COPPERFufu recipe
Congolese fufu is cassava flour beaten into boiling water until it becomes a smooth elastic dough, not a mash of boiled roots.
Ingredients
- 250 g cassava flour
- 100 g maize flour
- 1000 ml water
How to make Fufu
- Bring 1 L of water to a rolling boil in a heavy pot.
- Mix 100 g of cassava flour with 100 g of fine maize flour; the maize is what most Kinshasa households add for a softer fufu.
- Slake 3 tablespoons of the flour mix in a little cold water, stir it into the boiling water and let it thicken 2 minutes.
- Lower the heat and sprinkle in the rest of the flour handful by handful, beating hard with a wooden spoon after each addition. Never tip it all in at once or it will lump.
- Keep beating 10 to 15 minutes, pressing the dough against the side of the pot to crush any lumps, adding splashes of hot water if it seizes.
- Cover and steam 5 minutes on the lowest heat, then beat once more until the dough is smooth, shiny and elastic.
- Wet your hands, shape it into balls and serve with pondu or moambe; fufu is eaten by hand, pinched and dipped.
What is Fufu?
Fufu is a traditional dish from Congo DRC, steamed, and takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. It is built around cassava flour and maize flour. The recipe below uses 3 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Fufu take?
At 30 minutes it is quicker than 97% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 4 dishes built on cassava flour. The method runs to 7 steps, the longest being 15 minutes.
Any tips for making Fufu?
Sprinkle the flour in handful by handful, beating hard after each addition, and never tip it all in at once or it will lump.
How Fufu compares
At 30 minutes, Fufu is among the 20 quickest of the 586 dishes Copper documents.
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on cassava flour, from other countries.
Copper documents Congo DRC alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.