A Ghanaian favourite, Gari Foto (also spelled Gari Fotor or Gari Fortor) is made from Gari and a spicy and flavourful tomato-based stew, mixed together to give a beautiful looking and tasty dish. Gari Foto is a common meal in Ghana and one of the many Gari recipes which you can try.
What is Gari?
Gari (sometimes Garri) is a Ghanaian staple, sometimes slightly sour to the taste. It is made from finely grated or processed cassava, which is slightly fermented and then roasted to produce fine and crispy granules.
The granules vary in size depending on how they are processed. Cassava (also known as Manioc, Mandioca, or Yuca) is widely eaten in Ghana and can be made into fufu, boiled and eaten with stew, or made into this delicious snack. Cassava tubers can be toxic (cyanide) if not properly prepared and so great care must be taken not to consume them raw.
Gari is a highly versatile staple in Ghana, Nigeria, and other parts of West Africa. It can be made into a thick paste (with cold or hot water) and eaten with soup or stew. It can also be 'soaked' which means adding milk, sugar, and groundnuts for a quick snack. It is also delicious with shito (a Ghanaian pepper sauce made with powdered dried shrimp, powdered, dried fish, ginger, onions, salt, and loads of dried red chili peppers) and tinned sardines.
Basically, Gari is a lifesaver and anyone who has attended a boarding school in Ghana will tell you so. Gari will lose its crispiness if left open to air but it generally has an incredibly long shelf life when stored well.
Ingredients
When it comes to Gari Foto, the ingredients are as varied as is the cooking, depending on who is making it. The general consensus however is that it is always going to be a tomato-based stew, mixed with Gari.
In this recipe, I use Akpatogui or Koobi (which is salted dried tilapia), smoked dried herrings, and smoked dried shrimp in the tomato stew. This combination makes this dish very flavoursome. The tomato paste (which happens to be frozen in the photo), gives the stew a darker colour but also a more intense tomato flavour.
The Akpatogui has an incredibly high salt content and therefore it is necessary to soak it and boil to get some of that salt out. When using Akpatogui generally, it is crucial that it is one of the first ingredients to start with if you don't want to end up with an overly salty dish.
The shrimp need to be washed properly as they can sometimes have sand in them. The way to wash them, is to break them apart and soak them in water for a few minutes. Some sand will sink to the bottom of the bowl in which you are doing this. Repeat 4 -5 times and that is it.
This tomato stew is perfect for Gari Foto but it can also be eaten with rice, Fonio, yam or boiled ripe plantains.
Variations
You can vary your tomato-based stew and adjust as necessary.
- The addition of bell peppers to the tomato stew gives this dish an extra oomph as well as a beautiful colour. You can also add carrots.
- If you are allergic to seafood then you can replace the shrimp powder with fish powder.
- If you are vegan or vegetarian then you will want to entirely take out the fish and seafood options and replace them with herbs or other spices, to get a flavourful stew.
- You can also use beef stock or chicken stock to make your tomato stew if you do not like any fish at all.
- After the Gari has been mixed with the stew, some people go a further step and heat the mixture for a few minutes over medium heat. This makes the Gari clump together a bit more, bringing with it a slightly gummy consistency that is pleasant to many. In this recipe, I do not take this additional step.
Additions and Sides
There are quite a number of add-ons if you will, that you can have with Gari Foto. Personally, 2 of my favourites are stir-fried cabbage or a simple salad. There is something about the salad dressing seeping into the Gari Foto which I particularly enjoy. You can also have Gari Foto with a fried egg, a boiled egg, fried fish, or fried chicken. A side of ripe fried plantains, however, is always a good idea.
Gari Foto
Ingredients
- 250 grams Gari
- 1 medium Akpatogui (salted dried tilapia )
- 2 medium herrings smoked, dried
- 10 medium shrimp smoked, dried
- 3 medium tomatoes
- 1 medium onions sliced
- vegetable oil
- salt
- 3 scotch bonnets
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
Instructions
- Place Akpatogui in a large pot, and cover with water. Boil for about 15 minutes and pour the water away.
- After the fish is no longer hot, flake it and set it aside. You can also place it into the stew directly, it will flake eventually.
- With a knife (ideally one which is not sharp), carefully split the herrings into smaller pieces removing as many of the bones as possible.
- In a bowl, add hot water to the herrings to get them to soften before they're added to the stew. This should take about 15 minutes.
- In another bowl add water, separate (and discard) the head from the rest of the shrimp and clean them. Break the shrimp apart into smaller pieces and rinse them in the water, making sure to repeat the process about 4 times. See notes.
- Blend shrimp with tomatoes and scotch bonnets.
- Heat vegetable oil in a pan and fry onions for about 2 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and fry for a further 2 minutes.
- Add blended tomato mix and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add Akpatogui, herrings, and cook the stew until thickened and cooked.
- Taste for salt only when the stew is almost cooked. Remember that the Akpatogui is very salty and the majority of its salt will be released into the stew.
- Wet the Gari slightly with water to get it damp. You do not want it soaking wet.
- Bit by bit, mix the stew with the damp Gari until you get a homogenous colour and a moistness you're content with.
- This step is optional. Heat the Gari Foto in a pan over medium heat and stir until it starts clumping together.
- Serve hot with fried ripe plantains, stir-fried cabbage or simply a boiled egg.
Video
Notes
- If you have any leftover stew you can freeze it for later use.
- Gari generally tends to swell when water is added, so take note of that.
- The less stew you add, the drier the gari foto will be. I personally find dry Gari Foto to be rather unpleasant to eat. If you find the Gari Foto too dry, you can add some more stew.
- You can add the herrings directly to the stew, they do not necessarily have to be soaked in hot water.
- The smoked dried shrimp can have some sand in them which is why it is important to wash them. If you would rather process the shrimp into a powder then it pays to carefully wipe the shrimp individually with a clean kitchen towel to get rid of any dirt or sand before processing it into powder. I do not use the smoked shrimp head in my everyday cooking. I do use fresh shrimp head to make shrimp stock and shrimp paste.
M Cudjoe says
Thank you didn’t know Talipia was the fish used. Haven’t made it for ages. Appreciated knowing alternative fish to use as well
Edinam says
You can use any type of fish. Tilapia is just what I personally use. Thanks for stopping by