Banku and Kenkey (West African Foods)

As a follow-up or continuation of a previous post (Sea Monkey & Fufu), we will discuss Banku & Kenkey.

Banku and Kenkey are two more Fufu-like staples from Western Africa, served with a soup, stew, or sauce. They are particularly popular in Ghana. Both are usually made from ground corn (maize), although most of the Ghanaian people I have met say that only Banku is made from a mixture of maize and grated Cassava tuber. Kenkey is usually just the corn (maize).

Making Banku or Kenkey involves letting the maize (or maize and cassava tuber) ferment before cooking. Banku is cooked in a pot using hot water to make a smooth whitish consistent paste; Kenkey is partially cooked, then wrapped in banana leaves, maize or corn husks, or foil, and steamed.

Personally, I prefer the Banku. A few times now we have gone to a local ‘Ghanaian Restaurant’ here in Liberia where I have enjoyed the Banku several times (along with goat and chicken, okra stew, and ground pea soup (a soup made from ground peanuts, like unsweetened peanut butter), the Fufu is good, but I have had way more Fufu over the years than I have had Banku or Kenkey.

Notice the water basin and liquid soap in the picture? (curtesy of Atidekate)- food is eaten with the hands, Ghanaians are usually meticulous about carefully washing their hands before and after a meal. There’s a bar of soap or bottle of liquid soap on every table at the Ghanaian Restaurants I have been in.

Want to try out some Banku, Fufu, or other products? Scout around on the internet. Back home we had a large (more than one) Asian food store that had a West African aisle with a lot of products I am covering in these posts. May not be quite the same, but it will get you close, and sometimes just the memories of eating a particular food bring you back to that time and place.

Next addition we will cover the importance of RED PALM OIL and not trying to substitute it with other oils when making West African recipes. ITS NOT THE SAME!

Which will help bring me around to the Sanka Sauce and all its derivatives: Ground Pea Soup, Okra Stew, and other sauces…(like Palava).

* I am not an authority by any means on West African food or cooking, these are my personal views and experiences as they have happened to me and many of my friends who are from these regions of the world AND as I have worked with them and learned from them…*

Sea Monkey and FuFu (West African Foods)

While reading another blog by a nurse whose post was about kids on the ward, she goes on to explain about a little boy, Alfred, shared his Fufu and Sea Monkey with her…(it *Sea Monkey* was not the focus of the blog, the kids were). But I (being the food person I am) zeroed in on the Sea Monkey.

*Sea Monkey* according to my Monrovia friends is a large fish (closely related to tuna or dolphin/or may even be tuna or dolphin - this is speculative) That is very dark in color and bloody.

And just to confirm it I asked our ward cook Ophelia who said, and I quote: “A very dark meat, from a big fish…like dolphin…”.

I thought it would be interesting to some of you out there because in all reality you have probably already ate Sea Monkey and never knew it!

Oh! You say what about Fufu? I often forget about all these things as I have had a couple of ‘right hand man’ in the kitchen usually from West Africa since I started with Mercy Ships in 2001 on the Caribbean Mercy…Ok, let me delve into a small lecture on that one.

Fufu, or fu fu, is a staple food of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste or porridge usually made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding with a large mortar and pestle until the desired consistency is reached. [this is basically true and was derived from wikipedia online...now let me deviate to what I personally have found is true in my experience]

In Western Africa, Fufu is usually made from cassava not yams (or at least parts I know something about, like Liberia, Ghana, Benin, Sierra Leone…although the one mixed with plantain seems to be a one of choice among my friends too) sometimes combined with cocoyam, plantains, or maize. In a later post we will get into Banku and Kenkey which are usually fermented before cooking (these are made from the corn maize). The Liberian Dumboy is made from cassava flour.

Often, the dish is still made by traditional methods: pounding and beating the base substance in a mortar with a wooden spoon. Places where poverty is not an issue, or where modern appliances are readily available, a food processor may also be used. Although be ready for scorn because as you may find out, purist do not believe in real Fufu love made in the processor. But if you make it without the processor It will quickly where your arm out making it for more than 4 people!

