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
We are able to read the history of `recipes` way back into distant history, in truth as far back into history as early Egypt, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that is, generally, these old cook books were just very basic pictorial instructions for meal preparation.
The truth of the matter is, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to experts in ancient history is a collection of tablets in Sumerian which describe the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making people feel wonderful. As we move into The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius assembled a few documents which described recipes enjoyed by the Romans. In his works, he recounts how the meals were split into appetizers, main meal and afters, something that is very familiar to us today. He also tells us how the chefs of Roman times made use of many different aromatic flavors, including some familiar names for example thyme, mint and parsley. Later, in the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought back many new foods and herbs from Arab cuisine, including spices like coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new culinary ideas led to an explosion in manuscripts on cookery, some of which are now in private libraries. During the next few centuries, the upper-class families of Wesstern Europe tried to serve up the most exotic meals, and because of this the best chefs and their collection of recipes could command a high salary. However, it was during the 19th century that cooking and recipe publications rose to prominence. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated the best years of their lives to collating, trying out, and writing down recipes of the day. By the advent of the 20th century, cookery publications were increasing in popularity mostly as a result of higher levels of literacy, people having increased spare time and a general increase in wealth. The revolution that is television brings us celebrity chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. And that neatly brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, allowing everybody to search through massive numbers of recipes like those on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Akpith (Corn_Maize & Bean Flour Snack) recipe.
