Africa

Banku: Ghana's Fermented Corn and Cassava Dumpling

Name: Banku: Ghana's Fermented Corn and Cassava Dumpling
Prep time: 12 h 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 13 h 5 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Ghanaian
Ingredients: 220 g Corn flour; 130 g Cassava flour; 780 ml Water; 1 tsp Salt; 180 g Okra; 120 g Onion; 200 g Tomatoes; 1 clove Garlic; 10 g Ginger; 1/3 tsp Red chili; 2 tbsp Red palm oil; 250 ml Water or fish stock; 3/4 tsp Salt; 1/4 tsp Black pepper; 300 g Grilled fish; 1/2 Lime or lemon

How to make banku, Ghana's staple. The blend of fermented corn dough and cassava flour, the heat for stirring it smooth, shaping, how to eat it with okra stew, substitutes for hard-to-find flours, storage and why it goes wrong, written for a home kitchen.

Published: October 24, 2026Total: 13 hr 5 minLevel: Intermediate

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 6

Ferment the dough

12–24 hours

Resting corn flour and cassava flour dissolved in water — Do not aim for too strong a sourness in fermenting; stop when small bubbles appear on the surface

Prep takes 20 minutes, and resting takes 12 to 24 hours. Put 220 g corn flour, 130 g cassava flour and 1 tsp salt in a bowl and mix. Add 480 ml water a little at a time and whisk for 2 to 3 minutes until no lumps remain. Do not seal it with plastic wrap; cover with a clean cloth and leave at room temperature of 20 to 26°C for 12 to 24 hours. Go on when small bubbles appear on the surface and a light, yogurt-like sourness lies over the sweet corn.

STEP 22 / 6

Move it to a pot and pre-cook

5 min

Moving the fermented banku dough to a pot — Start over medium heat and stir everything before it begins to set from the bottom

It takes 5 minutes. Put the fermented dough in a heavy pot, add 150 ml water and mix well. Place over medium heat and stir constantly, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon. In about 2 minutes stickiness begins from the bottom, and in 4 to 5 minutes the whole becomes a loose paste. If the heat is too high only the bottom sets, so keep stirring before a white film sticks to the bottom of the pot.

STEP 33 / 6

Build the stickiness

8 min

The banku dough building stickiness in the pot — Adding water in portions over medium-low heat undoes the lumps and makes the floury taste go away

It takes 8 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low and add 100 ml water in 3 portions. Each time you add water, stir broadly with the wooden spoon to remove the white, floury parts of the dough. After 6 minutes, the dough falls heavily when you lift the spoon and leaves streaks on the side of the pot. If it seems about to scorch, add 2 tbsp water and lower the heat to low.

STEP 44 / 6

Work it smooth over low heat

12 min

Working the banku dough smooth over low heat — Pressing and folding it over low heat cooks it through the center and it leaves the side of the pot as one mass

It takes 12 minutes. Over low heat, add the remaining 50 ml water a little at a time while repeating pressing, folding and scraping from the side of the pot. Work it until the dough comes together in one mass and the surface regains its gloss when pressed with the spoon. To cook through the center, cover for the last 3 minutes over low heat to steam, then stir again for 1 minute. If a raw flour smell remains, add 2 tbsp water and work 3 more minutes.

STEP 55 / 6

Shape it while hot

5 min

Rounding hot banku dough in a wet bowl — When shaping, do not use too much water; moisten only the surface for gloss

It takes 5 minutes. Fill a small bowl with water and wet your hands and the inside of the bowl. Divide the hot dough into 4, put about 200 g in the bowl and turn it to round it. It is hot to touch directly, so first gather the shape with a wet paddle, and when the heat has eased a little, smooth the surface with your palm. If the surface cracks, dab on a little water with your fingertips to blend it in.

STEP 66 / 6

Make the okra stew

15 min

Simmering the okra stew to go with banku in a pot — Do not overcook the okra; stop where its slipperiness comes out and it clings easily to banku

It takes 15 minutes. Put 2 tbsp red palm oil in a separate pot and warm over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Do not heat it until it smokes. Add 120 g onion and fry for 4 minutes, then add the garlic, ginger and red chili and stir for 1 minute. Add 200 g tomatoes and cook down over medium heat for 5 minutes, then add 250 ml water or fish stock, 180 g okra, 3/4 tsp salt and the black pepper. Simmer 5 minutes at a gentle bubble, and turn off the heat when the okra's slipperiness has come out. Serve with the grilled fish, taking small pieces of banku and dipping them in the stew.

