Water Fufu is a traditional Central African Republic recipe for a classic accompaniment made from fermented cassava that's wrung and cooked until it forms a stiff, mouldable, paste. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Central African Republic version of: Water Fufu.
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Cassava in its various forms is considered the national dish of the Central African Republic. This is an example of water fufu from the country, where the fufu is made from scratch without the need to process and dry the cassava.
Ingredients:
6 large tubers of cassava (yuca root)
2 tsp baking soda (optional)
Method:
Start by cutting your cassava into round sections (about 5cm lengths).
Make a cut along one side then take a paring knife and cut off the peel (a little like peeling an apple but inserting the knife deeper).
Cut the rounds into quarters and remove the fibrous cores then cut the cassava into 1cm thick strips.
Take a large bowl of water, add the baking powder and insert the cassava into this. The water will leach out any cyanogenic compounds from the cassava and the mixture will start to ferment (which is what you want). Set aside for 2-3 days to ferment until you get a slightly foul smelling pungent smell (this is what you want).
Transfer to a doubled piece of muslin (cheese cloth) and wring out as much of the excess moisture as you can.
Turn the crumbly mixture into a bowl and use your hands to mix it, removing any large or hard pieces that were either left-over fibre or pieces that did not blend properly.
Transfer the remainder to a saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium heat for 15 minutes. Press the mixture against the sides of the pan to ensure everything is blended and heated. You need to stir almost constantly to ensure the cassava does not burn.
The cassava meal should become smoother during this cooking process. The left-over starch will be released and the cassava should star to clump together. It will also darken in colour from white to cream.
Take off the heat and keep stirring for a few minutes then set aside to cool until it can be handled.
Shape the mixture into demi-baguette shaped pieces. Serve as an accompaniment.
This is excellent served with kanda ti nyma or kanda (meatballs with pumpkin [egusi] seeds).
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