1 1/2 cup corn/maize meal
1/2 cup soy flour
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
1 sugar to taste
1 cup water
1 oil
1 salt and pepper
Directions
Corn/maize was introduced to Africa from Latin America by the
Portuguese, mainly to provision their slave ships. The grain was
quickly accepted because it grew rapidly and undemanding in
cultivation. The name 'maize' comes from 'mahiz', the word used by
the Caribbean Taino Indians from whom the Europeans probably first
learned about the crop. in North American the English settlers were
shown it by local Indians. 'Corn' was a general name given to any
grain, so they called it simply 'Indian corn'.
Columbus noted that maize was "most tasty boiled, roasted or ground
into flour". And in southern Ghana today a common food is 'kenkey',
fermented corn/maize flour balls, wrapped in corn/maize leaves and
steamed. Akpith, this recipe, is more straightforward.
DIRECTIONS: =========== In a large saucepan, boil the water and then
in half of the corn/maize meal and all the soy flour to make a thick
porridge. Add the baking powder, chili powder if using and sugar;
season.
Cook this for 10 minutes over a low heat, stirring constantly. Then
remove the pan and set aside to cool for 10 minutes or so.
At this point, mix in the remaining corn/maize meal and combine
thoroughly, adding water to produce a stiff dough.
Now pour enough oil into a pan or wok to give a depth of around 2
inches (5 cms), and heat up. While it is warming mould the dough
into balls about 1 inch (2.5 cms) in diameter.
With the oil sizzling hot, slide 4 or 5 balls carefully into the pan
and cook for 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown.
* Source: The World in Your Kitchen - by Troth Wells * Typed for you
by Karen Mintzias
Servings: 6 servings
Akpith (Corn/Maize & Bean Flour Snack) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Appetizer; Bean
The History of Recipes
It is quite feasible to follow the history of transcribed cooking instructions back into ancient history, certainly as far back into history as the Egypt of the Pharoahs, and possibly even further than that. In practice though, mostly, these old records were just simple hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for preparing food.
As we move into The time of the romans 25BC a man called Apicius created some scripts detailing recipes enjoyed by wealthy roman citizens. In his scrolls, Apicius describes how the roman meals were split into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and desserts, a style of dining still practiced today. This early Roman chef describes how the ancient cooks made use of a good variety of herbs, including a few that will be familiar to modern chefs such as basil, rue and dill. For the decades that followed, the wealthy families of the West strove to serve up the most extravagent meals, and consequentially chefs and their recipe collections became highly prized. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 1800s that fine cooking and recipe collections really came of age. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the USA, dedicated the best years of their lives to collecting, verifying, and publishing the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. The arrival of television brought us TV chefs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, allowing everyone to search through massive numbers of recipes such as those found on the site you are now reading. |
We hope you enjoy this Akpith (Corn_Maize & Bean Flour Snack) recipe.
