Scientist develops innovative method to prepare banku, akple

“One day my wife travelled and I decided to prepare banku for myself, I suffered due to the process of kneading.

“I saw that it was very difficult and it motivated me to look for a simpler and easier way of preparing banku, akple and kokonte.

“That’s why I came out with this invention,” Osei Bonsu, a scientist noted how he was motivated to come up with the procedure.

According to him, cooking banku requires a lot of energy, hence the innovation.

Kenkey, banku, akple, kokonte and fufu powder are very important foods in Ghana.

But all these foods are prepared by kneading, meaning you have to stir the food vigorously on fire which is very difficult and time consuming.

“Many people, especially men don’t know how to knead. If you’re using firewood to knead, you will be exposed to heat and smoke.

“The World Health Organisation has reported that about 4 million people globally get sick and die annually due to exposure to heat and smoke. So I saw that it’s very important to look for a way that requires the use of less time and energy.

“And if you use my method you’re not going to stand by the fire to knead. And that is one advantage. The food comes out beautifully in the form of balls, so you’re not going to spend time dividing the food. The food doesn’t get burnt and it saves a lot of food. The purpose is to come up with an easier method of cooking,” he noted.

The procedure

Unlike kneading the dough, the non-stick bowl requires mixing the dough or powder with hot water in a saucepan to obtain the desired thickness.

The bowl is then filled with the thick paste and covered.

The non-stick bowl is then placed in a cooking pot filled with water. In 25 minutes, the food is ready.

To prepare food made from powder (kokonte, akple or fufu powder) the powder is mixed with hot water in a saucepan to obtain the desired thickness.

The special bowls are then filled with the thick paste and covered.

The bowls are then placed in a cooking pot with water and boiled for about 25 minutes. This cooks the food which can easily be removed from the bowls.

The saucepan is removed from the fire and the special bowls are filled with the thick paste and covered.

The bowls are placed in a cooking pot with water and boiled for about 25 minutes.

To produce the bowl in large quantities, Mr Bonsu said he needs funding.

“All I need is someone to partner with me so that we can promote it,” he appealed.