15 Healthy West African Swallows.

Swallow is a term that is popularly used in Nigeria to describe pastes that are made from cereal grains, starchy roots and other starchy vegetables. They can also be referred to as pates or dumplings and are made from staples such as maize, cassava, yam, plantain, cocoyam, millet, sorghum, hungry rice and rice. 

Contrary to what most of us have been made to believe that our swallows are starchy and are high in carbohydrates, most of them are very good food choices because they are made from whole grains and roots. This means that they will have most of their nutrients, fiber and micro nutrients intact.

Carbohydrate-rich food ingredients that are not so healthy are those which have lost most of their beneficial nutrients during processing or refining. Two good examples are white rice and white wheat flour.

15 fantastic healthy swallows from West Africa.

1. Garri or eba from cassava.
2. Pounded yam from yam tubers.
3. Tuwo masara from whole maize.
4. Pounded cocoyam from cocoyam.
5. Yam amala from dried yam powder.
6. Plantain amala from dried plantain powder.
7. White amala or lafun from cassava.
8. Tuwo alkama or wheat  paste from whole wheat powder.
9. Kenkey from maize.
10. Akoume from maize.
11. Ablo from maize.
12. Nni oka from maize and cassava.
13. Mutu from sorghum or millet.
14. Tuwon acha from hungry rice.
15. Tuwon dawa from guinea corn.

Oat paste is a healthy paste that is not native to West Africa but has been and is being consumed more these days.

Most of the ingredients for these swallows are processed traditionally and minimally. They contain no additives, preservatives or sugars. Despite this fact, eat them in moderation and not too late at night. Pair them with lots of vegetable soups.

Some swallows have been left out due to the fact that a lot of their fiber content or some other nutrients have been lost during processing. In traditional processing this is by removing the chaff and in refining, by removing the germ and bran. Below are some of the swallows;

• Eko from maize.
• Tuwo shinkafa from processed rice.
• Starch from cassava.
• Akpu or cassava fufu.
• Semolina from refined wheat.
• Semovita from refined wheat.

Due to the fact that most of our swallow choices have been influenced by what is available in our locality in the past, we felt that our African food choices are limited and boring. Now that our world is becoming smaller, we are having access to food items and ingredients that we had no idea of before. We have a lot of ingredients to use and various preparation methods that can give us variety. We should learn to be creative with what we have and embrace healthy food choices from other African cultures. There is no food like ours.

I neither know it all nor have it all. Share healthy meals or ingredients that you know below or by email to yvonnebosede06@gmail.com. Follow on Twitter @heal2bwell.