While I was in Ghana at 16 years of age, I was served many sandwiches filled with an African brand of Spam. Luckily(?) for those three weeks, I had packed 5 BOXES of breakfast bars in my suitcase.

During the last week, my traveling companions and I convinced our hosts to prepare a traditional Ghanaian meal. Ten years later, I was pregnant and craving something like corn, but sour. After a couple of days I realized I wanted that traditional meal in Africa: fish and kenkey (fermented white corn) served on a banana leaf with tomatoes and onions. Thinking I was out of luck, I let my craving go. But then a couple of weeks ago, I visited Baobab African Grocery in Indianapolis, where I found the fermented corn flour to make Kenkey, along with fonio.

Making kenkey from the pre-fermented flour couldn’t be easier. This was the quickest and most satisfying meal I’ve made in a long time. That said, it has a certain exotic taste that may take a few bites to get used to. And the kenkey really must be served with the fish, tomatoes and onion, dipping it in the juices as you go. Oh my, please dig in. This is comfort food at it’s most comforting.

Ghanain kenkey with fish, tomatoes, onion and lime
Serves 3-4

kenkey
2 cups kenkey flour
5 1/2 cups water
several pinches of salt

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and wisk until smooth. Pour in a saucpan and cook over medium-high heat. The kenkey will need to thicken considerablly, to the consistency of very thick mashed potatoes. You’ll need to stir it constantly toward the end. This takes about 15 minutes, but look more at the progress than the clock. It may seem inconcievable at this point that you could form them into balls. Don’t worry. Add more salt to taste and turn off the heat. Prepare the fish. When the kenkey has cooled a little, form into rounds a little bigger than golf balls, using wet hands if necessary.

fish
1 lb. tilapia fillets or other white fish
flour to coat fish (for GF use chickpea flour)
salt and pepper
oil
2 onions, sliced, not too thinly
2 tomatoes, chopped
2-3 limes

Heat the oil in a cast iron pan over fairly high heat- the thinner the fillets, the higher the heat. You want the exterior to brown by the time the fish is cooked through. Rinse and pat the fish dry. Season the flour with salt and pepper, and dredge the fish in the flour mixture. Fry the fish in batches until golden brown and still very tender. The fish is done just before it flakes, not after.
When the last piece of fish in done, remove from the pan. Add more oil and/or turn down the head to medium high if neccesary. Add the onions. When they have wilted, add the tomatoes and cook until the onions are still a bit crunchy, but translucent and the tomatoes are juicy. Add the fish back to the pan to re-warm and squeeze the juice of one lime over the whole dish. Cut the other lime(s) into wedges and use to garnish. Serve the fish with the kenkey, using the kenkey to sop up the juices.