in the bowl, swished around in the soup, inserted into the mouth and swallowed whole.[1]
- Omo Tu
A popular Ashanti starch based on imported basmati rice is Omo Tu or Tue (rice balls) the size and shape of cannonballs. When the rice is cooked, it is allowed to become sticky so that it can be formed into balls. It is eaten in a manner similar to fufuo, with soup. It is not pounded.[1]
- Ampesi
An Ashanti meal of boiled tubers or roots is called ampesi. It is usually eaten with a stew, of which there are many varieties. The favorite tuber is bayere (king yam).[2]
- Nkontumire
Nkontumire literally greens. It is also used as the name of the stew (floe), composed of boiled then chopped or Mediterranean puréed greens, sauteed with onions, some tomatoes perhaps, oil and smoked fish. Chili peppers are used for some spice, varied by taste. The dish is often nicknamed "Palava Sauce," the word "palava" derived from "palaver" from the Ashanti Portuguese era, meaning a discussion or a case to settle.[2]
New Ashanti Cuisine
In the 1990s and early 2000s Ashanti chefs were influenced by the haute cuisine of France and created the haute cuisine ashanti, radically original in its form but solidly Ashanti in substance, with lighter and less rustic versions of traditional soup dishes and flavours.[2]
- Ashanti soups
The soup to eat with fufuo, is "complete" in Ashanti culture if it has some animal each from the sky, the earth and from water. Chicken usually is accepted for something from the sky. Fish or freshwater prawns (crayfish), or something from the sea if available, serves for something from the water. Something from the earth are snails, deer, or domestic animals such as sheep or goat. Vegetables almost always include tomatoes, onions and chili pepper. For stews, spinach is often used, and the crushed seeds of agushi, a melon related to watermelon, or black-eyed peas. Smoked fish is popular in Ashanti stews.[2]
- Nkwan
Three types of Ashanti soup (nkwan) can be described. The preferred Ashanti soup is made with palm oil, (abenkwan) not refined, including the solids as in freshly extracted from the palm kernels.[2]
- Nkatekwan
Ground nut (peanut, goober) soup, nkatekwan, is made from roasted peanuts ground into a fine paste (like peanut butter).[2]
- Nkrakra
Light soup (nkrakra) does not have the heavy oil in it and is often fed to people who are ill. Onions, tomatoes and chilli peppers are common to all the soups. In Ashanti culture; the perfect soup will have a representative meat from the three elements of the universe (from the land, the air and water). Chicken serves for that from the air. Snails from Akan rain forest are most popular from the earth, but goats or deer can be used. Fish can be from the local rivers in Ashanti and Ashantiland or the Afram lake in Eastern Ashantiland, but is more commonly brought from the ocean. Any of the meat can be fresh or smoked, but smoked is favoured.[2]
International Ashanti cuisine
Ashanti cuisine has continued to have an influence on international cuisine, particularly in Central and South America.[3] Fufuo was created by the Akans and originated from Ashanti and Ashantiland, where it is pronounced "fufuo".[3] The word fufu comes from the Ashanti language.[3] It is a staple food of the Ashantis.[3] It is eaten with light Ashanti (tomato) soup, Palm Nut Soup, groundnut (peanut) soup (called nkatikwan in Ashanti language), abenkwan (palm nut) soup or other types of Ashanti soups made with a variety of vegetables and other ingredients, such as nkontomire (cocoyam leaves).[3] Ashanti soups are often made with different kinds of meat and fish, fresh or smoked. Fufu is a popular dish in the Caribbean and the nations with populations of African origin, such as Cuba (Cuban cuisine), the Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic cuisine), Haiti (Haitian cuisine), and Puerto Rico (Puerto Rican cuisine), plantains or yams are mashed and then other ingredients are added. In Cuba, the dish retains its original African name, or is also known as fufú de platano.[3] In the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the dish is described as mangú and mofongo.[3]
Typical dishes
Products
Drinks
Gallery: Ashanti Cuisine
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See also
Notes
References
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. OCLC 605920050 ISSN 0001-9720
- Meyerowitz, Eva L. R., Akan Traditions of Origin, London, c. 1950.
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