Ofam is a spicy Ghanaian cake made from overripe plantain mixed with spices and palm oil. It can be eaten as dessert, main meal or a snack.
Ingredients
- 2 large fingers of overripe plantain
- ½ medium size red onion (shallots is a great option)
- 3 scotch bonnet pepper (or to your taste)
- Small piece of fresh ginger (about thumb size)
- 4 cloves
- A pinch of nutmeg
- 1 tsp herring fish (amane) powder (optional)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup flour (all purpose)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 10 oz palm oil
To Prepare
- Pre-heat oven. Set to 200°c.
- Peel and cut up the onion and ginger. Grind ginger, onion, pepper and cloves in an asanka; into a smooth paste. Blend if preferred.
- Peel plantain and cut into small pieces. Add to the ground (or blended) paste and continue to grind/blend together. Do not grind too smooth.
- At this stage, add salt and herring fish (amane) powder.
- Add the flour, nutmeg and baking powder and thoroughly mix.
- Pour the palm oil into mixture and stir well.
- Grease loaf pan with palm oil.
- Pour mixture into the greased pan.
- Place it in the oven to bake for 20 minutes.
- Insert a toothpick or skewer into the cake to check if it is ready. If it comes out clean, it is ready. If it comes out wet, allow to bake for a few more minutes.
- Once ready, take out of oven and allow to cool down before removing from the loaf pan.
- Slice it up and serve. It can be served with nuts.
You can equally use the cupcake baking tray rather than a loaf pan to get it in nice small portions.
Instead of throwing out the plantain when it get’s overripe and soft, you can try this simple but delicious ofam recipe.
