Achomo

Achomo is a deep fried snack that is very popular in West Africa. It tastes like fried cookie and donuts at the same time; depending on how you cut it. It’s a popular snack in Ghana, Nigeria and parts of West Africa. In Nigeria it’s called Chinchin. 

I craved achomo for a long time but I felt reluctant to do it. I overcame my laziness and eventually did it and I can proudly say, I will not be doing it often. 

The first time I tried to do it, I called my mum to clarify the kind of flour to use because it felt very strange using cake flour for this type of recipe. But she said I was using the right flour, so I pressed on. 

The one thing most of the blogs don’t tell you is that you need to refrigerate it for about an hour before you roll and cut. It was a huge struggle for me to get the dough to not stick to everything. I kept on adding flour but then the more I added, the more I was watering down the taste. I decided to fry it and I was right! It tasted like flour. I was disappointed. 

I was determined to get it right, so I used the same recipe but decided to refrigerate it before frying. After an hour, I rolled and cut them fried. It tasted like how I wanted it to taste which was amazing.

NB: Wrap the dough into sections before placing it in the fridge so all don’t thaw whiles you’re working on the others.

After my victory, I decided to see what else I can add to the recipe to elevate it. That’s when I stumbled on a recipe that looked almost like achomo, Binging with Babish’s Sour Cream donuts. It was almost the same recipe but with sour cream and instead of whole eggs, he used egg yolks.

I tried it and decided to cut it with a biscuit cutter to create the original donuts shape and also cut it into squares like the traditional achomo. They tasted cakey and not as cookie-like as the original.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cake flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp nutmeg
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 egg
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Additional flour for work surface

Directions

• In a large mixing bowl , combine flour, sugar, salt and nutmeg.
• Cut the butter into pieces and add it to the flour mixture.
• Mix till it reaches a breadcrumbs consistency.
• Make a well and add the egg.
• Mix until a dough is formed.
• Cut it into sections and refrigerate for about an hour.
• Pour the vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat.
• On a clean surface, dust lightly with flour and roll out the dough till it’s about an inch thick.
• Cut the dough into preferred shapes and separate for frying.
• Heat oil to 350F or place a wooden spoon in the oil, if it bubbles then it’s ready.
• Fry for 5-8 minutes for each batch; do not overcrowd the pan.
• Strain the oil and transfer to a paper towel to remove excess oil.

This recipe is for the original Achomo. There is a wide variety of ingredients to add to personalise the taste.

For the Sour Cream Donuts recipe: https://basicswithbabish.co/basicsepisodes/donuts