In Western and Central Africa, the more common method is to serve a mound of Fufu along with a sauce made from okra, fish, tomato, etc…(which we, Reuben & I renamed it Sanka Sauce years ago ~ more about that in another post) because the sauce has variations and can go by so many names. You pinch off a small ball of Fufu and make an indentation with the thumb. This “bowl” indentation is then filled with sauce, and the ball is eaten. In Ghana and Nigeria, the ball is often not chewed but swallowed whole. In fact, among the older generation, chewing Fufu is frowned upon/not accepted.

So for now ~ “to be continued…” as we cover the upcoming topics of Banku, Kenkey, & Sanka Sauce.

* I am not an authority by any means on West African food or cooking, these are my personal views and experiences as they have happened to me and many of my friends who are from these regions of the world*

Galley work increases, Staffing Fluctuates

I suppose you could call me a 'guest blogger' since it seems that its so long between posts of my wifes more exciting life in the Ward or ICU.

On my end, the days started getting long last week when we found out the crane for lifting our trash out of the kitchen (because we use big metal bins, you have to imagine a lot more trash from dining room and galley than those few bags you have at home) would be out of service till it could be fixed (and no one was available to do it over the weekend apparently). Hopefully they say it will be done by tomorrow.

We now have our vision trips starting to come to the ship. We also had 2 days of Pastors Conferences on board (Liberian pastors just in case there is some confusion). Both of these combined made plenty of extra work in the form of small lunches and dinners and planned meals for the pastors conference, special meetings, and vision trip people along with the feeding of the regular crew. AND to top it all off actual galley crew staffing is low.

[What is a Vision Trip? Simple answer: Mercy Ships vision trips are one week (maybe longer?) trips intended to give a small number of people a very detailed first hand view (on location, on the ship) of the ministry.]

But I do need to mention (for all the Tyler folks, but not to upset our Grace Community Church friends in Young Marrieds...) that we have had the pleasure of 5 hard workers from Green Acres Baptist Church working in our dining room and galley this past week, so that has DEFINITELY helped us out! Thank You! (here is a post from the Green Acres Pastor's blog - Pastor David Dykes)

I am now sitting at a small table in the 'cafe' area finally getting a little time off to relax and post this blog...while sipping on my chocolate mint latte. Stephanie is off for Bible study with the girls at a local orphanage (she's blogged about it in earlier posts).

Friday it will be the one year celebration of the 'Passing of the Torch' last year when I was recruited for the Maiden Voyage of the Africa Mercy when the retired Anastasis "transferred" over to the Africa Mercy - ..."Passing of the Torch" ceremony on board when the torch was passed from crew member to crew member starting from the top of the gangway of the Anastasis to the top of the gangway of the Africa Mercy.

We will have activities and dinner on the dock for all of this on Friday evening...so hopefully if all goes well BBQ Ribs, Chips/Fries, Baked Beans...coleslaw? rolls, etc...

Monday will bring another small luncheon for guests, separate from the rest of the crew and then, well, it just keeps going. Functions, special events, special meals, the daily feeding of the crew as usual.

Stephanie and I are doing great! But then again she is back on nights so there may be a 'grump' throw down (or fight for those of you who may not know this term) later this week to see who has the right to be grumpier and complain more from all the work we are doing...and whose working the hardest, and why we should be more sensitive to each other because we both tend to start feeling selfish. (this is a usual skirmish at the end of spells of night shift or hard working schedules, but nothing to be alarmed about) But Stephanie does tend to get mad when I laugh about it because I can almost predict it coming!

Well, just as a funny side note we are almost out of cheese and ice cream (for the whole ship)...but hey, I'd rather sacrifice that than my coffee!

[I know, I know, you are probably saying "YOU GOT ICE CREAM?!?!?"]

Busy Body

Its been a busy time here since Friday and we are still waiting on the crane to be fixed before we can haul all the trash out in bulk instead of run it all up 2 or 3 decks to the empty bins on deck 8.

We have acquired a galley person in the salads section, and a 'loaner' from crew services...and from time to time I can talk my old (she's young) friend Tatyana from Brazil into doing a little galley work if she can get a babysitter!  She used to work with me on another ship years ago, but has since become a mother and has more important priorities (no, not her husband, her other child!)

