FOOD

Banku....casava root made into a ground powder....cooked it is like a whole box of instant mashed potatos with only 1/4 of the amount of water you would need to make it the right texture. Very dense and has a potato taste with a little bit of a bitter end. THe kids eat it pretty much every day...they get a grapefruit size protion with some kind of stew or soup around it.
So far my favorite way to eat it is with "ground nut stew" poured over it.
The kids eat it with their fingers carefully pulling off a piece, pressing it between their two fingers and thumb to make a small instant spoon, then they drag it across the stew or soup and scoop it up.
FuFu...this is AMAZING stuff...it is the most LABOR intensive stuff I have seen. This week the gardener and one of the house mom's sat outside on the steps and POUNDED the "Root and Fruit"... I think it is again the casava...but it could be yam as well...I will have to ask, plus plaintain. One of them pounds with a wooden mallet like stick while the other takes their hand and scoops and moves the mixture around so that all of it gets pounded and ground up. It is very precise...think getting your hand hit with a hammer while you hammer something hurts....you should see how in sync these two have to be.
I do not think you can get any nutritional value out of FuFu because it takes sooooo much to make it....I guess it is great for the kids because all they have to do is eat it. They do not make it for them very often....there are to many kids for this kids of labor.
This is also served with some kind of stew or soup over it. I think the only thing that is hard for me is when they use the "fish" in things...it does not taste bad...but I CAN NOT get the picture of the buckets and buckets of smoked fish out in the sun at the market...hummm
Rice ballsThink about rice at home and add lots more water and cook the rice until it is mushy and can be formed into a ball...this is a rice ball.
The kids eat this with stew or soup over it as well.
They also have fried rice with pieces of fish and or chicken in it.
Today a local store donated some food items to the Beacon House...one of the items was about 25 cans of cranberry sauce.
It is hard to get fruit for the kids, so I told the cook that this is fruit in a can and we should put one scoop next to the rice and let the kids try it. It took some convincing...but we did it and they loved it. Only 23 cans to go.
Each day the kids get a bowl of "ground nuts" that have been roasted and coated lightly with sugar (like the peanuts we buy in the can at the store) they also have popcorn in the afternoon. Today there were some raisins thrown in. I have been known for unwrapping a few "smartie" candies and putting them into the popcorn bowls for a treat!.
While I have been here I showed the cook how to use the bread maker they have in the kitchen... I printed out the step by step instuctions and off we went. She was amazed that she could dump the ingred. in and shut the lid and walk away. EVERYTHING she does is hard work..hot and hard work! Think of a 90 degree day, two burners on and your oven...every day to feed all the kids and staff. WOW!
When it is all done...she said to me "it is NICE" her way of saying "I like it, it is good"
Today the bread was made and ready..so I cut a slice..turned to see the basket behind me FULL of avacados. Beacon House has an avacado tree in their yard and it is full of avacados....WOW...like we have apples they have avacados! I ate one and it was soooooo good!
Ghana, food equals work, food equals FILLING dense food that lasts in you for a long time. I am so glad I get to try new things.
Each day when I hear "Madame, you are invited" whether it is with the kids or on a stool in the kitchen... I come and sit and try!
Confession: When I was at the Shop Rite Grocery store in the AC today with Romana... I did buy a "Twix" candy bar...boy was it "NICE"