5 Ghanaian dishes every foreigner should try before leaving Ghana

Food creatives continue to make Ghana the best place to live in the world, and for foreigners who are having a challenge finding belly-watering dishes, these Ghanaian famed dishes would complete your Ghana travel experience.

Tourists who visited Ghana but could not try out these dishes before leaving arguably never had experience in terms of Ghanaian delicacies.

Below are 5 Ghanaian dishes every foreigner should

Waakye

Waakye is one of the most popular meals in Ghana and your travel experience to Ghana would not be complete without it. Tens and hundreds of Ghanaians queue every morning and afternoon not only to fill their bellies but also for the rare delicious taste waakye gives. The recipe is a mixture of beans and rice.

Originally a Northern dish, waakye is a choice food for almost every Ghanaian. And your travel to Ghana and food experience would not be complete should you leave the country without having a taste of soul-redeeming ‘wele’, cow leg and an original hajia hot pepper (shito). Waakye is mostly taken with fried plantain, gari, spaghetti, shito and avocado.

Kenkey and Fish

Kenkey is one of the principal fermented foods consumed in Ghana. It is prepared from fermented ground white corn (maize). To prepare kenkey, the corn has to be ground first into flour and mixed with warm water, followed by fermentation (for two to three days) into maize dough.

It is a staple that originated from the Ga-inhabited regions of West Africa, and usually served with pepper sauce, fried fish, soup or stew. Kenkey is made up of complex carbohydrates, low protein, low fat and high fiber content. It is one of the easy foods you’d find in Ghana, especially in Accra and Kumasi, mostly taken for lunch because it takes a while to digest. Imagine eating hot kenkey on a hot afternoon with hot pepper, sardine and red fish. Mouth watering, right?

Fufu and Soup

Plantain and cassava (sometimes yam instead) are cooked and then pounded until the dough has the required feel. It is then paired with delicious light soup, groundnut soup and more. Fufu is originally an Akan staple. However, cross culture sharing has made it easy to find fufu across the country.

Homemade fufu is particularly popular on Sundays since this is the day a lot of people are available to prepare fufu. It is quite a task since it involves preparing the fufu and soup separately.

Fufu is available at restaurants, chop bars and food joints. Every foreigner should try fufu for its unforgettable delicious taste.

Red Red (Gari and Beans)

This is undoubtedly one of the most popular meals in Ghana, especially in places like Kumasi and Accra.

It is also one of the cheapest foods you can find around. With as little as 1 dollar, you can have a filled meal of plantain and beans.

The meal is made from beans and palm oil as the main meal with accompanying ripe plantain and gari. It can be taken with egg, sausage, or fish. It can be found on the streets as well as restaurants and food joints.

Banku and Tilapia

The number of banku and tilapia joints selling in the evening in Accra would leave you jaw dropped.

Quite expensive but always worth your time and money. Banku is a combination of corn and cassava dough, served with grilled tilapia, stew, shito or pepper.

Of course, Ghana has more to offer to make your travel experience in the country memorable. And certainly, the people and food, tops it all.