Okra Stew in Wa

It's quite nice to have an evening where I've enjoyed a delightful meal with a fellow volunteer and arrived home (a.k.a. my hotel) with a few hours to relax, read some research for a project I am working on, maybe squeeze in a little pleasure reading and of course, watch an episode of Big Bang Theory before bed.

So far, my time here in Ghana has had more travels than it really seems. When I touched down on Sunday January 8th, I had just one day in Accra before leaving on January 10th for Wa where I gave my writing and photo workshop to the last office. It was quite enjoyable. Wa is the capital of the Upper West Region and the consensus among coworkers was that it has a population of about 12,000 people, and that's when the University of Development Studies (UDS) is in session, which draws about 6,000 people to town. While it was small in number it was quite spread out. The last training went well and was the best practice photo session of all- we were able to go to one of our actors to shoot photos of them using a tractor and mechanized sheller on a small communities corn harvest.

But the real highlight of my first weekend back in Ghana (and one of my best memories so far) was that, Eva, an employee in the Wa office invited me to her house to make my and her favorite local dish: banku with okra stew!

She picked me up Saturday around 11 a.m. and we went to the market in town where we bought the ingredients we would need. It was nice having a true market experience (I'm not sure if there's even a grocery store in Wa that sells all the items we would need). Watching the butcher take your order then whack at the goat carcass, severing the bone, and be right at the one pound mark, just by eyeing the piece of meat! Once we had bought all of the ingredients, we hopped in a taxi and headed back to her place.

It was interesting going with her to get water (okay so she got the water and I took photos) before rinsing out the dishes. Also, she had just moved into the house so it was her first time cooking in her new place. Before anything really started, we removed the stove top from the box, set it on two concrete blocks and attached it to the propane tank. It was a three burner stove top, less than 5 inches tall. It reminded me of a stove top I would expect to see in a camper.

Once the stove was ready and the dishes washed, she cut up the ingredients including: fresh okra, white egg plant (or garden eggs as they call them in Ghana), goat meat, tomatoes, chili peppers, and lots of onions (we both enjoy onions!). (Please don't use this as a recipe as I'm just going from memory- I will have to email her for the real deal).

She cooked the goat meat with lots of spices then began the process of making okra stew and banku. For the banku, she bought a premade bag of banku (which is made from maize that has been soaked in water for about 3 days, which is then pounded and heated. It has the look and texture of bread dough and a flavor that is hard to describe (kind of salty, with a bite but when eaten with okra stew, it's like you're adding a spice that adds to the meal and the two complement each other wonderfully).

We didn't end up eating until about 6 p.m. and I was hungry. She gave me a large bowl with a big portion of okra stew and lots of goat meat. It was the best okra stew I have had in Ghana. Yes, while the experience no doubt added to the taste and the day of cooking and anticipation added to the excitement, it was truly delicious! This is a meal I have had several times over and I like the way she cooks it and the spices she uses. It was so much I couldn't bare to finish but did my best to eat as much of the amazing food she had prepared for me as possible.

Oh, one thing I forgot to add, was how to eat okra stew. Okra stew is best when eaten the traditional, Ghanaian way- not the Western way. To eat okra stew, you first wash your right hand with soap and water, then using your fingers on your right hand (I use the middle three), you tear a piece of banku (bread dough texture) off and use it as additional leverage to grab some okra stew up. I learned while cooking the importance of making sure you have enough okra to make the dish as sticky as it needs to be. The sticky of the banku and the sticky of the okra stew help the dish be eaten with your three fingers.

Like many meals, it is best with just the right combination of banku, okra stew and goat meat. So you can start with the banku and okra but normally it's easier for me to grab a piece of goat meat, chew off a piece then put the goat meat back in the stew and grab some banku with okra. Once finished, you rinse your hands with soap and water and are on your way! The first few times I tried to eat this dish with a spoon and while it is possible, it takes forever and isn't nearly as good (although the restaurant I used the silverware at was too 'fancy' to 1. have a sink in the dining room or even 2. bring a large bowl of water and soap to rinse your hand with.

While half the fun is how you eat the dish, I really do enjoy banku and okra stew- don't be surprised if I have it multiple times a week (like for example I had it Monday and Tuesday of this week- I'm starting to even figure out what restaurants have the best stew!). And it's just a rule- if you eat it with anything besides goat meat, it's just not going to taste the same or as good. I went to a different fancy restaurant (that provides soap and a bowl of water) to eat okra stew but the only options are chicken or guinea fowl (a delicacy in Ghana) but it's just not the same.

I can't thank Eva enough for the wonderfully warm hospitality of inviting me to her home to not only see how my (I mean our) favorite dish is made, but to taste my first homemade meal in Ghana. I spent 2.5 months in Ghana the first time and was never afforded such a luxury. Yes, Wa may be our most remote office and in a small town, but the staff is wonderful, there are some great farmers to work with and harmattan was rolling in so it was cool out- about 75-80 degrees (quite cold for the locals but wonderful to a girl who just returned from Christmas Missouri).