Fufu recipe is an easy Nigerian food recipe made with wet Cassava flour (tapioca flour). It is easy to make Fufu from scratch.
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What is Fufu recipe?
Nigerian Fufu is an African food recipe that originated from Nigeria but common in most African countries. It is made with cassava flour (tapioca). Nigerian fufu is prepared with fresh cassava and grated to form a paste. The cassava is strained and the strained-water allowed to sediment. The water is poured out and the sediment – which is the cassava flour is used. The sediment is then cooked on heat by continuous stirring until you have a thick solid called Fufu. This is usually eaten with soups such as banga soup, vegetable soups, Okra soup, and any soup of choice.
How to make Fufu from scratch
- Peel fresh cassava and wash them thoroughly
- Grate the cassava into a smooth paste. You can use a blender to do this but a grater will also do
- Start extracting the liquid from the grated cassava by mixing the grated cassava with water and using a fine strainer or cheesecloth to strain the liquid.
- Allow the extracted cassava water (liquid cassava starch) to sediment. This can take about 1 or 2 hours to settle down.
- You can now decant the water by gently pouring it out
- The wet cassava starch to stick to the bottom of the container
- You can then use a spoon to remove the starch and put into a cooking pot
- Put your pot on heat and add a little amount of water to start cooking your fufu immediately
- Continuously stir on low heat. Not stirring this continuously will form lumps and balls, so ensure you stir continuously.
- The fufu will begin to thicken up until you have a thick paste that you want. Once the consistency you want has been reached, turn off the heat
- Roll it in a polythene bag and allow it to cool
- You can serve it with vegetable soup, okra soup, ogbono, egusi or any soup of choice
Some variations you need to take note of them when making Fufu
There are many forms of Fufu recipe and I will explain some of the procedures.
- Delta starch (also called Usi) or Delta fufu is made through the same process but palm oil is added (about 1 or 2 tablespoons) to color the fufu into a beautiful yellow color. This is optional.
- The common form of fufu in Nigeria does not need palm oil as the Delta fufu.
- After grating the cassava to form a smooth paste; you must not use a fine strainer. A colander can be used to allow more of the cassava flesh instead of the liquid to be strained. This adds more solids to be used for making fufu.
- After straining with a colander, the strained liquid is then placed in a sack, tie it firmly and a heavyweight is added to it. The water content is allowed to strain out of the sack.
- The remaining solid is your fufu
- You can cook the fufu on heat the same way the Delta starch is cooked by mixing with water to dissolve completely and then continue stirring it on the heat until you have a thick solid.