Fufu and egusi: West African staples and how to cook them at home

Fufu is a soft, stretchy dough made from cassava, plantain, yam or cocoyam, eaten across West and Central Africa with soup. Egusi is the seed of a West African melon; ground, it thickens a common West African soup, egusi soup. In Poland the quick way to make fufu is from a ready flour mix (in Polish "mieszanka do przygotowania fufu"), and egusi is sold whole or ground as "nasiona melona egusi".

What fufu is

In Ghana, fufu was traditionally made by boiling cassava and plantain and pounding them in a large wooden mortar until smooth. In Nigeria and Cameroon the word covers several similar doughs, from cassava, yam or cocoyam. They all belong to the family that Nigerians call "swallow": a soft dough that you eat with your right hand, pinching off a small piece, pressing a dent into it with your thumb and using it to scoop up soup.

Pounding fufu at home takes time and a strong arm. Most people abroad use a fufu flour instead. Little India sells two Alibaba mixes:

• Plantain fufu flour, made with plantain.
• Cocoyam fufu flour, made with cocoyam.

A related staple is gari, dry granules of processed cassava. Pour hot water on gari, stir, and you have eba, another swallow.

A safety note on fresh cassava. If you make fufu from fresh cassava root (maniok), always peel it and cook it fully. Raw cassava is toxic. Fresh cocoyam and taro must also be cooked before you eat them. Fufu flours and gari are already processed. Our guide to cassava explains how to prepare the fresh root.

How to make fufu from flour

For 2 to 3 portions. The pack gives the exact ratio for each flour, so use it as your main guide.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fufu flour
• about 2 cups of water

Method

1. Bring 1½ cups of water to the boil in a heavy pot, then turn the heat to low.
2. Pour in the flour a little at a time while you stir hard with a wooden spoon (in Polish "drewniana łyżka"), so that no lumps form.
3. Keep stirring and folding the dough against the side of the pot for 5 to 10 minutes. Add a splash of hot water if it is too stiff.
4. When the dough is smooth, stretchy and slightly shiny, it is ready.
5. Wet your hands or a bowl, shape the fufu into balls and wrap them in cling film to keep them warm and soft.

What egusi is

Egusi seeds come from a melon of the gourd family that grows in West Africa. People grow it for the seeds. Shelled, the seeds are flat and creamy white. Ground, they cook into a nutty, slightly grainy sauce. You can buy whole egusi seeds and grind them in a blender, or buy ground egusi ready to use.

A simple egusi soup

For 4 portions.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of ground egusi
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of palm oil (olej palmowy)
• 1 onion (cebula), chopped
• 1 or 2 scotch bonnet or other hot peppers, blended with 2 tomatoes
• 500 g of beef, goat or chicken, already cooked, with 2 cups of its stock
• a handful of smoked fish or dried shrimp (optional)
• 200 g of fresh spinach (szpinak), chopped, as a substitute for ugu or bitter leaf
• salt and a stock cube

Method

1. Mix the ground egusi with a few spoons of water to a thick paste.
2. Heat the palm oil and fry the onion for 2 minutes.
3. Add the pepper and tomato mix and cook for 10 minutes, until the oil rises to the top.
4. Drop in the egusi paste in small spoonfuls. Do not stir for 5 minutes, so it sets into soft lumps.
5. Add the stock, meat and fish. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring now and then.
6. Add the spinach, cook for 3 more minutes and season with salt.

Serve with fufu, eba or pounded yam.

Where to buy fufu and egusi in Poland

The fufu flours, egusi, gari and palm oil are in the African products category of Little India. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders online across Poland; our guide to the Indian shop in Poland has the addresses. For plantains themselves, see our guide to plantains.