Eba facts for kids
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Ẹ̀bà (in Nigeria) or Pinon (in Togo, Benin, and in southern of Ghana) is a essential food mainly eaten in the West African sub-region and other African countries. It is specifically called Eba by the Yoruba people of South West of Nigeria and other Yoruba-speaking states of the same country. It is a cooked starchy vegetable food made from dried grated cassava (manioc) flour, it is commonly known as garri. The dish is often described as having a slightly sour, sharp taste.
To make ẹ̀bà, garri flour (which should be further blended if not already 'smooth') is mixed into hot water and stirred thoroughly and vigorously with a wooden spatula until it becomes a firm dough, that can be rolled into a ball. It can be made with different types of garri.
To eat, a small amount of ẹ̀bà is taken with the fingers and rolled into a small ball and dipped into the ọbẹ̀ (a thick soup) such as okra soup, bitter leaf (ewúro) soup or pepper soup (ọbẹ̀ ata or ẹ̀fọ́ depending on dialect) with either okro, ọgbọnọ (Igbo)/ apọn (Yorùbá), or ewédú, meat or fish, stewed vegetables or other sauces such as gbẹ̀gìrì, Amiedi (banga soup) or egusi soup (melon).
Eba has a gross energy content of 381.5 kcal which is higher than other cassava products like fufu and lafun with 180 kcal and 357.7 respectively. However, it has a crude protein content of 0.9g/100g, slightly lower than fufu and lafun with 1.0g/100g and 1.1g/100g respectively.
Preparation
In preparing èbà, you need to have garri flour ready. Get an amount of water on a cooker, allow the water heat well enough. Some prefer to stir the garri on cooker while some prefer to prepare in a separate bowl. Once the water heats, get a bowl, pour the water and then gradually pour the garri till it gets to your satisfaction in terms of thickness. Finally, you have your èbà to be served hot.
Depending on the type of garri flour used, Ẹ̀bà can vary in colour, from deep yellow to off white. A more vivid shade of yellow can be obtained by mixing palm oil with the garri during preparation. Garri is very rich in starch and carbohydrate. It is quite heavy as a meal and a staple food of West Africans especially Nigeria. It is often eaten with richly made soups and stews, with beef, stockfish or mutton depending on personal taste.
Gari (Eba Food) calories
100g of Roasted gari has 94.3kcal of energy. Most of this energy is from carbohydrate (23.28g). Protein content is very low at 0.18g and the fat content is so low that you can neglect it. Micronutrient content is also very low in gari.
If you cook the gari into a stiff porridge called eba food, you will receive 98.74kcals from 100g (about 3.5 tablespoons for freshly prepared eba). However, remember that the average commonly consumed portion size of eba is about 395g.
For the Yellow Gari (Eba) that has palm oil added during the processing, a 100g will give you 117kcals. However, yellow Gari contains more fiber and sugar content compared to the white gari and the beta carotene (vitamin A) is higher too.
See also
In Spanish: Èbà para niños
