How to Eat Ga Kenkey: Ghana's Fermented Corn Dough, Shito & Fish (UAE)

By the Mekazon Kitchen · 21 September 2026

If you grew up in Accra, the smell of Ga kenkey being unwrapped from its corn husk is the smell of a Sunday afternoon: sour, warm, waiting for a spoon of dark shito and a piece of crisp fried fish. Finding real kenkey in Dubai used to mean a suitcase from home. Not any more. Here is how to warm it, what to put beside it, a quick home shito, and where to buy kenkey in the UAE.

What is Ga kenkey?

Kenkey is a Ghanaian staple made from white corn that is soaked, milled and left to ferment for several days before it is shaped into balls, wrapped and steamed for hours. That long ferment is where the tangy, sourdough-like taste comes from. The Ga people of southern Ghana call it kɔmi; the Akan call it dokono. There is a good background on Wikipedia's kenkey page.

Two styles are famous. Ga kenkey is wrapped in dried corn husks and has the stronger, sharper ferment; it is the one stacked at street stalls around Accra. Fante kenkey is wrapped in plantain leaves, softer and milder, from the coast. The wraps we stock at Mekazon are the Ga style, two husk-wrapped balls per pack.

How to warm and serve kenkey

Kenkey arrives fully cooked, so it only needs heat. Leave the husk on, stand the balls in a pot with a few centimetres of water and steam, lid on, for fifteen to twenty minutes until the centre is hot and soft. In a hurry, unwrap, sprinkle with water, cover and microwave in short bursts. Never boil it unwrapped; it turns to porridge.

To serve, peel the husk back like a banana and turn the ball onto the plate. Eat it with your fingers: pinch off a piece, dip it into the shito or pepper, and take it with a flake of fish.

The classic plate: kenkey, shito, fried fish and pepper

Ask any Ghanaian in Dubai and the answer is the same. Kenkey wants three things beside it: a spoon of shito, a plate of fried fish, and a fresh ground pepper of tomato, onion and chilli.

The fish. Tilapia, red snapper or mackerel, cleaned and scored, salted and fried in hot oil until the skin is crisp. Fry in a neutral oil and save the red palm oil for stews, where its colour and aroma belong.

The pepper. Grind two ripe tomatoes, half an onion and as many fresh chillies as you can handle with a pinch of salt; a blender pulsed for three seconds does the job. Slice the rest of the onion and tomato over the fish.

A quick home shito

Shito is Ghana's black pepper sauce, a slow fry of dried fish, crayfish, ginger, garlic, onion, tomato and chilli in oil. The name simply means "pepper" in the Ga language (see Wikipedia's shito page). A jar keeps for weeks and goes with everything from kenkey to rice.

For a small batch: blend two onions, a thumb of fresh ginger and six cloves of garlic to a paste. Fry it gently in a cup of oil until it loses its raw smell, then stir in three tablespoons of Gino tomato paste and fry until it darkens. Add a packet of ground dried crayfish, a handful of pounded dried fish, one to two tablespoons of ground cayenne pepper, a teaspoon each of ground ginger and black pepper, and salt. Cook on the lowest heat, stirring often, for forty-five minutes to an hour, until the sauce is nearly black and the oil rises. No Ghanaian dried fish in Dubai? Kenyan omena, rinsed and pounded, gives the same smoky depth. Cool completely before jarring.

Beyond the classic plate

Kenkey is a swallow, so anything you would eat with banku works here too: tomato stew with fried fish, okra stew, or a pepper soup. Leftovers are never wasted. Mash a cold ball with evaporated milk, sugar and a little nutmeg, top with crushed ice, and you have ice kenkey, the sweet chilled drink Accra sells in plastic bags, exactly what a forty-degree afternoon calls for.

If your household has both Ghanaian and Nigerian tastes, keep a second swallow on the shelf. Our newest arrival, Africa Queen Plantain Fufu, stirs up in minutes, and yellow garri or white garri makes eba in under five (see our eba guide). The shito above is just as good with egusi soup or a bowl of honey beans and fried plantain.

Where to buy kenkey in Dubai and the UAE

Mekazon stocks Ghana Ga Kenkey (two wraps per pack), husk-wrapped and ready to steam, delivered across the UAE: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and the northern emirates. Everything else on the plate is in the Ghana collection: the spices and seasonings for your shito, the flours and grains for a second swallow, and the palm oil for the stew. Our customers in Deira and International City tell us the kenkey packs are the first thing they reorder.

Frequently asked questions

How long does kenkey keep?
Unopened, keep the pack in the fridge and use it by the date on the label. Once opened, wrap leftovers tightly and refrigerate for up to three days, or freeze whole balls in their husks for up to two months and steam from frozen, adding ten minutes.

Is kenkey the same as banku?
No. Both are fermented corn swallows from Ghana, but banku is a mix of corn and cassava dough stirred on the stove and served soft, while kenkey is corn only, wrapped and steamed for hours, so it is firmer and more sour.

What is the difference between Ga kenkey and Fante kenkey?
Ga kenkey is wrapped in corn husks with a stronger ferment; Fante kenkey is wrapped in plantain leaves, softer and milder. The packs at Mekazon are Ga kenkey.

Ready for a proper Accra plate this weekend? Shop West African groceries at Mekazon, delivered to your door anywhere in the UAE.