Fufu Corn / ugali recipe

Corn fufu or maize flour is one of the most popular grains in Africa. There are many other grains like sorghum, millet, kukum or coarse cassava flour, yam flour . An average African household eats fufu at least once every week for lunch or dinner .

Fufu Corn is maize flour or corn meal finely ground. African cuisine has got a full range of diversity but this is one of the dishes you can probably find in the entire continent. You will probably find this everywhere you travel in Africa.

I enjoy the traditional method of preparing corn fufu. Growing up in Africa, l watched my lovely and beautiful grandmother rolling fufu in a calabash to give it that perfect round shape. I just love that little part of the whole process. In some villages we keep in well washed warm banana leaves leaves and has a special aroma due to the leaf . Fufu corn is one of the easiest and simplest dishes to cook though demands muscles and energy, when cooking in a large quantity because it can be difficult to stir.

Author: Annuchka Queen

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time 15 mins

Ready: 20 mins

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups of corn fufu / maize flour
• 5 cups of water
• A teaspoon of butter or margarine (optional)

YouTube video / how to cook fufu corn /Ugali

METHOD:

1. In a pot pour five cups of water and heat to a boiling point.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix a cup of fufu and some cold water , if you are using the unsifted African fufu then sieve and rinse the chaffs out (locally known as kende) soak in cold water and use as the base of your fufu .
3. Pour cold soaked fufu paste into hot water and stir continuously to prevent any lumps to form
4. As it simmers , you keep stiring for 5 mins.
5. You can drop in 1/4 teaspoon of butter/ margarine/ vegetable oil to prevent lumps.
6. If too thick you add some water and stir , if very light you add some maize flour or corn fufu and stir until you achieve the desire consistency. Some people love their fufu soft and some medium or very strong. I prefer soft, because it gets thick as it colds down.
7. In our villages back in Africa , corn fufu were tied in leaves. Today we tie them with transparent cling wraps as banana leafs are not easy to come by. In villages we use curved calabash to give it a round shape.
8. It is good to serve warm or hot .
9. Scoop and tie in a transparent cling wrap
10. Serve with any vegetable soup/ stew . Or with soups like okro soup or egusi soup
11. It is best to eat with the hands though due to modernity some people eat with fork . Eating with the hands is a part of our culture.

Enjoy !