Konkonte Recipe: Ghanaian Cassava Dough for Palm Nut Soup
Konkonte Recipe: Ghanaian Cassava Dough for Palm Nut Soup
Ask what goes with palm nut soup and the answer comes back before you finish the question: konkonte. The smooth brown cassava dough, torn off in pieces and used to scoop up abenkwan, is one of the great pairings in Ghanaian food. The soup has the richness; the konkonte is the vehicle.
Konkonte starts from kokonte, dried cassava milled into flour, which is why the dough has its color and its faint earthy sweetness. The technique is the same family as banku and akple: boiling water, flour stirred in hard, then worked against the pot until smooth. If you can stir banku, you can stir konkonte.
Konkonte Recipe: Ghanaian Cassava Dough for Palm Nut Soup
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Ingredients
- 2 cups kokonte flour, also sold as dried cassava flour or cassava flour (about 240 g)
- 4 cups water, plus hot water for loosening
- 1 teaspoon salt
Method
- Bring the 4 cups of water to a rolling boil in a heavy pot with the salt.
- Lower the heat to medium. Add the kokonte flour a little at a time, stirring constantly and hard with a sturdy wooden spoon. Do not dump it in; flour added too fast is how lumps are born.
- Keep stirring and folding the dough against the side of the pot, pressing out any lumps. The dough will stiffen and pull together.
- Splash in a little hot water, cover, and let it steam 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, stir and fold hard again. Repeat the steam and stir once or twice more, about 20 minutes in total, until the konkonte is smooth, elastic, and pulls cleanly away from the pot.
- Wet your hands or a small bowl with cold water, scoop out portions, and mold them into smooth balls.
- Serve at once with palm nut soup. Tear off a piece with clean fingers, shape a small scoop, and eat it with the soup.
Tips
Add the flour gradually. This is the entire technique. A handful at a time, stirred in fully before the next, and the dough stays smooth. All at once and you are fishing out lumps for twenty minutes.
Keep a kettle of hot water beside the pot. Splashes of hot water loosen a stiff dough without dropping the temperature the way cold water does.
Work it while it is hot. Konkonte firms as it cools, like banku and akple. The smooth, stretchy finish comes from the folding and steaming while the pot is still steaming, not after.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between konkonte and banku?
Banku is fermented corn and cassava dough; konkonte is dried cassava flour and water, usually unfermented. Konkonte is browner, milder, and a little sweeter. They are siblings, not twins.
Where do I buy kokonte flour abroad?
African grocery stores carry it, often labeled kokonte flour, kokonte powder, or dried cassava flour. It keeps for months in a sealed container, so buy the bag when you see it.
What soups go with konkonte besides palm nut soup?
Palm nut soup is the classic, but konkonte works with light soup and okra soup too. The rule is the same as for banku: a soup with body, something the dough can carry.
Why is my konkonte lumpy?
The flour went in too fast or the stirring paused while it thickened. Add gradually, stir without stopping as it comes together, and use the cover and steam rests between stirrings to soften the dough.