LET'S MAKE PAP
HOW TO MAKE AKAMU (PAP)
Ingredients
Corn, millet and Guinea corn
Directions
1. Wash the dry corn etc thoroughly and soak in a generous quantity of cold water for 3 to 4 days. Do not refrigerate it because it is important that some kind of fermentation takes place.
2. Wash the corn and change the water daily.
3. On the 3rd or 4th day, wash and blend till smooth . I took mine to the market
4. Drape the chiffon cloth over a big bowl and tie it up. The bowl should be big enough to accommodate the akamu and the water you'll use to rinse it
5. Sieve the blend, rinsing as necessary till you are left with only the chaff. It is advisable to rinse small quantities of the corn blend at a time so that you will not be overwhelmed.
6. When you've rinsed all the corn blend, blend the chaff and rinse again if you think you can get more akamu from it. This may be the case if you used a kitchen blender. This won't be necessary if you used the heavy duty grinders in Nigerian markets.
7. When done, take off the chiffon cloth and set the mixture of water and akamu aside to settle for at least 3 hours, I left mine overnight
8. After about 3 hours or when you notice that the water is clear, decant the clear water and pour the rest of the mixture into the muslin bag.
9. Tie the bag and keep it in such a way as to let the water drain from the ogi.
10. When you notice that the water has drained off, tie the bag tighter and leave to continue draining the water. Repeat the process as the water drains till no more water drains off.
11. Tie the bag for the last time and place some weights on it to squeeze out the last trace of water.
12. Leave it like this overnight so that the akamu will have the classic sour taste. Again, do not refrigerate it.
13. The next day, bring out the akamu from the bag, cut it up into single-use chunks, place in containers (bowls or plastic bags) and put in your freezer till you are ready to use it