Tuo Zaafi is a popular main dish in Ghana. It is most common in the three northern regions. The dish is usually eaten for dinner, yet some people like to have it for breakfast or lunch.
The dish consists of cooked Maize dough with a little dried cassava dough and water without salt. Traditionally, it is prepared with millet or corn dough.
It is mainly eaten with green vegetable soup made from bitter leaves, or sometimes freshly pounded cassava leaves. It can be accompanied, however, with a variety of soups including okra and groundnut soup.
Lets look at how to prepare tuo zaafi in the home.
Ingredients
- Ayoyo leaves
- Salt Peter (Potassium nitrate)
- Powdered Fish
- Powdered Okro
- Dawadawa
- Pepper
- Onions
- Fish seasoning
- All purpose spices
- Meat (Beef)
- Palm oil
- Tomatoes
- Salmon
- Herrings
- Cassava flour
- Corn flour
Method
- Chop the ayoyo leaves into smaller sizes
- Boil water, add chopped onion, powdered fish, powdered okro and dawadawa.
- After 5 minutes add ayoyo leaves and salt peter
- Don’t cover, stir continuously until ingredients become very soft.
- Add salt and seasoning. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes and soup is ready.
- Cut meat into desirable sizes. Wash and put meat in big saucepan over moderate heat.
- Blend onion, ginger, garlic and add to meat.
- Add salt and seasoning and cover meat to steam for 5-10 minutes.
- Heat pan over medium high heat until hot and then add the olive oil. then add the chicken.
- Fry on one side until browned and then flip.
- Brown the second side and then transfer the meat to a bowl.
- Add chopped onion and garlic and saute until tender and starting to brown.
- Add grinded pepper, tomato puree and stir intermintently.
- Wash salmon and herrings. Then add to stew.
- After 6-10 minutes, add spices and allow to cook.
- Taste for salt and add some chopped onions.
- Finally add fried meat and allow to simmer for 3 minutes.
- Fetch some corn flour and add cold water. Then mix thoroughly to form a solution.
- Boil enough water and add corn flour to cook for 5-10 minutes.
- Fetch some of the solution into a separate bowl.
- Mix dry corn dough and cassava dough and Add mixture bit by bit to the boiling corn dough and stir thoroughly to prevent any lumps.
- Add the corn dough solution you fetched aside to the Tuo Zaafi to make it soft and stir.
- After 15-20 minutes of stirring the Tuo Zaafi, you turn of the heat.
- Serve Tuo Zaafi with stew and soup.