Akpiti/Banfo Bisi (cornmeal doughnuts)

Step by step method

• STEP 1

  In my pot am going to go ahead to add cornmeal, sugar and salt and water. And we are going to make the banku part form for when you are making kenkey, so we are making Aflata. Why? Because, trying to make this snack without creating gluten is highly impossible. So we just want to start to cook it a bit until it becomes sticky. That way it will be malleable enough for us to mould it into whatever shape or size that we prefer. And at this point we have gotten exactly what we need. So, we are going to go ahead and clean our wooden spoon and around our bowl and cover it up and allow it to cool. Cooling it down uncovered will cause it to dry out and we don’t want that.

• STEP 2

  So next, we are going to put our cooked down aflata and we are going to knead it buy adding more cornmeal to it. So, the same way you will knead bread. This is exactly what we going to do today. I can not tell you the amount of cornmeal you needed, at this point. You just need it until its nice and solid. To your preferred texture. And this right here is the texture am going for. So, to me this is perfect, its nice and almost stiff.

• STEP 3

  So, we are going to roll them up, remember to put some cornmeal in your hand while rolling. Which will give you the signature grainy look on the outside of the Akpiti. And this is the shapes we are going for almost egg like. So am going to go ahead and roll everything up then we go ahead to fry. Meanwhile our oil is heating up.

• STEP 4

  So, everything is ready so we will go ahead and fry. So, with dropping it be sure not to overcrowd the pot, which will cause the temperature of the oil to drop causing your Akpiti to absorb some oil. Which we do not want any greasy snack. My personal favorite is Akpitis skinny cousin, adunlei. And that recipe will be coming up right after this one. And this is the golden colour we are going for, its just a little darker that golden brown but this is the signature akpiti colour. The banfo bisi, I know they like to stick the peanut to it when they fry. But in Accra, where I grew up, there’s no peanuts around it.