Ghana cooking - spicy sauce that accompanies most meals

Ghanaian recipes are routinely spicy but there are also recipes for spicy sauces. These sauces are accompaniment to various meals like kenkey [corn meal ], banku [cassava corn meal ] and yam [tuber]. The spiciness of these recipes arise out of the seasoning processes and from the ingredients. So a recipe of kenkey has a spicy sauce for the fish that accompanies it and a tomato soup is inherently spicy due to condiments.

WHAT THEY ARE

In the culinary arts, a spice is any fruit, root, bark, seed, or other plant material that is primarily used to flavor or color food. Different from spices, herbs are the leaves, blossoms, or stems of plants that are used as flavorings or garnishes. Spices are occasionally used in religious rites, cosmetics, medicine, and perfume manufacturing. They are usually separated into categories for herbs, spices, and spice seeds. For example, vanilla is commonly used as a raw ingredient in scent formulation.

USAGE

Before using spices whole, they can be dried, ground, ground into a tincture, chopped, crushed, or shredded. This kind of processing can happen in the kitchen while preparing food, after it’s been served, or even before a spice is put up for sale. Some spices, like turmeric, are best purchased pulverized; you rarely find them whole or in their fresh state. You can use powdered or whole tiny seeds, such as fennel or mustard.

RELATIONSHIP TO SAUCES

A sauce is a dish that can be used to make other meals or served over other foods. It might be creamy, semi-solid, or liquid. Most sauces enhance food’s flavor, texture, and appearance; they are rarely eaten on their own. Sauces work well with both salty and sweet foods. They can be cooked and served warm like bechamel, prepared and served cold like mayonnaise, prepared and served lukewarm like pesto, or cooked and served cold like apple sauce. While many sauces, such as Worcestershire sauce, HP Sauce, soy sauce, and ketchup, are now sold prepackaged and packaged, they may still be produced freshly by the chef, especially in restaurants. Salad dressings are sauces used on salads. Pan sauces are sauces prepared by deglazing a pan.