Fufu

Fufu

Alternative names	Fufuo; foufou; foofoo; foutou; sakora; sakoro; couscous de Cameroun
Type	sticky dough
Place of origin	West and Central Africa
Main ingredients	Usually cassava alternative additives are plantains and cocoyams
sadza; ugali
Media: Fufu

Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou

Although the original ingredient for fufu is boiled cassava, plantains, and cocoyam, yams (Ghana), it is also made in different ways in other West African countries. In Ghana, Ivory Coast and Liberia, they use the method of separately mixing and pounding equal portions of boiled cassava with green plantain or cocoyam, or by mixing cassava/plantains or cocoyam flour with water and stirring it on a stove. Its thickness is then adjusted to personal preference, and it is eaten with broth-like soups. In Nigeria, fufu (akpu) is made solely from fermented cassava giving it its unique thickness compared to that found in other west African countries. It is eaten with a variety of soups with vegetables and lots of beef and fish.^[4] In recent years other flours, such as semolina, maize flour, or mashed plantains, may take the place of cassava flour. This is common for those in the diaspora or families that live in urban cities. Families in rural areas with access to farmland still maintain the original recipe of using cassava. Fufu is traditionally eaten with the fingers, and a small ball of it can be dipped into an accompanying soup or sauce.^[5]

Names

• Angola: funge, fúngi
• Benin: santana, foufou
• Cameroon: couscous, couscous de manioc
• Central African Republic: foufou
• Congo-Brazzaville
  : fufú, moteke, luku
• Gabon: foufou
• Ghana: fufu, fufuo, sakɔro
• Guinea: foufou
• Haiti: tomtom
• Ivory Coast: foutou, foufou
• Liberia: fufu
• Mozambique: sadja, sadza, xima
• Nigeria: fufu, akpụ, ụtara, loi-loi, swallow
• Sierra Leone: foofoo
• Togo: foufou

In Africa

Before the Portuguese traders introduced cassava to Africa from Brazil in the 16th century, fufu was mainly made from cocoyam, plantain and yams.^[6] The traditional method of eating fufu is to pinch some of the fufu off in one's right hand fingers and form it into an easily ingested round ball. The ball is then dipped in the soup before being eaten.

In Cote d'Ivoire

In Côte d'Ivoire, the word foutou is also used. Ivorian foufou is specifically mashed sweet plantains, whereas the foutou is a stronger, heavier paste made of various staple foods such as yam, cassava, plantains, taro or a mix of any of those.

In the French-speaking regions of Cameroon, it is called "couscous" (not to be confused with the North African dish couscous).^[7]

Although people from the Eastern Africa and Southern Africa seem to confuse fufu (or fufuo) with their type of corn or maize dough dish called

In Ghana

In Yoruba, fùfú is an alliteration that refers to the squishy sound made when the dough is being turned in a mortar or pot. Some have also said that it refers to the colour, since funfun is the Yoruba word for "white", however this is unlikely since the intonation is different. In

In Caribbean nations with substantial populations of West African origin (such as Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico), plantains, cassava or yams are mashed with other ingredients.^{[citation needed]} In Cuba, the dish retains its original African stem name, termed simply as fufú or with added descriptive extensions like fufú de plátano or fufú de plátano pintón.^[21] In the Dominican Republic, a beloved dish, mangú, is very similar to fufú. On other major islands, fufú goes by the names of funche in Puerto Rico. What distinguishes the Caribbean "fufú" from its West African relative is a firmer texture with stronger flavors. As it moves away from Cuba, the fufú's core is less a gelatinous dough and more of a consistent mass.^[22]

In Haiti it is called tonm tonm and foofoo. It is mostly made of breadfruit but can be made of plantain or yams and is usually served with an okra based stew or soup. It is primarily consumed in the southernmost regions of Haiti namely the Grand'Anse and Sud departments. The city of Jérémie is regarded as the tonmtonm capital of Haiti.

Puerto Rican mofongo, in keeping with the creolized cuisine traditions of the Caribbean, tends toward a fufú of much higher density and robust seasoning. While keeping a conspicuous African character, mofongo has borrowed from the island's Iberian culinary tradition, to create a dish made of fried green and yellow plantains, cassava or breadfruit. Unlike the mushier Caribbean and West African fufús, mofongo is generally firmer and crustier. To prepare mofongo, green plantains are deep-fried once unlike twice fried tostones. Next, they are mashed in a 'pilon' (mortar) with chopped garlic, salt, black pepper and olive oil. The resulting mash is then pressed and rounded into a hollowed crusty orb. Meat, traditionally chicharrón, is then stuffed into the chunky ball of fried green plantains. Some recipes call for a meat or vegetable salsa criolla" (related to American Creole sauce) poured atop the hot sphere. In the trendier "mofongo relleno", typical of western Puerto Rico, seafood is all over, inside and outside. Traditional mofongo, as previously cited, comes seasoned and stuffed with meat and bathed in a chicken broth soup.^[23] Because of its elaborate process of preparation and its sundry ingredients, poet and blogger Arose N Daghetto called the mofongo a type of "fufú paella" and branded it as "the big daddy of fufús".^[24] Although mofongo is associated with being fried, boiled and roasting plantain mofongo predate fried mofongo and is still excited but a rare find in Puerto Rico. A dish called funche made with taro, green and yellow plantains boiled and mashed with butter, garlic, and pork fat was once popular in Puerto Rico. Once mashed it was formed into balls and eaten with broth made from sesame seeds. Funche is written in early Puerto Rican cookbooks around the 1800s, but can probably be traced back to African slaves on the island. Funche today in Puerto Rico is cornmeal cooked in coconut milk and milk.

The vegetable or fufú sauce in the

Nutritionally, 100 g dry weight fufu contains 2 g of protein, 0.1 g of fat and 84 g of carbohydrates. There are 267 kcal of food energy in a 100 g serving made up with water.^[25] It is low in cholesterol and rich in potassium, and it is commonly prescribed by doctors for people who have a low level of potassium in their blood.^[26]

Gallery

• 
  A family eating fufu
• 
  A plate of fufu (right) accompanied by peanut soup
• 
  Fufu (left) and

  palm nut soup

  (right)
• 
  Fufu
• 
  Nigerian food: fufu being sold on the street in Lagos
• 
  Wrapped fufu
• 
  Preparing fufu in Togo
• 
  Wooden pestle and mortar for pounding fufu
• 
  Fufu machine used by a food vendor
• 
  Pounded fufu
• 
  Fufu from Ghana
• 
  Ghanaian fufu with light soup, goat meat, and smoked fish
• 
  Fufu and light soup in asanka

See also

References