Last Sat. we had a very busy and full day! Serenity and I scrubbed 3 loads of laundry by hand... swept and mopped the house.... scrubbed the shower and toilet rooms... plus made rolls and cookies to give out to our neighbors! We were done by about 1pm! Then at 2pm we all went to visit Bro. Samuel and Sis. Eunice... Rennie and I biked and Chad took a moto with the children! Wow, it only took about 20 min. to go the 3+ miles... instead of 45 min. when we walk there! They were going to teach/show us how to make Fufu! Normally they eat Bankou or "Akple" [the Ewe word for it]... that is the Ewe tribe's food. Fufu is the Ashawnti tribe's food.... and it takes longer to prepare than Akple! So the Ewe's laugh at the Ashawnti's for eating Fufu... because they have made and eaten their Akple before the Ashawnti's have even begun to pound their Fufu!!! It's funny how everyone thinks 'their' food is the best! =) When we arrived at Bro. Samuel's, Sis. Eunice already had butchered a chicken and had it cooking away on a little charcoal
burner... then she added some tomatoes, okra, and squash like veggie, plus some tomato paste and spices [manly dried red peppers and fresh ginger root pounded fine in a mortar and pistol]. That boiled and simmered the whole time the Fufu was being prepared.... First Bro. Samuel peeled a big pile of cassava root and about 3 plantains, cut them up and put them in a pot. Then Sis. Eunice washed them and filled the pot with water and put in on a larger fire with wood... the pot was propped on 3 large stones. It didn't seem like very long and the pot was already starting to boil... then the water started to boil over.... Sis. Eunice wasn't there so her son Raffial [7] runs to the water barrel and dips out a cup of water and runs back to the boiling pot.... lifts the lid and splashes cool water into the pot! Ren and I
are not sure if that is what you're supposed to do or not?? He then backs up a little and rubs his eyes from the smoke... drinks a little of the water he has and then sets the cup down. No sooner had he set it down when the pot started boiling over again... so he runs and splashes more water in it! Ren and I are not sure what he is worried
about... if he thinks the boiling water is going to out the fire underneath then he is splashing more water than what is boiling over in his attempts! =) Not long after the above episode Sis. Eunice shows up on the scene and starts yacking.... when she finds out what Raffial did she scolds him [at least that is what it sounded like]... but he
just kept on grinning as if he knew he was doing the right thing! Finally it was soft and ready to pound... Bro. Samuel did the pounding and Sis. Eunice sprinkled water in the mortar...and sorta turned the 'dough' as he pounded it! They pounded the plantain first... then took that out... then pounded the cassava... but they only did a small amount at a time.... we snacked on the cooked cassava root while the pounding process was going on! =) Bro. Samuel made it look easy... but I'm sure if we tried it we would have blisters on our hands to show for it! Once all the cassava was pounded then the put 2 balls of cassava dough with one ball of plantain dough and mixed/pounded them together... then it was ready to eat! Mmmmm, was it ever good! I think Fufu is much better than Akple! =) The stew was excellant too... Sis. Eunice fished us out the choice pieces of chicken... leaving the feet and insides for themselves! =) We had a very lovely time... I just wish I could speak and communicate more with Sis. Eunice!
Serenity with Raffial
Eating Fufu....
Pounding Fufu...
