Gari, granular fermented cassava, is a component of many West African meals. Lightly fried, perhaps in palm oil, it decorates Ghanaian waakye; cooked in boiling water, it is transformed into a wad of Nigerian eba. Gari keeps well at ambient temperatures, an important factor when refrigeration may not be reliably available. It's likely that all the gari used in New York kitchens is imported from Africa.
So, too, are these cakes, which list as ingredients just gari, sugar, and peanuts. To call them confections would be stretching the definition — the sugar is at best in equilibrium with the sourness of the gari, and the initial rush of peanut flavor tails off after a couple of crumbly bites — yet they are oddly compelling.
Also shown: the market beside its Jamaican neighbor, 14 Parish Caribbean Kitchen, both of them dominated by a billboard.
KB's African Market
96 Anderson St. (Pangborn Pl.-Linden St.), Hackensack, New Jersey
201-880-6773
