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Fufu is a starchy root vegetable dish from West and Central Africa, made by boiling vegetables and pounding them into a paste. It is often served with African stew and can be made from plantains, cassava, sweet potatoes, and rice. Fufu has origins in Ghana and is also popular in Brundi, Kenya, and Tanzania. Ugali, a similar dish made from cornmeal, is popular in East Africa but lacks nutritional value. Fufu has also migrated to the Caribbean, where it is known as mofongo and made from mashed potatoes or plantains.
West and Central African fufu is a root vegetable dish similar to Hawaiian poi. After being boiled to a soft state, the vegetables are broken down into a paste with a mortar and pestle. It is a starchy side dish often served with African stew. As the diner pinches a thumb-sized piece from the dough and rolls it into an indented spoon-like shape, it is used as a convenient way to carry the stew from the bowl to the diner’s mouth.
The vegetables used in this dish vary by region, but include plantains, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Some cooks include rice. Cooks use a very large special mortar and pestle to process these vegetables as they prepare the dish. The resulting paste is a complex starch that makes diners feel full quickly.
Cooks with a sense of tradition simmer and pound their roots the old-fashioned way, but others skip the long simmering time and physical labor of pounding the results to a literal pulp. Powdered rice, cassava, or yam mixes that don’t require this step can be purchased to be used as a substitute.
Fufu has origins in Ghana, where it is traditionally eaten with abenkwan peanut soup, nkontomire vegetable soup, and smoked meat or fresh fish stews. Brundians also like Fufu, mostly with soup. Further east in Kenya and Tanzania, fufu is usually called ugali and is cooked using cornmeal with a texture and flavor similar to raw cornmeal.
While ugali is filling, it is almost completely nutritionally empty. Ugali, which is the Swahili name, is very cheap and is made from corn, which will grow even during a severe drought. Additionally, cornmeal is easily stored for long periods without going rancid. This means that this food is particularly popular with the poor and contributes to certain health shortcomings in those areas.
This popular base has migrated to Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Caribbean fufu is made from mashed potatoes, plantains, or a combination as a base. The resulting food, known as mofongo, has a more flavorful and less mushy texture.
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