We have come to an end of the pastors conference, and soon to be finished vision trips (although its just temporary till the next one comes)...as the whole crew eats African food for African Night. And later after the dining room is cleaned quickly we refill for another 60 to 75 dinner guests with a church group that came to 'check us out'. They also are have the African Dinner.

What have all these 'African Dinners' consisted of? Besides West African style foods here is a more specific list:

Spicy baked/roasted chicken, with one of the following: peanut sauce, red sauce, palava sauce...

Rice / Jollof Rice

Spicy Black Eye Beans (black eyed peas, red palm oil, local peppers...)

Eggplant (skin, cube, saute with onion, garlic...later add tomato product like sauce, stewed, or past continue to cook)

Fried Plantains

Cassava/Potato Greens

The ward cook had a tasty looking dinner cooked for the patients yesterday made out of diced chicken, pumpkin, and of course a spicy tomato and red palm oil base.

This food is definitely high starch and not low fat...at least by Western standards.

Alison

My friend Alison is leaving tomorrow. I will miss her. We have had many adventures together. We often went to the Royal Hotel for breakfast on our days off. It made me feel like my life was more normal than it really is since I live on a ship in Africa.

Alison has been at the center of fashion at the tailor and has inspired us to have him make us different things. We share a love of Anthropologie and have brought him many torn-out pages of the catalog and have been pleasantly surprised when it turns out exactly like we thought.

We have had many great talks and I will really miss her.

Seriously?

My friends Becky, Meghan, and I often sing the Switchfoot song "This is your life. Are you who you wanna be?" when some things happen that you just feel are completely ridiculous. On Grey's Anatomy, they say Seriously? Like, no way, this is not happening to me. The last 24 hours have been full of these moments.

Yesterday I helped carried a little 5-year-old girl, her name is Best, to the bathroom so she could use the potty. Well, Best does not have the best aim and my flip-flops (they flip and they flop, they are nothing as the Captain would say) and my toes quickly went from dry to saturated.

Today I went to ward nurse devotions on the dock. The topic was spiritual warfare. Not my favorite topic. I know it is real, but I feel like way too often we blame far too many things on spiritual warfare and do not take responsibility for our own actions and sin. I was only half listening, actually, I was looking up at the sky at some birds. I don't think I have ever seen a bird here in Liberia. As I was watching the birds fly above the 20 nurses out on the dock I thought I betcha that bird is going to ....... oh crap he pooped on me. Maybe I should give spiritual warfare more thought.

When I first came on to my night shift tonight, I went around to visit all my patients. Mary said that her IV site was hurting. As I placed a new IV, the tubing was not clamped blood came spurting out all over the bed and my pants.

There seems to be a theme. Should I walk around with an umbrella to shield away the next bodily fluid that is going to attack me? I am thinking that wearing a garbage bag over my clothes and an emesis basin on my head could be the obvious solution.

I have really been complaining a lot lately. Mostly about other people complaining. Today I spent most of the day really searching out how to find joy even in the irritations of life.

Psalms 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my anxious thoughts

I read this over and over again. What I took from it was that it is about what my thoughts are. I do not need to be concerned about others. It is only creating my own sin to complain about complainers. It sounds so simple as a write this, but it really was a revelation for me.

It is quite funny to me that I feel like God was trying to get my attention through bodily fluids, but it worked.

Salmon, a good basic recipe

Its been pretty busy here on the ship. Especially in food services. We are catering a pastors conference on Monday and Tuesday (lunch only) and then an African Dinner (with West African style food, hence the name) on Tuesday night along with doing the African food for the regular crew that night also...and a lot of other little things going on...the founders of the Organization coming, a group from a church that has wanted to get involved, etc...

In the galley we have several holes in the floor past the tile and into the concrete trying to pinpoint a water leak in the floor itself, several food coolers going down at the same time, the crane (which lifts two big size rolling bins out of the ship with our massive trash in it) has broken down, a lull in staffing in food service right now (although said church is helping out tremendously when they can in the galley)...

Oh, thats right, Salmon! This basic brine or marinade is great especially for Salmon, but I have not really tried it with white fish, because I don't think it would look appealing when it changed the color of the white fish...but oh well, you can always try and see.

Only soak the fish in this mixture for 1 hour, and definitely not longer than 2 (for those of you who don't follow instructions good). Fish will take on flavors quick.

