Ghana: Street Food Bite and Booze of the 2014 World Cup

A trip across the pond to Ghana (playing Germany at 2pm CDT) furthers our journey along the street food guide to the FIFA World Cup 2014! To find great street food in Ghana, you go where there's hustle and bustle; this can be markets, busy intersections or bus stations. Here we'll take a look at one of my favorites, fried plantains, and a ginger cocktail inspired by the locals that make their own gin and ginger wine.

Photo Credit: moodifoodi.com

Plantains for those of you who aren't familiar are like bananas if the inside of a banana was more like a potato. There are a lot of ways to cook plantains, but the most common method is to fry them. Whether you slice them thin like chips, in cubes like home potatoes, or fry them, mash them, and fry them again, you can't go wrong! They're sweeter than a potato, but not as sweet as a sweet potato. I think they're delicious and they're relatively easy to find and prepare.

Photo Credit: bsinthekitchen.com

I have chosen the Le Coloniale to represent Ghana because it's well known that they like to make their own gin, ginger wine, or ginger infused drinks. This is fine by me since I like to eat and ginger is a natural digestif. The herbiness of the gin is complimented well by the ginger liqueur (if you can't find a ginger liqueur, you can make an easy simple syrup on the stove and chop up some fresh ginger to simmer with it). What I love most about this cocktail is the added cucumber. Cucumber can brighten up any cocktail and it's refreshing. If you really want to boost the flavor, try using the Donner-Peltier Oryza Gin--it's made with rice from Crowley, LA and can really enhance your cocktail. I always pick mine up from Calandro's Supermarket.