Global food category
258 traditional foods, ingredients, and local specialties connected by one appetite.
Somali Porridge
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258 foods match this view. Narrow them by country, type, rarity, or name.
Somalia
Mushaari
A Somali porridge eaten across the country; made with butter, nuts, and sugar; also known as boorash; a comforting breakfast dish; simple, filling, and nutritious; a staple for children and adults alike; the porridge that starts Somali mornings; found at family tables and breakfast stalls.
South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Kapurung
Bugis sago porridge served with fish soup and vegetables, similar to papeda, South Sulawesi staple.
West Kalimantan, Indonesia
Bubur Pedas
Pontianak herbal porridge, not actually spicy but rich with herbs and warming spices.
Sri Lanka
පිට්ටු
Rice flour and scraped coconut steamed in a bamboo or metal cylinder into a crumbly log, broken up and eaten with coconut milk and curry.
Sudan
Asida
Sorghum or wheat flour stirred into boiling water into a smooth white mound, served with a stew poured into a hollow pressed in the top.
Tajikistan
Ҳалим
Wheat grains and lamb cooked and beaten together for hours until the mixture pulls into strands, served with butter and cinnamon.
Burkina Faso
A Sahelian millet preparation formed into thick dough balls and served with fermented milk or sauce.
Turks and Caicos Islands
Grits
Coarsely ground dried maize (Guinea Corn) cooked into a porridge; made from drought-resistant corn historically grown on the islands; a common traditional breakfast in the Turks and Caicos Islands; a staple of TCI cuisine.
Benin
Télibô wô
A black paste made from dried yam flour; light and easily digestible; a central and northern Benin specialty; served with various sauces.
China
潮州糜
Loose rice congee eaten as the plain centre of a spread of small salty dishes: braised pork, salted egg, preserved vegetable, fried fish, steamed minced pork.
Ticino, Switzerland
Polenta ticinese
Coarse maize meal stirred for an hour in a copper pot over a wood fire until it pulls from the sides, served with braised meat or cheese.
Botswana
Sour sorghum porridge — sorghum or maize fermented for several days before cooking, giving a tangy flavour; eaten with milk and sugar as breakfast or with meat as a main; the fermented version of bogobe.
Ghana
Maize roasted then milled with groundnut and soya, cooked into a nutty brown breakfast porridge.
Botswana
Kalanga tribe dish — bogobe made with sour milk and lerotse cooking melon; a regional variation of sorghum porridge specific to the Bakalanga people of northeastern Botswana.
Benin
Steamed cowpea paste from northern Benin, served as a firm, savory cake with pepper sauce.
Ghana
Northern staple of millet or maize flour cooked stiff and served with an okra and ayoyo leaf soup.
Niger
A wheat-flour swallow from Niger, stirred into a soft, pale dough and served with light soups; eaten especially where wheat is available and favoured for its mild, slightly elastic texture.
Niger
A smooth, dense Nigerien swallow made from sorghum or guinea-corn flour, cooked and stirred until it forms a firm, pale ball; the most common tuwo in the drier northern regions, eaten with miyan kuka or miyan geda.
Kano, Niger
Maize flour cooked into a stiff white mound, the northern everyday swallow eaten with okra or baobab-leaf soup.
Niger
Nigerien rice-flour swallow cooked into a smooth mound and served with Hausa soups.
Nigeria
Northern Nigerian wheat-flour swallow served with a richly seasoned soup.
Nigeria
Northern Nigerian sorghum-flour swallow served with soup.
Mali
The staple food of Mali — a stiff porridge or swallow made from millet, sorghum, or rice flour; cooked by stirring flour into boiling water until thick and smooth; eaten with the right hand and dipped into various sauces (gumbo, baobab leaf, peanut, tomato); the foundation of every Malian meal; Bambara and Dogon people eat it morning, noon, and night.
Burundi
Cassava flour cooked into a stiff dough with water, the Rwandan version of ugali made primarily from cassava rather than maize; eaten with beans, isombe, or meat stews; the carbohydrate base of the Rwandan meal.
South Africa
A Xhosa dish of crumbly maize-meal porridge (pap) served cold with amasi (soured milk), a traditional and refreshing staple. A national and rural classic, tangy and comforting, a daily and home dish
India
उपमा
A savory semolina porridge cooked with mustard seeds, curry leaves, vegetables, and nuts. It is a quick South Indian breakfast.
Nigeria
A yellow cassava starch swallow of Urhobo and Isoko cuisine, commonly paired with banga soup.
Niue
A Niuean porridge of arrowroot (pia) and scraped coconut, looser than nanē pia and often served as a sustaining breakfast.
Madagascar
Rice boiled with far more water than usual into a plain soupy porridge, eaten for breakfast with dried meat or fish.
Jaffna, India
வெண் பொங்கல்
A savory Tamil rice and moong dal dish flavored with black pepper, cumin, and ghee. It is a comforting breakfast with coconut chutney.
South Sudan
Thick millet porridge mixed with milk, served sweet or savory; a staple of South Sudanese breakfast; often eaten during communal gatherings; the porridge that means home for many South Sudanese; simple, filling, and nourishing.
Cameroon
Cassava soaked for days until it ferments, then pressed and cooked into a soft white mound eaten with eru.
Cape Verde
Rustic porridge of coarsely ground cornmeal simmered with onion, garlic, and olive oil, often enriched with salted pork or fish.
Malawi
Maize flour stirred into boiling water until stiff enough to hold a shape, torn off in pieces by hand and used to scoop stew.
Côte d'Ivoire
Foutou Igname
Pounded yam whipped into a smooth, elastic Ivorian staple served with palm-nut, peanut or okra sauce.
Zambia
Nshima
The cornerstone of Zambian cuisine; thick porridge made from ground maize flour (mealie meal); stirred into boiling salted water and cooked until smooth and firm; firm enough to hold its shape when molded; eaten by hand, preferably the right hand; served with relishes, stews, fish, vegetables, and beans; the dietary essential that powers the nation; eaten at lunch and dinner.