African Garri: 7 Ways to Eat It, and How to Make Eba Without Lumps

There is a bag of garri in almost every West African home, and it has got more people through more difficult weeks than any other food on the continent.

It keeps for months without a fridge. It needs no cooking if you cannot face cooking. And it costs almost nothing.

What garri actually is

Cassava, grated, fermented for a few days, pressed to remove the liquid, then dry-fried until it becomes the light crunchy granules you know.

That fermentation is why garri has its faint sourness, and it is also what makes cassava safe to eat.

Yellow or white

Yellow garri is fried with palm oil worked in, which makes it richer, slightly sweeter and softer.

White garri is plainer and more sour. Most people who drink garri cold prefer white, because the sourness comes through.

Almost everyone grew up on one and quietly believes the other is a mistake.

Seven ways it gets eaten

1. Drinking garri

Cold water, sugar, groundnuts. No cooking at all. Fifteen minutes after school, or at two in the morning. Add milk or coconut if you have it.

2. Eba

Turned into hot water until smooth and firm, served with soup. The most common cooked form.

3. Garri and coconut

Dry garri chewed with fresh coconut. A snack, not a meal.

4. Garri and groundnut

The same idea with roasted groundnuts. Dry, salty, addictive.

5. Garri with beans

Sprinkled over beans porridge for texture. Underrated.

6. Ijebu garri

The sourest, finest variety, drunk cold and never made into eba by anyone from Ijebu.

7. Garri with palm oil and pepper

Soaked briefly, then mixed with red palm oil, salt and pepper.

How to make eba without lumps

This is where people go wrong, and there is one cause.

1. Boil the water, then take it off the heat. Not simmering. Fully boiled, then off.
2. Sprinkle the garri in gradually. Never tip it in. This is the whole ball game.
3. Let it stand for a minute before you touch it, so it absorbs.
4. Turn firmly with a wooden spoon until smooth. It will resist. That is correct.
5. Too stiff, add hot water. Too loose, sprinkle in more garri. Both are fixable.

Lumps are not fixable. Go slowly at step two.

What to eat it with

Egusi, ogbono, okra, bitterleaf, afang. Eba goes with everything, which is a large part of why it is the default.

Storing it

Airtight, room temperature, off the floor. Moisture is the only enemy, and damp garri makes disappointing eba.

It keeps for months, so the 20lb bag genuinely saves money if you eat it regularly. We ship both colours in sizes from 2lb to 20lb anywhere in the United States.