1/3 part sugar

2/3 part soy sauce

add fresh garlic as much as you want or powder till taste is strong

add fresh ginger as much as you want or powder till taste is strong

But use equal parts of garlic and ginger.

I don't really use a whole lot of measurements, I like ratios so it can be scaled up or down. The taste is supposed to be strong because the fish will push out some water AND because this taste will get diluted separated between the fish. This works great on baked, grilled, pan seared, and/or fried Salmon Fillets.

A good example of this recipe would be like this:

1 gallon soy sauce

1/2 gallon sugar

1/4 cup powdered ginger (or half cup fresh!)

1/4 cup powdered garlic (or half cup fresh!)

On the ship, the fish sometimes looks terrible baked in mass quantity with congealed Grey blood and such...so a mass quantity trick (or if its hard to bake flat that many pieces of fish like it is for us) is to flash fry or maybe more technically correct par-fry the fish in the deep fryer till they look good, or golden brown and crusty (but not till there done) and then fill up the hotel pans/chafing dishes and cover and finish cooking all the fish in the oven. Comes out wonderful, looks great, great texture and color on the outside, and tender & moist on the inside. That is, if you don't cook it too long and dry it out!

Thats it! Leave a comment if you have further questions on some of my techniques or recipes found here.

Alimou

A couple weeks ago a group from the ship went to Guinea to screen people for surgeries. And they hit the mother load. They found a total of 21 patients that all had problems that are the specialties of Mercy Ships. Alimou was one of them.

If you have ever been to the Mercy Ships website you would have seen many pictures of people with very large tumors, Alimou will be added to that list, I am sure. Alimou was flown to the ship with a couple other patients and the man that brought them from Guinea said that the stench from his tumor was so bad that the other passengers were gagging and as soon as the plane landed they ran off the plane.

On Thursday Alimou had his surgery and it was very popular. Everyone wanted to be in the OR as they took his 6.6 pound tumor off. After they completed the surgery they extubated (took out his breathing tube) and Alimou did not tolerate it. They had to emergently re-intubate him. Alimou was taken to the ICU and placed on a ventilator (breathing machine) and sedation drugs and was continuously monitored.

I came in on Friday morning, not really thinking about the fact that I would be with him in the ICU. That was probably a good thing, I don't think I would have slept as well as I did in my ignorant bliss. I walked in received report and started doing the things that make my brain happy: labeling every tube and line, attaching the BMV (bag valve mask) to the oxygen, mixing up more drugs "just in case", re taping my ET tube (endotracheal tube) repositioning Alimou, etc....

Friday was a very long and very short day. It was long because it has been a while since I have had a real ICU patient and short because he was very sick and there was a lot to do.

Saturday morning I went down to see Alimou and he now had a tracheostomy but was still on the ventilator and was starting to wake up, thus he was thrashing all over the bed.

Sunday, my friend Jenn (a NICU nurse) was the chosen one to take care of Alimou. Jenn did a wonderful job despite a very large difference in her patient population that she is used to working with. Alimou was definitly awake and very ticked off/ confused. He did a lot of fighting and everything was much more difficult for Jenn than it needed to be due to the constant moving target. I went in to see if Jenn and Alimou were doing ok. Alimou woke up looked at me and made his first attempt to smile, despite the large dressing on his entire head.

Monday morning Alimou and I were reunited. I spent the whole day shift trying to problem solve. He hates his NG feeding (the tube that is in his nose that we put ensure down so he can have proper nutrition so he can heal). I feel like in nursing it is so easy to just be busy and not really get to know your patient. I have really connected with Alimou, I am not sure if it was the stressful experience we had on the previous Friday or just me actually taking the time to get to know him, even though he only speaks French. But who cares, we don't need words. We play a never ending game of charades.

When I did his dressing change, I gave Alimou a mirror and as I unwrapped his many layers of gauze he awaited anxiously for his first glimpse of his new tumor free face. After the last layer of gauze came off his eyes started to fill with tears and he threw his hands up in the air in praise to the Lord. After that experience I put my the thoughts of "why in the world am I living on a ship in Africa?" on a high up shelf. I am sure that they may drift back down to my thoughts but for now Alimou's disproportionate smile is what is filling that void.

