West Africa is a mix of traditional African cooking techniques and methods with colonial European influences and Muslim influences. Most of the cuisine is traditional and stews made with rice are common. In fact, Jollof Rice, in one form or another, is found throughout West Africa. The cuisine is noted for the use of chiles (usually very hot chiles) in one-pot stews (locally called “soups”) that are accompanied with rice or with a sticky mucilaginous mass called Fufu that is traditionally made with fermented cassava flour. . , but which can also be made with plantain, yam puree, cornmeal and rice flour.
Another notable feature of West Africa is the use of peanuts (in the form of peanut butter) and/or okra as thickeners for local stews. These stews are often based on vegetables and meat, if added they tend to be used more as a flavoring than the main ingredient. A combination of fish, dried and smoked fish, and meat is also often used.
The first recipe here is for a type of Jollof rice common in Benin, but versions of this dish are found throughout West Africa:
Beninese jollof rice
Ingredients:
200 g of dried caritas beans
2 medium eggplants (aubergines)
1.5 tablespoons of oil
3 tablespoons ginger, freshly grated
2 hot chili peppers, roasted and finely chopped
10 tomatoes, chopped
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons West African curry powder
hot sauce, to taste
3l of water
1 teaspoon salt
2 large onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1.5 tablespoons tomato puree
500g carrots, cleaned and sliced
500g green beans, chopped
320g of rice
Method:
Soak the black-eyed beans overnight in plenty of water. Drain the next day, place in a saucepan and cover with 2l of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Drain (reserve the water for cooking). Cut the aubergine into slices about 1.5 cm thick and place them in a colander. Salt generously and let drain for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the drained eggplant, 1 teaspoon chopped onion, 1 tablespoon ginger, 1 chilli, 1 garlic clove, and bell pepper. Fry, stirring all the time, until the eggplant is browned (about 5 minutes), then remove the eggplant from the mixture and set aside.
At this point add the remaining onion, ginger, chili, garlic, cooking water from the reserved beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, cayenne pepper, and chili powder. Stir everything to combine and then add hot sauce, to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes before adding black-eyed beans, carrots, and rice.
Let simmer for 5 more minutes, then add the green beans and cooked eggplant. Simmer for another 15 minutes, uncovered. Cover the pot and simmer for another 20 minutes then serve.
The following recipe is for a classic fufu-style staple made with pounded yam, which is common in Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Benin (to name just a few). This is a starchy staple that is often accompanied by a peanut-based stew.
iyan
Ingredients:
600g Oluolu Pound’ol Iyan (dried yam powder)
1 liter of boiled water
Method:
Add the 900ml of water to a pot, bring to a boil and sprinkle the yam powder on top. Stir the powder to make a dough. Continue stirring to incorporate the yam flour and cook, uncovered, until you have a dough of the desired texture (this should be like a thin bread dough). Once you’ve reached this stage, drizzle about 100ml of water over the dough, cover the pot, reduce the heat as low as possible and simmer for a few minutes.
Knead the dough with a thick wooden spatula until the desired smoothness is achieved and serve with a traditional stew. I know yam powder is not common outside of Africa, but you can substitute any carbohydrate-based flour, such as cornmeal, millet flour, or cassava flour. Everything will work in this recipe.
To serve with your Iyan you need a stew. Here is a basic vegetable-based stew to accompany your Iyam of Fufu:
Vegetables with Green Pepper
Ingredients:
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
4 hot chili peppers, crushed into a paste
2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
900g vegetables (eg spinach, cassava leaves, kale, collard greens, turnip greens, etc.) stemmed and parboiled
salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
120ml peanut butter
Method:
For the classic Liberian version of this dish, you pound a handful of onion, garlic, chiles, and tomatoes in a mortar and pestle to form a paste (you can omit the chiles if you like).
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the remaining chopped onion for a few minutes before adding the tomato and chili paste. Fry for a few minutes and then add the vegetables and 60 ml of water. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Add the peanut butter and stir, season, then reduce the heat as much as possible. Continue cooking and stirring until sauce is smooth and serve with Iyan or FuFu.
Although you may get little more than a taste of what the foods of a region as large as West Africa entail, I hope this article has whetted your appetite and prepared you to learn more about West African foods.