Ablo

soft steamed cakes of fermented maize and rice, faintly sweet and sour at once, torn and eaten with fried fish or a peppery sauce

Origin: Lomé, Aného & southern Togo

From the journey of Corn.

Ablo is the gentlest thing in the Togolese and Beninese repertoire: a pale, spongy, faintly sweet steamed cake made from fermented maize and rice flour, torn apart with the fingers and eaten with fried fish, grilled chicken, or a fierce tomato and chilli sauce. Set against the dense sour swallows of the same coast, akumè and akassa, it is almost a cake, and it is sold from covered basins by women who make nothing else. The two flours do different jobs, which is why both are there. Maize supplies the flavour and the colour; rice flour gives the light, open, faintly springy crumb that a pure maize batter cannot produce. A little sugar goes in, which is unusual on this coast and is the reason ablo reads as a snack rather than a staple. It belongs to the Ewe and Mina peoples of the coastal strip running from Aného through Lomé into Benin, and both countries make it identically. The border there was drawn by Germany and France between 1885 and 1919 and it runs through the middle of a single language and a single kitchen. The steaming is done in a wide covered pot over water, traditionally with the batter poured into leaf-lined moulds, and the cakes are turned out white, domed, and slightly glossy.

Ingredients

  • 300 g fine white maize flour
  • 200 g rice flour
  • 7 g fast-action dried yeast
  • 60 g sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 600 ml warm water, approximately
  • 1 onion, grated (optional, traditional in Aného)
  • 8 banana leaves or squares of greaseproof paper, for lining

Method

  1. Whisk the maize flour, rice flour, yeast, and sugar together in a large bowl.
  2. Add the warm water gradually, whisking, until you have a smooth batter roughly the consistency of thick double cream. It should ribbon slowly from the whisk.
  3. Cover and leave in a warm place to ferment. Six hours is a minimum and overnight is better. The batter will rise, bubble across the surface, and smell distinctly sour beneath the sweetness.
  4. Stir in the salt and the grated onion, if using, and let it stand for twenty minutes. Do not beat the air out.
  5. Line small bowls, ramekins, or a steamer tray with softened banana leaves or greaseproof paper. Fill each about two-thirds full, as the cakes rise substantially.
  6. Set up a wide pot with a rack and simmering water beneath, or a steamer. Bring to a rolling steam.
  7. Steam covered for twenty to twenty-five minutes, without lifting the lid in the first fifteen. A skewer pushed into the centre should come out clean and the surface should be dry and springy.
  8. Turn out and cool a few minutes before serving. Eat warm, torn by hand, with fried fish and a tomato and chilli sauce.

Notes

Getting the batter thickness right decides everything: too thick and the cakes are dense, too thin and they will not hold a dome. Aim for a slow ribbon. Yeast is the practical route and is what most cooks now use; a naturally fermented maize batter left for two days gives a sourer and more traditional result. Lifting the lid early collapses them. Ablo is at its best within a few hours and is steamed again rather than microwaved.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.