Easy Steps to Prepare Banku with [Cassava and Corn Dough]

ByBeatrice Dzah

Banku is served in homes, bars, and restaurants. A well-cooked banku can last for at least three days, a reason for being families’ favorite. Also, it is cost-effective, and easy to cook though it takes time and a little work.

Mix 2 cups of cassava and 3 cups of corn dough in a saucepan/pot and add 1 teaspoon of salt to the mixture. Stir the mixture with a spatula on fire until it boils and becomes a dough. Add water, cover to boil, then, knead to make it smooth and soft.

Yield:              11 servings

Prep Time:   0 hours  46 mins

Total Time:  0 hours  46 mins

Ingredients

  • Cassava dough
  • Corn dough
  • Salt

Instructions

Mix cassava dough with water in a saucepan or pot and strain out the lumps if it’s not well grinded

Add corn dough to the mixed cassava and mix well until there’s no lump

Add water and stir with your hand until smooth and mildly thick

Add a teaspoon of salt to the mixture if preferred

Place saucepan or pot on medium flame

Use a kitchen paddle/spatula (akpledatsi) to stir the mixture to boil and become dough.

Knead and add water to it.

Cover for 1 to 2 minutes for the dough to boil.

Knead until it’s smooth and thick.

Please if you prefer video, watch the video below.

Add water if it gets too thick

If it’s well cooked, dish it out into plates or polythene rubbers

Keep in an ice chest to keep warm

Notes

  • The thick mixture changes color when banku is well cooked
  • Stir harder when it gets thicker to prevent lumps
  • Lower the flame of the gas stove or remove firewood as the mixture changes color to prevent it from burning
  • You can dish out directly into plates without polythene rubbers

How to Know When a Banku is Cooked

A well-cooked banku will change color from white to creamy color. A little creamy color indicates your banku is well cooked. Don’t overcook, lest, the banku becomes starchy or burns.

What is Used for Preparing Banku?

To prepare banku, you need cassava dough, corn dough, salt, a saucepan, a sieve to strain the dough if it is not well grinded, and a kitchen paddle for stirring mixture and kneading the dough to prevent lumps and making it smooth and soft.

How Do You Make Corn Dough for Banku?

  1. Harvest or buy maize from the market
  2. Soak your preferred amount of grain in water for a day. 3 days recommended for easy milling
  3. Pour the water off the grain after 3 days
  4. Pour fresh water on it at two times at least to remove the fermented scent
  5. Mill grain into a smooth dough (it is only milled once, lest it stacks in the mill. So, soak for 3 days for grains to be wet)
  6. Keep in a clean container for two days to ferment before use (nonfermented corn dough will not make your banku thick)
  7. After two to five days, corn dough can be used to prepare banku, kenkey (for porridge it can be used the same day)
  8. Now you can mix corn dough with cassava dough for your banku

Making Your Own Cassava Dough for Banku

Watch my YouTube video on how to make cassava dough for banku and gari. The videos are simple and easy to learn.

You can start to process your own cassava dough for banku and gari after watching these videos. You will also learn how to make gari for yourself and your household.

  1. Harvest or buy cassava from the market
  2. Peel the cassava
  3. Wash to remove dirt
  4. You can soak for a day if you don’t have time to grate the same day
  5. Pour the water and add fresh water if you couldn’t grind the next day (keeping it for long will cause it to rot and ferment, hence, giving your dough a bad scent)
  6. Mill until smooth and fine (you can mill multiple times till you are satisfied with the texture)
  7. Pour in a clean sack that can pass liquid
  8. Place on a flat surface e.g., a flat stone, and cover it with another flat stone to drain the liquid
  9. Keep under the stone for two to three days depending on the temperature
  10. If it is dried, remove it and place it into a clean container
  11. Now your cassava dough is ready for preparing banku
  12. Mix with corn dough and cook

Mill cassava the same day you peel it (recommended).

Difference between Banku and Kenkey

  1. Banku is prepared with a mixture of corn and cassava dough while kenkey is prepared with only corn dough
  2. Banku is dish out into bowl or rubber right after it’s cooked while kenkey undergoes a number of processes
  3. Banku is dish into bowl while kenkey is tied in corn husk, boil on fire for minutes to be well cooked and served in the corn husk
  4. Banku is cooked with medium flame while kenkey is cooked for some time, taken from the fire, mixed with uncooked corn dough, wrapped into balls, and placed in a corn husk, then, put on high flame and left to boil for hours
  5. Mostly, kenkey is served with pepper sauce with fish (kanami) while banku is served with varieties of soup and stew

Banku and Okro Stew Near Me

Most food joints serve bank with okro stew and other popular soup. Visit any bar, restaurant or go to a friend’s home and you’ll be served with banku and okro stew in a matter of minute.

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