I recommend going “all out” and making the rub from scratch. As with a curry powder, freshly made is best. You can mix and match the ingredients you happen to like in the quantities you prefer. I usually make this just before I need it, but it could also be stored in the freezer. In this book Tankora Powder is used in making Ghana-Style Beef/Liver/Chicken Kebabs (pages 74-75).
Ingredients
½ cup peanut flour
¼ cup toasted corn flour (page 29)
½ teaspoon dried ground red pepper (or to taste)
1 teaspoon ground dried ginger (or to taste)
½ to 1 teaspoon salt or seasoned salt (or to taste)
Optional: other ingredients as desired, e.g., ½ teaspoon dried powdered green bell pepper; ¼ teaspoon mace or nutmeg; ½ teaspoon ground black, white, or Ashanti pepper; shrimp-flavored or other seasoning cube, crumbled
Directions
Mix all the ingredients together.
One of the best kebabs (called chichinga or tsitsinga) I had in Ghana was made from tender beef (often chichinga is made from very tough meats and quite chewy), and the vendor (from the North) told me he made his own tankora powder that included: white pepper, dried sweet green pepper powder (the only time I’ve ever heard of that in tankora powder), dried powdered ginger, ground nutmeg, Maggi and Royco shrimp seasoning cubes, salt, peanut powder, and dried red pepper.
Removing Skins From Black-eyed Peas
Several Ghanaian (and other West African) dishes first require removal of the outer coating (skins) from black-eyed peas. While it is possible to purchase pre-hulled and pre-ground peas in some African stores, I have found such packages unacceptable due to the presence of small stones and grittiness. Also, a food scientist suggests that my displeasure also had to do with the fine size of ground beans making it hard to attain the right fluffiness in the batters. Many others find them helpful, however. If using them, simply soak the dehulled beans and omit the manual, labor-intensive dehulling process described here.
Allow plenty of time for this step. I regularly do it several hours before I actually need to use the dehulled beans, storing them in the refrigerator. Dehulled beans are most commonly used in making Akara (Black-eyed Pea Fritters, page 78) and can also be used in preparing Tubaani (Black-eyed Pea Steamed Pudding, page 76).
To dehull a cup of dried black-eyed peas:
1. Pick over the black-eyed peas and discard any unacceptable ones, rinse, and soak them in about 3 or 4 cups of water for at least 30 minutes.
2. Fill a large bowl with water and add the beans. Take up a handful of beans and rub them between your palms and/or thumb and fingers to loosen the skins so they pop off. The skins will float to the surface and you can pour them off or add more water to the bowl and have them float out.
Or to save time, especially with large batches use a food processor:
2. Put the beans in a food processor in several batches, along with a very small amount of the water they soaked in, and pulse very briefly, just a few seconds, three or four times. The goal is to loosen the skins, not to grind the beans themselves. Pour the beans out of the food processor and back into a large bowl. Fill it with water and tilt and shake the bowl slightly from side to side. The skins will begin floating to the top and over the edge of the bowl. It is a good idea to have a colander handy in case some of the beans start to also slip out. Supplement the removal by also rubbing the remaining skins between your palms and your thumb and fingertips.
Cracking the Mysteries of the Coconut
Coconuts are widely used in many world cuisines, including African, Brazilian, Asian, and Indian. “Fresh” coconuts in North America mean the brown hairy ones with hard shells sold in the produce section. In Ghana they call those “dried,” and when they say “fresh” coconut they mean the literally fresh green ones right off the trees, often sold with the tops whacked off with a machete right in front of you. Those coconuts are soft and gelatinous inside, and you can drink the coconut water right out of them, scooping the meat up with a spoon or a piece of shell.
Opening Coconuts & Extracting Coconut Water
There is more than one way to crack open a hard brown coconut. This is a fun activity to do with children and young adults—just make sure that they stand back when someone is swinging the hammer. If your coconut shows any signs of mold, return it to the store where it was purchased and get a refund. I generally buy two coconuts when I need one, just in case.
Tools
hammer
ice pick or similar sharp implement (I’ve used screwdrivers, clean nails, and the meat pick from a nut cracker set)
newspapers
large towel
cup, tall glass, or small pitcher
fine strainer
knife and/or vegetable peeler
Remember that the liquid extracted in Step 3 is NOT coconut “milk” (see page 28). It is coconut water, found both in the brown and the green coconuts. It makes a healthy, refreshing drink and has become somewhat of a fad in grocery stores in North America, where its health benefits are increasingly exalted and it is hailed as a sports drink and anti-aging wonder drink. It is sold canned, but is easy to obtain directly from a coconut.
For those with more patience and less preference for hammering, one can also put a cracked-open coconut on a cookie sheet or baking dish in a medium preheated oven (350 degrees F) for about half an hour or until the meat pulls away from the shell.
Directions
1. I usually crack open coconuts in my garage where I have a cement floor, but it can also be done indoors. Spread a few newspapers under the coconut and turn it up so you see the three “eyes” at one end. Place the ice pick, or whatever you are using, in the center of one of the eyes, and hammer it through the eye to make a hole and then wiggle it around to enlarge the hole and remove it. Repeat the process with the other 2 eyes.
2. Turn the coconut over a glass, cup, or small pitcher (use a tea strainer to keep out bits of shell) and let the coconut water run into it. Always try to buy a “juicy” coconut (shake them in the store before you buy).
3. After removing the liquid from the coconut, move the glass or cup to a safe place, and wrap the coconut with a towel to avoid flying coconut pieces. Put the coconut down on the floor and begin hammering away. Many times there will be a small line around the center of the coconut that has been made to make it easier to crack the coconut open. If there is such a line, aim at it or otherwise at the center (not the ends). When the coconut begins cracking open, keep pounding away until many of the pieces of the white meat have broken off from the shell (they will have a brown coating on one side). The rest can be pried off carefully with a knife. You may have to unwrap it a few times to check, and even leave the towel off near the end.
4. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the brown skin from the coconut, which can be cut or broken into pieces and served that way, or grated or chopped into fruit salads or other recipes.
Making Coconut Milk
Coconut milk is made from the meat of the coconut, either fresh or dried. While canned coconut milk is available and convenient, it is expensive and has emulsifiers/preservatives in it. It is possible to hand-grate fresh coconut meat for this recipe (no need to remove the brown peel after taking