Banku and Okro Stew

Medium·3 days

Smooth, tangy balls of fermented corn-and-cassava dough served beside a glossy, gooey okra stew loaded with smoked fish, crab and meat. A coastal Ga classic eaten by hand, the banku dipped into the slippery stew.

Banku originates with the Ga (Ga-Adangme) and Ewe peoples of Ghana's south-eastern coast, where it is a daily staple, and is classically paired with okro (okra) stew.

The banku is dense yet pliable with a sharp sourdough tang that cuts the richness of the stew. The okra stew is unabashedly slippery and ropey, deeply savoury from layers of smoked fish and crab, with a building chilli heat. Together it is funky, a little wild, and savoury-deep.

Two to three days of fermentation produces lactic acid that gives banku its signature tang and digestible, springy texture. Okra's natural mucilage thickens the stew into its characteristic glossy, ropey body without any flour.

Variations

paired with grilled tilapia and shito, with fried fish, with pepper-and-shrimp grinding (okro froye), Fante okro abom version

On the Palate

Where Banku and Okro Stew sits in the Ghanaian flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 4

2Scotch Bonnet Pepper

3 tbspPalm Oil

How it's made

8 steps · 3 days

1
4320 min
Mix corn dough and cassava dough with water and leave to ferment for two to three days until pleasantly sour.
Watch out
Ready to use when it smells cleanly sour, not funky — a pleasant tang means the ferment worked; a sharp off-smell means it went too far.
2
20 min
For the stew, simmer onion, tomato and scotch bonnet with smoked fish, crab and meat until fragrant.
3
8 min
Stir sliced or grated okra into the stew and cook until it turns glossy and slippery.
Watch out
Cook the okra just until the stew turns glossy and slides off the spoon in ropes — that slippery pull is the whole point of banku's partner.
4
5 min
Whisk the fermented doughs with water and salt in a heavy pot over medium heat.
5
10 min
Stir continuously and vigorously, pressing out lumps, until the dough thickens and pulls together.
Watch out
Keep stirring hard and pressing out every lump — the moment it stops sticking to the pot and balls up around the spoon, it's coming together.
6
5 min
Keep working it until smooth, stretchy and cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Watch out
It's cooked through when it turns smooth and stretchy and pulls away clean from the sides — pasty or gritty means it needs a few more minutes.
7
3 min
Wet your hands and mould the dough into smooth round balls.
8
2 min
Serve the banku beside a generous bowl of okra stew.