Fufu, banku, and kelewele

As a vegetarian, I'm always a little worried when I go to an unfamiliar place.  Will I find enough to eat?  How flexible will I have to be?  As I read about Ghana before my trip, it seemed pretty clear to me that, if I could eat fish, I'd find plenty and probably enjoy myself.  And that has been true.  Here's a visual tour of some of my culinary fun so far.

  You've seen this before.  It's red-red, the black-eyed pea stew, with fried plantains.

 The white stuff here is banku--a dough made of mashed cassava and corn and then boiled until it's very thick.  And that's tilapia, the whole thing--head to tail.  This dish is eaten with the hands.  You tear off a bit of banku, roll it around in your hand, and then tear off a bit of fish and salad to eat with it.  Yes, I tore apart an animal and pulled meat off its bones.

Well, here's finally some proof that I'm here, or that I'm at least somewhere warm drinking coconut juice/water.  There are lots of vendors on the side of the road selling coconut water.  It's refreshing, and when I was finished drinking, the man split the coconut and cut out the coconut meat for me to eat.

 My new favorite!!!  Kelewele.  Fun to say and delicious to eat.  It's fried plantains, but better.  They're fried to some crispiness on the outside and seasoned with something quite spicy.  The combination of the spice with the sweetness of the plantain is amazing.

Ground-nut soup.  Peanuts are called ground nuts here, so basically this is peanut butter soup, but with lots of tingly spices.  That's a piece of cabbage you see lurking in there, but they'll put meat in it as well.