Pasta, grains & rice
Gari Foto
Toasted ground cassava with scrambled eggs. Gari or farinha is ground cassava, which has been dried and toasted. In this savoury breakfast dish from Ghana, it is cooked with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, onions and palm oil. Palm oil has a very distinctive taste that needs acquiring. Beginners use sparingly!
Quantity: Serves 4-6
Ingredients
200 g gari or farinha (available from Afro-Caribbean grocers or see recipe page #)80 ml warm water
6 eggs
120 ml cooking oil
2 onions, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cm knob of ginger, peeled
1 red chilli
2 tablespoons palm oil
3 ripe tomatoes
a small bunch of fresh parsley
Method
Begin by tipping the gari into a large bowl, then start stirring in the water, a tablespoon at a time, adding just enough to re-hydrate the gari - it should be damp, but not soggy.
Cover the bowl and set aside.
Next break the eggs into a bowl, whisk until foamy and heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large, deep frying pan. Pour in the eggs and stir continuously with a wooden spoon to make soft scrambled eggs, then scoop from the pan and set aside.
Now slice the onions, crush the garlic, grate the ginger and chop the chilli and then heat the remaining oil with the palm oil in the same pan and gently fry the onions until translucent and soft.
Meanwhile chop the tomatoes into chunks and add the garlic, ginger and chilli to the pan and continue to fry for a minute or two longer. Next stir in the chopped tomatoes and gently simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the gari or farinha, combining well so that the grains are nicely coated with the mixture. Return the scrambled eggs to the pan, heat through, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and sprinkle with the parsley.
Serve piping hot with crispy fried bacon or small pork sausages and hot buttered toast on the side.