Description
Ghana Gari (plain white) is a granular flour made from Cassava. It is more like couscous but much finer. Gari is prepared by peeling the cassava, washing and then grating the cassava into a mash.
The mash is sometimes mixed with a little bit of palm oil to get yellow Gari or without to get white Gari. The wet mash is placed in a porous material and some weights are placed over it (or a press machine is used) to help drain excess water.
After this, the Gari is sieved and then dry fried in a clay pot. This results in a very dried granular flour which is crispy and amazingly delicious. The Gari can be stored in an air tight container for longer storage.
Ghana Gari is used in a lot of dishes mostly without the need for further cooking. It is used as a sprinkle on Gbob3 (black-eye beans served with palm oil and fried plantains).
It can be made into a quick cereal snack by adding water, sugar, milk and peanuts to the Gari. Due to it’s versatility, it is a boarding house student companion. For quick student meals,
Gari can be eaten as a cereal snack described above or shito can be added for Gari Shito Jollof. Adding a bit of hot water to the Gari (just like you will do with couscous) helps the Gari to swell and soften up.
It can then be made into a ball and served with various soups and stews. Alternatively, the Ghana Gari can be cooked into a ball, by adding the dry granules to hot water over fire.
Both methods produce a similar dish but the later maybe much softer in texture. Another favourite way to prepare Gari is as Gari Fortor or Gari Jollof. This is prepared by adding Gari to a a tomatoes stew based sauce, usually meat stew.
It is mixed together to achieve a good balance. It is served with more stew with meat and some sauteed vegetables.
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