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Ingredients

1 / 2

The banku

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes and notes
Corn flour	220 g	Finely ground. If using coarse cornmeal, reduce to 150 g and make up the remaining 70 g with regular rice flour
Cassava flour	130 g	Tapioca starch alone is too sticky. Use cassava flour the first time
Water	780 ml	480 ml for fermenting, 300 ml for adjusting during cooking
Salt	1 tsp	Tightens the sourness of the dough. You can add up to 1/4 tsp more at the end

2 / 2

Okra stew to serve with it

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes and notes
Okra	180 g	Thinly sliced. Use frozen okra without thawing
Onion	120 g	Finely chopped
Tomatoes	200 g	2 medium. Canned tomatoes 200 g
Garlic	1 clove	Grated
Ginger	10 g	Grated
Red chili	1/3 tsp	If using chili flakes, start from 1/4 tsp
Red palm oil	2 tbsp	For color and aroma. If you dislike it, 1 tbsp and 1 tbsp neutral oil
Water or fish stock	250 ml	If using granulated stock, dissolve 1/2 tsp in 250 ml water
Salt	3/4 tsp	You may add up to 1/4 tsp more at the end
Black pepper	1/4 tsp	Coarsely ground suits it
Grilled fish	300 g	Mackerel, horse mackerel, white fish and so on. Remove the bones and serve alongside
Lime or lemon	1/2	Squeeze a little at the table

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The story of banku: Ghana's staple with a sour note

There is a moment when the white dough in the pot turns heavy and pushes back against the wooden spoon. It does not stretch like wheat dough; carrying the toasty aroma of corn and the tang of fermentation, it comes away from the side of the pot in one mass. Ghana's banku is a dish whose fun begins from there.

Banku is a Ghanaian staple in which fermented corn dough and cassava dough are mixed with water and worked over heat into a round dumpling. At tables on the coast, such as in Accra, it is eaten with okra stew, pepper sauce, grilled fish and fish soup. Like white rice it is a staple that sits quietly beside the main dish, but because of its sourness and stickiness it has a strong presence once it takes up the sauce.

Banku and okra stew finished in a kitchen — Banku is a sour staple, so it is easier to eat with spicy sauce and slippery okra

The fork in the road when making it elsewhere is not the name of the flour but the "sourness of fermentation" and the "water in the working." Locally, moist fermented doughs such as corn dough and cassava dough are used, but outside Ghana it is more realistic to start from shelf-stable corn flour and cassava flour. Mix the flours with water, rest for half a day to a day to build a light sourness, then gelatinize them thoroughly in a pot. Get that far and it comes closer to banku's sourness and springiness rather than a plain corn dumpling.

If fufu is a staple pounded and stretched, banku is a staple stirred in a pot. Unlike dishes that eat beans or rice, such as waakye (in Japanese) or red red (in Japanese), it is a base for picking up sauce by hand. Rather than chewing it in your mouth, take a small piece, dip it in the sauce, and swallow the sourness and heat together, and it does not feel heavy.

What to keep the first time

Dissolve the flours in water and rest it. Once in the pot, smooth out lumps over medium heat, then stir over low heat until heavy. When shaping, wet your hands and settle the form while hot. Keep to these three and you can avoid a floury taste and cracking.

How banku, fufu and kenkey differ

Ghana's staples can look like "white, sticky things" to an outsider. But fufu, banku and kenkey differ considerably in texture and aroma. Separating them before shopping keeps you from making the wrong dish.

A staple comparison of banku, fufu and kenkey side by side — Even the same white staple changes in texture and sourness whether it is stirred, pounded, or wrapped and steamed

Dish	Main ingredients	Method	Texture	Served with
Banku	Fermented corn dough, cassava dough	Stirred in a pot	Sour, chewy and heavy	Okra stew, fish, pepper
Fufu	Cassava, plantain, yam and others	Boiled and pounded	Stretchy and smooth	Light soup, groundnut soup
Kenkey	Fermented corn dough	Wrapped in leaves and steamed	Strongly sour, firm	Fish, pepper, soup
Akple	Cornmeal, cassava flour	Stirred in a pot	Close to banku, with a different regional name	Okra stew, fish soup

Because of its fermented aroma, banku is not a dish to put beside anything the way you would white rice. It suits a plate with the slipperiness of okra, the sharpness of chili and the savor of fish better than a sweet tomato stew. To translate it into another table, a spicy tomato stew, an okra fish soup or a grilled fish with a seasoned relish is a more natural fit than a miso soup.

Even with the same flour, leaving out the fermentation changes the outline. Those who dislike sourness can shorten the resting time, but if you stir it without resting at all, the corn flour aroma comes forward and it approaches a white polenta. This article uses a home method that rests the batter 12 to 24 hours at room temperature of 20 to 26°C to build a light sourness.

