Garri (also known as gari, garry, or tapioca) is a
popular West African food made from cassava
tubers. The spelling 'garri' is mainly used in
Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and 'gari' in
Ghana.[1]
Process
To make garri, cassava tubers are peeled, washed
and grated or crushed to produce a mash. The
mash is placed in a porous bag and allowed to
ferment for one or two days, while weights are
placed on the bag to press the water out. It is then
sieved (or sifted) and roasted by heating in a bowl.
The resulting dry granular garri can be stored for
long periods. It may be pounded or ground to
make a fine flour.
Eba is a stiff dough made by soaking gari in hot
water and kneading it with a flat wooden baton.
Kokoro is a common snack food in Nigeria made
from a paste of maize flour mixed with gari and
sugar and deep-fried.[2]
Garri comes in various consistencies, which can
roughly be categorized into: rough, medium and
smooth. Each type is used for a particular meal.
As a snack or light meal, garri can be soaked in
cold water (in which case it settles to the bottom),
mixed with sugar and sometimes roasted peanut,
with evaporated milk sometimes added. The
amount of water needed for soaked garri is 3:1.
Garri can also be eaten dry without water, but
with sugar and roasted peanut added.
In its dry form, garri is also a nice accompaniment
for soft cooked beans and palm oil. This food mix is
called Yor ke Garri in the Ga language, in Ghana.
This food is usually eaten with fried plantain,
commonly known as kokor. The combo is a
common meal for lunch.
For a full meal, garri is usually cooked by adding
to hot water and kneaded into dough. This is
usually eaten with different types of stew or soup
with vegetables added (plain tomato/pepper soups
with vegetables such as okra added, thick, leafy
vegetable stews, melon seed stews, peanut stews
etc.).
Smooth garri (known as lebu to the Yoruba) can
also be mixed with pepper and other spicy
ingredients. A small amount of warm water and
palm oil is added and mixed with the hand to
soften up. This type of garri is served with fried
fish. It is also served with frejon on Good Friday.
Variations
In West Africa, there are two types; "white" and
"yellow" garri. The yellow garri is prepared by
frying with the addition of palm oil to give it a
yellow colour; while white garri is fried without
palm oil. In the Western parts of Africa, yellow
garri is more sought after; hence it is more
expensive than the white flavour.[citation needed]
Yellow and white garri are very common all over
Nigeria. A variation of white garri exists, popularly
known as Ijebu-garri. This variation is produced
mainly by Yourubas of Ijebu origin, in Nigeria. A
great many variations exist of both white and
yellow garri.
In Ghana, garri is judged by its taste and grain
size. The sweeter types with finer grains are more
valued over sour, large grain varieties.
Commercial food vendors on the other hand
prefer, coarser grains with high starch content as
this yields more quantity when soaked in water. In
addition, buyers often look out for crispier grains
when trying to determine its freshness.
Garri can be eaten without further cooking by
placing in a bowl and adding cold water; Ijebu-
garri is made to have finer grains, and a pleasantly
sour taste, making it very suitable for
consumption in this way. Sugar or honey is
sometimes added to sweeten the taste. It can also
be converted into a breakfast cereal by adding
powdered milk, chunks of coconut, groundnuts
and cashew nuts. Most garri, however, is cooked
by adding to boiling water and stirring to make a
stiff paste or porridge, which among the Igbos is
known as utara, and among Yorubas as eba. Utara
(or eba) is normally eaten with soups, of which
different kinds are available. Garri produced in the
east, south-east, and middle belt Nigeria are
usually of coarser texture and bland in taste. As
such, many people prefer to use this type for
cooking as a dough to eat with stews (as it does
not change the taste of the stew). Most parts of
Africa where cassava is grown have an equivalent
staple dish.