The rest of the week as been a roller coaster for Alimou. Sometimes he looks much better and other times he looks like he is spiraling down. He is not making enough urine and is becoming more swollen, but despite all this he has this huge smile that lights up his eyes. He has such a sweet and gentle spirit that is obvious when he reaches out for my hand any time I walk into D ward.

Please be praying for Alimou. Please pray that his kidneys start to work more efficiently and that he regains his strengtha and does not loose his joy in the battle of his recovery.

Green Bean Casserole

Simple as it gets, this recipe will make 1 full-size 4-inch steam table pan, chafing dish, or hotel pan(whatever you call it where you are from).


Put in a bowl and mix:

2 #10 Cans of Green Beans (drain water)



2 #5 Cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup



1 Liter/Quart of Milk



2 Bags of French's Fried Onions (usually come in the case of 6/24oz)

1 Bag for topping the casserole, I use more onion than this but I am sure you will change it to your own taste, plus we usually make our own fried onions which we think are just as tasty...but this recipe is for convenience and speed!

Then fill in a pan and bake in the oven at 350F/177C for 45 minutes to an hour...

10 Minutes before finishing take the last bag of French Fried Onions and top the casserole and heat the remaining time.

That's it!

Interesting Food Bites (Monrovia Liberia)

My storeman, Freddie (from Ghana), goes to town weekly (in Monrovia, Liberia) and also arranges food purchases from the Chandler (its like a 'buy everything you want' contact man for ships in port). And Freddie has turned up some interesting things about the 'fresh' produce and eggs we get and I thought you might be interested in them:

1. Eggs are from India

2. What looks like Roma Tomatoes are reported to be from the Ivory Coast

3. Potatoes are from Holland (and are supposedly the ones Holland won't keep)

4. Still trying to figure out where my carrots come from but I don't get enough of them at one time, and when I do its a month apart. The ones we get locally are almost black on the outside (so theres no question as to whether you are going to peel them). And when we get the 'once a month' carrots they come in plastic looking real nice like they were hijacked on the way to someones grocery store where they pay a lot of money for them.

5. Occasionally we can 'acquire' some sweet or bell peppers (like once since January) at a very expensive rate even compared to U.S. or European standards. But we buy them when available, the crew (our people) are worth it.

SO, how fresh do you think my 'fresh' produce really is? Hmmm, and the potatoes are old (believe me, I think I can tell by now) and you loose about a third or more of the content after peeling and cutting out green, black, and/or rotten spots. And that takes A LOT OF TIME FOR 400+ people, but we can save that for another post that way I can introduce you to my industrial strength potato peeler!

Where I get my fresh produce, and where we are...are sometimes worlds apart.

Sardines in a can

On Friday night Sarah, Becky, and I got into a Land Rover with our sleeping mats, sleeping bags, and mosquito nets. Our friend Carlos drove us out to New Matati for our sleepover with our Bible Study girls (9 high school and college-age girls that we have a Bible study with every Wednesday). When we drove up to the orphanage most of our girls were waiting for us. They carried our bags into the room we would be staying in, which was way nicer than we thought.

Once we settled in we walked to the local market and bought some food to cook for dinner. Sarah did most of the cooking with the girls while Becky and I got our hair plaited. They crushed up some peppers and added them to the potato greens and was added to the deep-fried fish. This was put over rice and we ate it communal style. I have to admit I was definitely praying that I would not get sick and I didn't, Praise the Lord.

The whole time we were out there we just laughed and laughed. They are so dramatic but very deep. I was talking to Mary and I asked her what her dreams are for the future. She looked at me with such confidence and said "I want to be a medical Dr. I pray every night that the Lord will give me the chance." I just can't wrap my head around that concept. In most Western Countries education is about effort and abilities. It has little to do with opportunity. What I mean is that if anyone really wants a certain education if they work hard enough and put enough effort to get scholarships, grants, or loans it is actually possible to obtain your goals no matter how lofty they may be or what your financial status is. But here, it is different. It is actually not feasible to go to medical school, especially if you are an orphan. Here there is no government support. There are no grants, scholarships, or loans to apply for. So what then? Just what Mary is doing, her best in school and a whole lot of praying.

