Ghanaian Ingredients A-Z

Essential Ingredients

An A-Z of the Ghanaian pantry. Entries with a full profile page link to it (flavour, uses, substitutes and recipes); the rest are glossary entries the owner can grow into full pages.

• Agbelima (Fermented Cassava Dough) — Soured, ground cassava paste, combined with corn dough to make banku and some akple. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Agushie / Egusi (Melon-Gourd Seeds) — Oil-rich ground seeds used as a nutty thickener in palava sauce and egusi stew. Closest substitute: loosely, ground pumpkin seeds. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Ayoyo (Jute-Mallow Leaves) — A mucilaginous northern leafy green that makes a slippery soup eaten with TZ. Closest substitute: molokhia/jute leaves, or okra for the slipperiness. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add (Northern).)
• Black-Eyed Peas — Creamy beans used for koose, red red and waakye.
• Calabash Nutmeg (Wedie Aba; African Nutmeg) — Warm, nutmeg-like aromatic; the classic spice for groundnut soup. Closest substitute: nutmeg plus a pinch of allspice. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Cassava (Bankye) — The forest-zone starch staple behind fufu, banku, gari, kokonte and agbelima.
• Cocoyam & Kontomire (Cocoyam Leaves) — The corm is boiled for ampesi or mashed; its leaves (kontomire) are the Ghanaian green for stews and soups. Closest substitute (leaves): spinach, collard or taro leaves.
• Dawadawa (Fermented Locust Beans) — Pungent, deeply savoury fermented seed; the umami backbone of northern soups and stews (also called iru/ogiri). Closest substitute: fermented soybean (iru), or a little miso/stock.
• Efom Wisa (Grains of Paradise / Alligator Pepper) — Ginger-family seeds resembling pink peppercorns; peppery and complex, used in stews, soups and drinks. Closest substitute: black pepper plus a touch of cardamom/ginger. (Ga: wire tsuru.) (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Esoro Wisa (West African Black Pepper) — Indigenous black-pepper relative (tailed pepper). Closest substitute: black peppercorns. (Ga: wire din.) (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Fermented Corn Dough (Maize) — Soured maize dough, the coastal and southern base of banku, kenkey and akple.
• Fresh Tomatoes — The base of most stews and jollof, blended with onion and pepper.
• Garden Eggs (African Eggplant; Nyaadua) — Small white/green bitter eggplant used in garden egg stew, or boiled and ground with pepper. Closest substitute: small eggplant.
• Gari (Toasted Cassava Flakes) — Fermented, toasted grated cassava for eba, gari soakings, sprinkled over waakye and red red, and gari foto.
• Garlic — An aromatic base, blended with ginger and onion for stews and marinades.
• Ginger — A pungent root used in marinades, kelewele, sobolo and ginger drinks.
• Groundnut Paste (Peanut Butter) — Unsweetened roasted-peanut paste for nkatenkwan (groundnut soup) and sauces. Closest substitute: natural unsweetened peanut butter.
• Hwentia (Grains of Selim / Negro Pepper) — Smoky, musky pods used whole (5-8 seeds) and removed after cooking; over-crushing turns dishes bitter. Used in shito, koko and soups. Closest substitute: black pepper plus a hint of smoke. (Ga: soh.)
• Jasmine Rice — A fragrant long-grain rice popular for jollof and plain rice dishes.
• Kaun / Potash (Food-Grade Limestone) — Alkaline mineral salt used in tiny amounts to soften and brighten okra, colour waakye and smooth kokonte. Use sparingly; food-grade only. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add; needs a careful health note.)
• Koobi (Salted, Sun-Dried Tilapia) — Intensely salty-savoury cured fish for kontomire and garden egg stews. Closest substitute: salt cod, rinsed, loosely. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Millet & Sorghum (Guinea Corn) — The northern grains behind TZ, koko, pito and zoomkoom. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add (Northern).)
• Momoni (Fermented Salted Fish) — Pungent fermented fish used in small amounts for umami depth in kontomire and palm/okra stews. Use sparingly. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Okra (Okro) — A pod vegetable prized for its slipperiness, the base of okro soup/stew and fetri detsi.
• 'One Man Thousand' (Whitebait) — Tiny fish fried crisp, eaten with abolo. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add (Volta/coastal).)
• Onions — The aromatic base of nearly every Ghanaian stew, sauce and jollof.
• Palm Cream (Palm-Fruit Cream) — Cream extracted from boiled palm fruits, distinct from palm oil; the base of abenkwan, aprapransa and kpokpoi. Closest substitute: canned palm-nut/banga soup base.
• Palm Nut — The fruit of the oil palm, boiled and pounded for palm nut soup.
• Palm Oil (Red; 'Zomi' when spiced) — The deep-red, unmistakable oil of southern cooking, used in red red, palava, shito and okro stew. There is no true substitute for colour and flavour; annatto-tinted oil approximates colour only.
• Plantain — Ripe (sweet) for kelewele, tatale and dodo; unripe (green) for ampesi, boiling and chips.
• Prekese (Aidan Fruit) — Aromatic ridged pod, often charred before use; fragrant and slightly medicinal, popular in soups (notably for new mothers) and spiced drinks. (Akan: aridan.)
• Scotch Bonnet / Habanero (Kpakposhito) — The fruity, very hot heat base of most savoury dishes. Closest substitute: habanero.
• Seasoning Cubes — Bouillon cubes used widely to deepen the savoury base of stews and soups.
• Shea Butter — Nutty northern cooking fat and finishing garnish (e.g. on TZ), where the south uses palm oil. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add (Northern).)
• Shito — A finished black pepper condiment of dried fish, prawns, ginger and spices, kept on hand and served beside many dishes.
• Smoked Fish / Smoked Herring — Smoked for preservation and depth; a base flavour across soups and stews nationwide.
• Snails — Forest-zone protein gathered at the first rains, added to light and palm soups and abunuabunu. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add (Akan).)
• Tom Brown (Roasted Grain Flour) — Roasted maize/grain flour for porridge and for apregyae. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Turkey Berries (Abeduru / Kwahu Nsusua) — Small bitter, nutritious green berries used in abunuabunu and some soups. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Vegetable Oil — A neutral everyday frying oil used where red palm oil is not wanted.
• Waakye Leaves — Dried red sorghum/millet stalks that release a red pigment, giving waakye its colour. Closest substitute: a pinch of food-grade potash with the leaves, or dried sorghum leaves.
• Wele (Cowskin / Cowhide) — Boiled or grilled hide with a chewy bite, added to okro stew and soups. (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)
• Yam — Prestige tuber; boiled (ampesi), mashed (eto), pounded (yam fufu), in pottage, or dried and ground (wasawasa). (No ingredient page yet — owner to add.)