Ingredients: the blend for a home kitchen

This recipe is for 4 servings. It does not assume you can get the local fermented dough as it is; it is made from corn flour and cassava flour. Even if you want a stronger sourness, do not leave it at room temperature beyond 24 hours the first time. If a spoiled smell appears rather than a fermented aroma, discard it.

A kitchen with the corn flour, cassava flour, okra and red palm oil used for banku — The banku itself is mainly flour, water and salt. Served with okra stew it is easy to eat as one plate

Allergy and hygiene

If you use fish stock or grilled fish, be careful of fish allergy. Mix the fermenting dough with a clean bowl and spoon, and do not use it if the smell is strong and leans toward rot, if colored mold appears on the surface, or if an abnormal stringy stickiness appears.

How to read the nutrition information

The nutrition values in the front matter are approximations for the whole four servings, including the banku, okra stew and grilled fish. Per serving that is about 495 kcal, 18 g protein, 12 g fat and around 82 g carbohydrate. Banku is a staple, so adding white rice separately would pile up carbohydrates. For dinner, a meal of banku, okra stew, fish and a stir-fried green fits well.

Where to find ingredients: flours and red oil are worth looking for

The ingredients easy to buy nearby are okra, onion, tomato and fish. What is worth seeking elsewhere, such as at specialty grocers or online, are corn flour, cassava flour and red palm oil. Substituting ordinary wheat flour or potato starch brings it closer to a simple flour dumpling than to banku.

Preparing to shop for the flours and red palm oil for banku — Mix the flours in water and leave half a day to a day, and a light sourness layers over the sweet aroma of corn

For a first shop, gather the corn flour and cassava flour first. Red palm oil affects the color and aroma of the okra stew, but it can wait on a day you only try the banku. Conversely, if you want to keep cooking Ghanaian food, red palm oil can be reused in red red (in Japanese) and West African stews.

What to buy	Where to look nearby	When to order online
Corn flour	Baking supply stores, large supermarkets	When you cannot find a fine grind
Cassava flour	Import grocers, Brazilian grocers	When you do not want to substitute tapioca starch alone
Red palm oil	African or Brazilian grocers	When you want the okra stew closer to the local one

Method: separate the fermenting, stirring and shaping

Banku is a dish in which the dough suddenly turns heavy in the pot. Use a thick wooden spoon or a sturdy rice paddle rather than a thin rubber spatula. A heavy pot that resists scorching suits it. Water is added along the way, so it is easier not to start too stiff.

States where it tends to go wrong: floury, cracked, sour

The most common failures are about water and heat, not ingredients. Corn flour turns suddenly heavy once heated. If you are afraid of scorching and the heat is too low, a floury taste remains; if you rush with high heat, only the bottom sets.

A comparison of smooth banku, cracked banku and an overly loose dough — Most failures can be fixed with water and heat. If it tastes floury, add water and reheat

State	Cause	How to restore
Floury	Undercooked, too little water	Add 3 tbsp water and work 5 minutes over low heat
Many lumps	Too little water at the start, started stirring late	Turn off the heat, stir in 50 ml water and resume over medium-low heat
Surface cracks	Worked too stiff, or dried out while shaping	Smooth with wet fingertips, cover and leave 2 minutes
Too sour	Fermented too long, room too warm	Use only half the dough and add fresh flour and water, then work it
Scorched bottom	High heat, thin pot, not stirred enough	Do not mix in the scorched part; move the rest to another pot

As for sourness, stronger is not necessarily more authentic. Even in Ghanaian homes there are preferences for sourness, and when eating it for the first time at a dinner outside Ghana, a somewhat milder sourness is easier to keep eating. In seasons above 25°C, check the smell once at 12 hours, and in winter go by 18 to 20 hours.

When you are unsure about substituting flour, do not lean too far toward tapioca starch alone. Tapioca starch gives strong springiness, but the cassava flavor and the weight of flour are weaker. If you cannot get cassava flour at all, make it with 250 g corn flour, 70 g regular rice flour and 30 g tapioca starch, and treat it as a banku-style corn dumpling; that is realistic.

Storage and reheating

Banku is easiest to shape while hot, and the surface tightens as it cools. If you make it ahead, wrap it by single serving and keep it from drying out. Refrigerated as one large lump, it is hard for the heat to reach the center, and only the outside gets watery.