Our girls are just so funny. They are so easily amused and entertained. I guess you have to be right? Annie, the oldest, decided she was going to be the MC for the evening and then whipped out her imaginary program and announced we were all listed to do solos. None of us are hugely vocally enclined, but we all had to do it. When they sing, they are so confident. Most of the songs they sing are gospel songs, with the occasional Akon song.

When we were ready to go to bed the girls followed us into the room that we were staying in and sat down. We started to get ready for bed and they just watched every move we made. I am sure they think we are so weird. I have these face washing towels that are disposable and they all wanted to try one. After a little time passed the girls started to settle in on the floor, we asked them where they were going to sleep and they kinda looked at us weird and said "here", like duh it is a sleepover. Becky, Sarah, and I slept on the double bed with this purple mosquito net over it. They tucked edges of the net under the mattress and we felt like we were sleeping in a cage.

All of the girls slept on the floor like sardines in a tin can. At 5am they all got up neatly folded their blankets and were off to morning devos and then started their chores.

Saturdays are washing day and plait day, hence all the little ones with afros. Saturdays are also for playing. We played a game called lappa. It is kind of like dodge ball meets shoe organizing. We played that for a while and Josh (Sarah's husband came to pick us up) came to pick us up. Overall it was so fun. I love those girls.

10 Elements of Basic Kitchen Knowledge

Originally Posted by Columbia University Press in Science, Food

Herve This’s 10 Elements of Basic Kitchen Knowledge

Here is his list for 10 basic elements of kitchen knowledge:

1. Salt dissolves in water.

2. Salt does not dissolve in oil.

3. Oil does not dissolve in water.

4. Water boils at 100 C (212 F).

5. Generally foods contain mostly water (or another fluid).

6. Foods without water or fluid are tough.

7. Some proteins (in eggs, meat, fish) coagulate.

8. Collagen dissolves in water at temperatures higher than 55 C (131 F).

9. Dishes are dispersed systems (combinations of gas, liquid or solid ingredients transformed by cooking).

10. Some chemical processes - such as the Maillard Reaction (browning or caramelizing) - generate new flavors.

[I thought these basic principles would help you understand a few more things about cooking without boring you to death or asking you to read food science books. It is not by any means all encompassing...]

Herve This was the author of a book I read about food science:

Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking

Can Sizes and Equivalents

For those of us who cook in bulk, commercial, food service for schools, restaurants, ships (laughing), camps, etc...anything that takes large amounts of canned foods, this will be 'old hat' or 'old news' to some of you!

I want to list some can sizes and equivalents that will help you understand a little bit about recipes in bulk, and the sizing in general. And later this might help you if I post a few BULK recipes.

#10 can. The number ten can, most prominently recognized by most of us in the business is labeled below as being 12 cups but I am almost certain I have had up to 1 to 1 1/2 cups difference in product with a #10 can...so I would say the below equivalents may not be definitive but a good guide to go by...

Can Sizes and Equivalents

Many recipes specify a can size rather than a volume amount. This chart will also come in handy to determine how much to buy.

Can Sizes
8 ounces	8 ounces	1 cup
Picnic	10-1/2 to 12 ounces	1-1/4 cups
12 ounces vacuum	12 ounces	1-1/2 cups
#1	11 ounces	1-1/3 cup
#1 tall	16 ounces	2 cups
#1 square	16 ounces	2 cups
#2	1 pound 4 ounces or 1 pint 2 fluid ounces	2-1/2 cups
#2-1/2	1 pound 13 ounces	3-1/2 cups
#2-1/2 square	31 ounces	scant 4 cups
#3		4 cups
#3 squat		2-3/4 cups
#5		7-1/3 cups
#10		12 cups
#300	14 to 16 ounces	1-3/4 cups
#303	16 to 17 ounces	2 cups
Baby food jar	3-1/2 to 8 ounces	depends on size
Condensed milk	15 ounces	1-1/3 cups
Evaporated milk	6 ounces	2/3 cup
Evaporated milk	14-1/2 ounces	1-2/3 cups
Frozen juice concentrate	6 ounces	3/4 cup

I want to give credit where its due and thank About.com for having such a beautiful chart that I could 'borrow' for this post. (I was about to make it myself in excel, but this is less painful)

Coming up this week a green bean casserole recipe made with #10 & #5 can products...tested several times by my own 400+ International volunteer taste testers.