COPPERFufu recipe
Boiled yam pounded in a wooden mortar until the paste stretches without breaking, the igname pilee eaten with the fingers all over Benin.
Ingredients
- 1000 g yam
- 200 ml water
How to make Fufu
- Peel 1 kg of white yam, rinse the pieces and cut them into rounds about 3 cm thick.
- Boil them in plain unsalted water for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife slides in without resistance. Fufu is never salted: the sauce carries all the seasoning.
- Drain the yam and keep a bowl of the hot cooking water next to you.
- Drop two or three hot pieces into a wooden mortar and strike them with the pestle while a second pair of hands folds the mass back to the centre between blows.
- Keep pounding and folding for 15 to 20 minutes, adding a spoon of hot water whenever the paste stiffens, until it is perfectly smooth, glossy and stretches without tearing.
- Without a mortar you will not reach that elasticity, and a blender turns yam to glue. The closest fallback is working the hot yam in the pot with a sturdy wooden spoon for 10 minutes, accepting a denser result.
- Wet your hands in cold water and shape the paste into smooth balls.
- Serve warm with a peanut, tomato or okra sauce, pinching off pieces with your fingers to scoop it up.
What is Fufu?
Fufu is a traditional dish from Benin, boiled, and takes about 55 minutes from start to finish. It is built around yam. The recipe below uses 2 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Fufu take?
At 55 minutes it is quicker than 80% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 2 dishes built on yam. The method runs to 8 steps, the longest being 25 minutes.
Any tips for making Fufu?
Pound the yam while it is hot and add a spoon of its hot cooking water whenever the paste stiffens; a blender turns yam to glue.
How Fufu compares
Yam appears in no other dish in the atlas.
Copper documents Benin alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.