A kitchen with banku wrapped in portions for storage and a container set out for re-steaming — Store it wrapped one piece at a time, and reheat with steam so the surface is less likely to crack

How to store	How long	Reheating
Room temperature	The same day	Wrap to keep from drying and steam 3 minutes right before eating
Refrigerated	2 days	Mist lightly with water and steam 8 minutes
Frozen	2 weeks	Half-thaw in the refrigerator and steam 12–15 minutes

If you use a microwave, sprinkle 2 tsp water on each piece, cover loosely with plastic wrap and heat at 600 W for 1 minute 30 seconds. If the center is cold, add 30 seconds at a time. A microwave alone tends to dry the surface, so wet your hands and smooth the surface before eating to keep it from cracking.

The okra stew keeps about 2 days refrigerated. If you added fish, finish it by the next day. A slippery sauce makes spoilage hard to notice, so do not leave it long at room temperature; once the heat has eased, move it to a shallow container and refrigerate.

Pairing with Ghanaian dishes

On the day you make banku, branching out within Ghanaian food makes it easy. Uses for flour, beans, plantain and red palm oil connect, so you are less likely to have leftover ingredients.

A Ghanaian table with banku, waakye, red red and kelewele — In Ghanaian food, combining a staple with beans, heat and fried plantain gives the table a flow

Ghanaian fufu is also a "staple that takes sauce," but one in which you enjoy the stretch of pounded dough. If you like the sourness of banku, making fufu next makes the difference between cassava and plantain easy to see.

Waakye (in Japanese) is street-food rice and beans. It is easier to place on an everyday table than banku, with the fun of plating it with gari, a boiled egg, fish and shito. If a stirred flour dish feels a little heavy, waakye is the next way in.

Red red (in Japanese) is a stew of black-eyed peas and red palm oil, satisfying with plantain. It is easy to make with the red palm oil you bought, and it also practices the same "do not scorch the red oil" as the okra stew for banku.

Kelewele (in Japanese) is fried plantain coated in spices. When banku with spicy okra stew alone makes the table heavy, serving sweet-hot plantain in a small dish changes the rhythm of eating.

FAQ

Taking a small piece of banku and dipping it in okra stew — For the first time, keep the sourness mild and eat it with okra stew and grilled fish to ease in

Q1. Can I make it without fermenting?

You can, but the sourness typical of banku is weaker. On a hurried day, dissolve the flours in water, leave 30 minutes, and mix in 1 tsp lemon juice before cooking. But the aroma differs from fermented dough, so think of it as practice for the first time.

Q2. Can I make it with cornmeal?

Coarse cornmeal alone tends to leave a gritty texture. If you use it, use 150 g cornmeal, 70 g corn flour and 130 g cassava flour, and either grind it lightly in a blender before fermenting or soak it in water first. For a first time outside Ghana, fine corn flour is easier to handle.

Q3. Can I use tapioca starch instead of cassava flour?

A small amount works, but replacing all of it with tapioca starch gives strong springiness and a wobbly, different texture. If you substitute, replace no more than 40 g of the 130 g cassava flour with tapioca starch.

Q4. Is it all right to eat if the sour smell is strong?

If it is a light sourness like lactic fermentation, you can use it. If there is a rotten smell, an overly strong alcohol smell, colored mold or an abnormal slimy stickiness, do not use it. In warm seasons check at 12 hours and switch to resting it in the refrigerator.

Q5. What is it eaten with locally?

Okra stew, pepper sauce, grilled fish and fish soup go with it. For home cooks, grilled mackerel, tomato-stewed okra and a chili relish are easy to pair. Leaning toward a plate with heat, acidity and fish savor, rather than miso soup or a sweet teriyaki, keeps banku's sourness from standing out.

Sources

Ghanaian Foods, "How to Make Banku at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide," https://ghanaianfoods.com/how-to-make-banku-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide/, was consulted to confirm the basic ingredients of banku, the handling of corn dough and cassava dough, and the method of stirring in a pot.

Homefoods Ghana, "Banku mix corn & cassava Dough," https://www.homefoodsghana.com/index.php/our-brands/process-root-grains/banku-mix-corn-cassava-dough/29-our-brands/snacks, was consulted to confirm the description of a commercial product that treats banku as a mix derived from corn and cassava, and the picture of home cooking.

MyFermentation, "Fermented Corn Dough Recipe," https://www.myfermentation.com/grains/fermented-corn-dough-recipe-zerz1906zbut/, was consulted to confirm the idea of mixing fermented cornmeal and cassava dough and the range of home fermentation times.

TasteAtlas, "9 Best Side Dishes in Ghana," https://www.tasteatlas.com/best-rated-side-dishes-in-ghana, was consulted to confirm that banku is a Ghanaian staple eaten with fish, soup and sauce.