Welcome to another Recipe Wednesday. Hope you tried making our dish from Kigali last week and if you did, hope it came out right.
This week we are in the coastal town of Cotonou. I recently returned from Cotonou after not visiting for over ten years and I must say that I was impressed with how the city had come alive – more beaches, ever ready to assist folks and of course, more motor bikes. Cotonou is the largest city and economic centre of the Republic of Benin. If you would love to read more about this fantastic city, click here.
We are going to make what would probably be the simplest dish we have made on any of our recipe Wednesday blogs. It is called Akassa, which is made of cornmeal and is usually served with soup or stew. We will be cooking it alongside Imoyo, which is basically a stew from the Egun tribe of Benin Republic.
So, Whip out your cooking utensils and let’s get cooking.
Ingredients
1.5kg Cornmeal
Water
For the Stew:
Goat meat
Mixed spiced (Thyme, Mint leaves, Curry, White pepper, Garlic and Ginger)
Blended pepper (Tomatoes, Bell pepper, Chilli pepper and Tomato puree)
Cooking Method:
To make the Akassa, mix the cornmeal in about 3 litres of water. Pour into a sieve to separate water from coarse meal.
Discard the cornmeal and retain the water.
In a pot, add the water from the sieved cornmeal and leave overnight after which you drain out the water and leave the sediments at the bottom of the pot. Retain the soaking water.
Add the soaking water into another pot and bring to boil (about 500ml of the soaking water). Now add the sediment. (100ml).
On the fire, stir water and sediments until it becomes a thick porridge. It shouldn’t be as thick as fufu and if it thickens too much, add a little soaking water to make it light.
To make the Imoyo:
Boil the goat meat until tender, using the mixed spices. Add salt and stock cubes for taste. To ensure that meat is tender, leave cooking for 1.5hours. If using a pressure cooker, use half the time.
Once meat is set to your preference, take it out of the pot and set aside, you would need the meat stock for later on.
Next, put the blended peppers on the fire and boil till peppers are fully boiled and thick.
Once boiled, add the goat meat and the stock to it. Add pepper and the tomato puree. Leave to boil for about 10 minutes before adding a serving spoonful of vegetable oil. You can also use palm oil.
Leave for ten minutes to all mix together then serve.
Credits: Recipesenjoy and Ofoodi
Yuddie is the go-to girl on all things research for Afro Tourism. When not researching, you can find her perusing through food channels or just whipping out her cooking utensils and creating a ‘classic.’ She has found a new passion for researching on African dishes and hopes to put her twist on it in future recipes.
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Michael Alvin
