Health Benefits of SORGHUM Leaves & WAAKYE recipe/ Ndudu by Fafa

Hello again and welcome to Ndudubai Fafa. So today we're going to be talking about the health benefits of sorghum leaves which is also known as millet leaves. It's also referred to as dura, jawari, jawa or milo and it's part of the grass species. Yes, now if this is your first time you're welcome. Thank you very much for tuning in. This is the innovative creative cooking channel. Yes and yes if you've not clicked the subscribe button yet please do so and the notification button which means you do not miss any future videos. Absolutely and I don't want you to miss it because this channel is for you. Now during my childhood, which I think most Africans can relate to this, you do learn how to cook mostly for your mom and yeah on the rare occasion your dad and usually when they're cooking they add the ingredients and then they just tell you that okay you add this with this add that for it. So when it came to Wache it was almost like yes you need these sorghum leaves and that would give the Wache the distinctive color. So now we're back here now in this day and age and I've always done that but I was wondering like what is it about the sorghum leaves that you know makes the dish not only colorful but it gives it an incredible flavor like a sweet flavor in a way because when you make your Wache without it and you make it with it it is quite distinctive in flavor. So then I started researching and I was blown away and the reason being because I was like we have such an incredible ingredient and why are we not using it more and for different things. So this is where I started to find out more about sorghum leaves and what we can do with it. Sorghum has been classified into five different groups namely Bicolor, Guinea, Carditon, Kefir and Dura. Now the Guinea variety is what's predominant in Western Africa. Now it appears that sorghum actually moved into the eastern part of Africa from Ethiopia around the 200 AD and the Bantu people probably began the expansion of sorghum into southern Cameroon about the first century as well and it moved along to the southern border of the Congo forest belt. So you can definitely see how it reached West Africa in itself. Now present-day sorghums of Central and Southern Africa are closely related to those in Tanzania and more distantly related to the one that we find in West Africa because they're different varieties available in each country as I mentioned before. Sorghum leaves are readily available in Ghana and in most market spaces. They're commonly referred to as Wache leaves because as I mentioned earlier they're predominantly used in making Wache which is the Guinean rice and beans dish. I'll leave a link in the description box below and also at the top and you can watch how to make it or better still just watch to the end. I might just have a little surprise for you. So ideally when you're making your Wache it is best to extract the colour out of the sorghum leaves. So as you can tell as you can see I did wash my sorghum leaves which would have been off camera anyway and then I like tying it into a little bowl with my little string as you saw earlier and I place it in an airtight container and use it as and when a recipe requires it. So I then chopped it which you don't necessarily need to do so but you do if you're following this recipe and then I did simmer it for about five to six minutes. What I then did was transfer the sorghum leaves into my blender and I added more of the juice and I blended it and you can see before the colour was quite light but now you can just see how intense this is. I then freeze this and use it as and when a recipe requires it but I'm not going to be throwing the leaves away. They are also for another recipe. As I always mentioned on this channel there is no waste. So now let's talk about the benefits of sorghum. So the sorghum bicolour is used as a folk remedy for cancer, epilepsy, flux, stomach ache, as a blood enhancing concoction and a tonic as well for anemia because it's high in iron as well and you know it helps boost your vitality as well. In addition to this the deep colour of the sorghum leaf is extracted and used as a dye for baskets, goat skins, textiles, grass mats, madhouses and also as a body paint. What an incredible item to actually include in our daily diet. So yes, why don't we actually have our own sorghum leaf tea? You see where I'm coming from? Now this is what this channel is about. It's about creating more uses for our everyday ingredients that maybe we just overlook. Now with everything happening, with the pandemic happening and you know the importance for us to boost our immune system, to take care of ourselves, to give ourselves that fighting chance to fight any disease in itself. Best believe Africa in itself with its ingredients, we're blessed and most of the ingredients, the nutritional contents are just incredible and we might be missing an opportunity here. So of course when Indu Dubai Fafa pushes the status quo, it's not to you know trivialize our traditional recipes at all, far from it. I absolutely love the traditional recipes. I do do them a lot of the times and I do twist them as well because I can and I will and you should try it. You know it's a creative channel and it's through creating things that recipes and history is made really. I mean then again I keep asking the question. We know that okay Wache is known by the northerners of Ghana but who in itself, which individual created Wache? We need to celebrate our food heroes and also contribute to our food history in whatever it is that we're doing in our own little endeavors and I'm wishing everyone the very best. So of course what I tend to do is I pre-boil my beans which is the black eye beans as you can tell or see here. That saves me time so I soak my beans overnight. I cook in a batch and then boil it and this when it's about to cook I portion it into containers and freeze it. So I take it out on the day that I need to make my quick Wache. So I put the beans in there and then I do add my sorghum juice as you saw me extract earlier and this is a bish bash bosh. I mix everything together, bring this to the boil and then add my rice, some salt to taste, allow it to boil dry and just when it's boiling dry I then reduce the heat to its lowest setting and leave it to cook. Now of course in some cases I do put either a greaseproof paper or foil on top so that just traps the steam in and that cooks perfectly. This is as easy as one, two, three as I say. So my next recipe definitely is going to be another thing that I created with sorghum leaves and there'll be two recipes in one. So if you haven't subscribed yet please do me that great service of doing so and I definitely need your help in promoting these videos by sharing with your family and friends actively sharing with your family and friends. I'd appreciate that. Leave comments below if you have any extra information. I'd appreciate that because it's all about learning. I don't know it all but I do push myself to try and know a bit more each day. So yes and if you do have sorghum leaves in your country what do you call it? What do you use it for? Yes let's get this conversation rolling absolutely. I'd love that. I would also like you to like the video because when you like it YouTube will then recommend it more to people to watch absolutely. So please don't forget to do that for me and to my hundred thousand and over subscribers. I love you guys. You are so incredible and I will be back with my white cheese stew series. There's some incredible recipes as well coming up which are badger sensitive, nutrient packed and absolutely incredible. This is not any other food. Thank you very much for watching. Now please do take very good care of yourselves. Wash your hands. Keep social distancing. Wear your mask. Please. We have to survive each day and be grateful for each day. Now, now, now. I'll see you in my next video and I love you. For you. Kings and Queens. My creatives.