Akplijii is a local dish of the people Greater Accra Region, the Ga-Dangmbe as an ethnic groups in Ghana.

This meal is one that is well appreciated by other communities or ethnic groups within Ghana. The meal is known as “Aprapransa” by Akan speaking people.

Community: People of the Ga community in the Greater Accra Region.

Region: Greater Accra Region

Its name derived from the fact that it is a complete meal with its soup/stew integrated that one only needs to wipe their hand (‘Aprapransa’, “prapra wo nsa”) to eat. “Akpledze” by the Ewe people and originally called ‘Akplijii or Akplidzi’ by the GaDangme’s, is a Ghanaian dish prepared by heat mixing (or blending) roasted corn flour with a sacred soup called ‘Palm Nut Soup’.

As a point of emphasis, ‘Palm Nut Soup’, an important base ingredient in the preparation of ‘Akplijii’, is an ancient sacred soup of the GaDangme people, and is always prepared as a complement to another sacred corn flour meal called ‘Kpokpoi(or Kpekpele)’ during an ‘Ancient Religious Hebraic Harvest Festival’ called ‘Homowo’. Akplijii or Akplidzi or Aprapransa is a food that is served on special occasions.

Akplijii as a complete meal is not a food that is commonly found on the streets of Ghana or prepared as an every day meal in Ghanaian households. It is usually served by tribes on special occasions such as marriage ceremonies, naming ceremonies, birthday celebrations, family cookouts, etc.

The meal aside its delicious taste has some nutritional values. Akplijii contains:a) More protein which builds and repairs muscles and bones in the body.b) The roasted flour used for the food contains fiber which helps to protect the body against colon cancer.c) It contains Vitamins K which boosts bone health and acts as a blood coagulant in the body.d) Contains Vitamin E which prevents the occurrence of wrinkles and fine lines on the skin.e) Contains Vitamins C, an antioxidant that helps protect human cells from damage and wards off diseases like cancer and heart diseases as well.f) Contains Vitamins B12 which helps to keep the body’s blood and nerve cells healthy at times.

INGREDIENTS

The main ingredients are roasted corn flour (Tom brown) and palm-nut or palm oil. Other ingredients include beans, vegetables such as tomatoes, onion, pepper, ginger, or garlic. It features seafood such as smoked fish, dried fish, salted fish or crabs.

METHOD OF PREPARATION

STEP 1: Boiling of palm fruits for about (30 minutes)

 After the fruits softened it will be pounded

 Mixed with warm water whiles removing of the chaff and kernels.The mixed juice obtained is then sieved into a pot.

 The chaff and the kernels were pounded again

 After pounding, it will be mixed again and sieved into the first pot

 The chaff is then separated from the kernel.

 The pot of palm nut soup is put on fire to boil for 30 minutes then vegetables like tomatoes, green pepper and onions are added, after the oil is collected from the surface of the soup.

STEP 2: As the soup boils for approximately 20 minutes the vegetables are collected from the soup, grinned and added to the momone(salted fish) and salt into the soup. The soup boils for another 30 minutes and once it is ready, part of the soup is reserved, the milled roasted corn flour is added to the soup on the fire and stirred continuously to achieve a desired texture whiles adding the reserved soup and continuous stirring.

STEP 3: Crabs are put into hot water to boil. After the crabs are cooked, they are dressed by cutting off the claws. When some of the crabs are not fully grown the shells are removed. The herrings and tuna are also dressed by peeling of skin and removal of the bones and broken into both bigger and smaller pieces.

STEP 4: The beans is put on fire till it is cooked, the reserved oil collected at the initial stage of boiling the soup is put on fire with an additional red oil and grinned green pepper, tomatoes and onions are put into it after 10 minutes. While stirring, the beans is added and allowed to simmer.

STEP 5: The herrings, tuna and crabs are washed and put into the stew and allowed to simmer.

 STEP 6: The Akplijii is served into an earthenware bowl and garnished with the stew and crabs, herrings and tuna.