COPPERFufu recipe
Boiled white yam pounded in a wooden mortar until it turns into a smooth, elastic dough, eaten by hand with a sauce.
Ingredients
- 1000 g white yam
- 1500 ml water
- 1 tsp salt
How to make Fufu
- Peel 1 kg of white yam, rinse it and cut it into 4 cm chunks.
- Put the chunks in a pot, cover with about 1.5 litres of water, add 1 teaspoon of salt and boil for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife goes through without resistance.
- Drain, keeping a cup of the cooking water, and transfer the hot yam to a wooden mortar.
- Pound with the pestle while the yam is still hot, with a second person turning the paste between strokes, for 10 to 15 minutes until no lumps remain.
- Add the reserved cooking water a spoonful at a time while pounding, until the paste is smooth, elastic and pulls away from the mortar.
- Wet your hands, shape the fufu into smooth balls and serve at once with a sauce claire or a dékou-déssi (palm nut sauce).
What is Fufu?
Fufu is a traditional dish from Togo, boiled, and takes about 55 minutes from start to finish. It is built around white yam. The recipe below uses 3 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. The method runs to 6 steps, the longest being 25 minutes.
Any tips for making Fufu?
Pound the yam while it is still hot and add the cooking water a spoonful at a time, or the paste stays lumpy instead of turning elastic.
How Fufu compares
White yam appears in no other dish in the atlas.
Copper documents Togo alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.