Food ideas for your africa day!

Simple recipe ideas for Ghana and West Africa to bring flavour to your day!

Simple Snacks for a taste of Africa in the classroom

Plantain Crisps

These crisps are sold at practically every traffic light – a quick and easy snack.

Everybody loves plantain chips. And they’re so easy to prepare that anybody can make plantain chips. Next time you have friends over, why not prepare a bowl full of plantain chips to spice up the occasion?

What You’ll Need:
  • Plantain (as ripe as you want it)
  • Salt
  • Cooking oil
How to Make It:

Wash plantain, peel and cut into thin slices. You can slice it into little round slices or long, thin ones as you prefer. Sprinkle a little salt on the slices.

Heat oil and place slices into it individually so they don’t stick together. Fry for about 3 minutes, remove and allow to cool.

Now all you have to do is try very hard not to eat all of it before your friends arrive

Cassava Crisps

Possibly closer in taste to our crisps these should go down a treat – but Cassava needs to be prepared with caution as advised.

Cassava chips taste great simply sprinkled with salt, but even better if served with salsa or a dip. For the best possible chips, the slices of cassava (yuca) need to be paper-thin. Using a vegetable slicer or mandolin to keep the slices thin and uniform for proper frying.

What You’ll Need:
  • 2 cassava roots (fresh)
  • 1 quart water (iced; more or less as needed)
  • Salt to taste
How to Make It:

Slice off about a half-inch from each end of the cassava root. Peel the brown bark like skin from the root, you might want to use gloves for this as some people can react to the uncooked root.

With a vegetable slicer or mandolin, slice the root into thin rounds (about 1/8 inch or less). You can use the straight blade or crinkle-cut blade.

Put the slices into the ice water right away and allow them to steep for 45 minutes.

Remove the slices from the water. Drain and dry on paper towels (you do not want them to be wet when you put them in hot oil).

Fry in hot oil at 370f until lightly brown and crisp. Don’t crowd the fryer. Fry in batches if necessary.

Drain the chips on paper towels, sprinkle with salt.

Serve immediately or allow them to cool and store them sealed in plastic bags or airtight container.

Akla or Koosé or Black Eye Pea Fritters

These are a delicious snack – but they are more time consuming to make.

What You’ll Need:
  • 2 cups black-eyed peas
  • 1/2 Medium Onion
  • 1-2 Hot Pepper Scotch Bonnet or habenero Pepper
  • Salt to taste about 1 3/4 teaspoons or more adjust to taste
  • 2 Large eggs optional see tips
  • optional spices 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika)
  • Oil for deep frying
How to Make It:

Soak them for about 15 minutes, pulse in the blender or food processor to break the peas (about 5- 10 times or about 10 to 15 seconds) you should do this in small quantities. In a large bowl soak the beans with warm water for about 2 hours or up to 24hours, cover with water until tender.

Rub the peas between your hands to take the skin off. The skins will float to the top. Pour off the skins, into a colander; you may have to do this process several times. Most of the skin will come off the peas; Sort through the remaining peas to remove all the skin. You can do this ahead of time and freeze it, to save time

In a food processor, puree onions, black-eyed peas and habanero pepper with no or very little water until completely smooth. You might have to do this in two batches. It is important to note that, using water will cause the mixture to be very light and will not hold together.

In a medium bowl mix together, blended black eyed peas, salt, and eggs.

Heat up a large skillet or cast iron with oil up to ½ inch- medium-high heat (375) until hot but not smoking.

Gently place batter by spoonfuls in hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes turning once. Fry in batches and do not over crowd pan – it may lead to soggy akara. Remove from hot oil with a slotted spoon, drain well, and serve.

Here are some more recipes from the amazing Waakye Leaf London.