Burkina Faso

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Potash

Potasse

Alkaline salt extracted from plant ash; used to tenderize tough cuts, reduce gas in beans, and as a key ingredient in sauces and bean dishes; the traditional Burkinabè seasoning.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Poulet Bicyclette

Lean free-range village chicken — named for how much it runs — braised or grilled whole and served with onion and chilli moyo.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Poulet Télévisé

Burkinabè rotisserie chicken cooked over a roadside fire, traditionally using firm free-range poulet bicyclette.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Ragout d'Igname

Ragoût d'igname

A yam stew with beef, garlic, ginger, onions, carrots, peppers, and tomatoes in a tomato-onion base thickened with dried prawns; a hearty Burkinabè comfort dish.

🇹🇬Togo

Riz Gras

Rice cooked in a tomato, onion and pepper base with meat or fish until it takes the colour and the fat of the sauce.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Riz Soumbala

Burkinabè rice cooked with tomato, onion and fermented néré seed soumbala for a deep, savoury one-pot flavour.

🇸🇳Senegal

Salatu Niebe

Salatu ñebbe

Black-eyed peas dressed cold with tomato, onion, oil and vinegar into a sharp salad.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Sauce Bengedo

A cowpea-leaf sauce from Burkina Faso, cooked down with aromatics and eaten with tô.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Sauce Boulvaka

A jute leaf (Corchorus tridens) sauce with tomatoes, onions, and soumbala; the jute leaves give it a mucilaginous texture; a traditional Burkinabè leaf sauce.

🇲🇱Mali

Sauce d'Arachide

A Malian peanut sauce served over tô or rice; listed in Wikipedia's Malian cuisine; meat simmered in a rich peanut sauce with tomatoes, onions, and spices; similar to tigadeguena but may vary in preparation; a foundational sauce of Malian cuisine; the peanut is the defining ingredient; a hearty, nutty, and satisfying dish.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Sauce Gombo

Fresh okra grated to a slippery green sauce with smoked fish, pepper and sometimes soumbara, eaten by drawing threads of it up with a ball of foutou.

🇲🇱Mali

Sauce Gombo

A sticky, viscous okra sauce served over tô or rice; the okra is pounded to release its mucilage, creating the characteristic slippery texture; a beloved Malian sauce also called 'sauce noire' (black sauce); one of the most common sauces in Malian cuisine; eaten with meat or fish; the texture is the tell of a good version.

🇹🇩Chad

Sauce Gombo

Chadian okra sauce; fresh or dried okra finely chopped and cooked with beef, onions, garlic, and kanwa (natron); the okra releases its mucilage to create a viscous, clinging sauce; prized for its texture; served with boule or kissar; one of the ten most essential Chadian sauces.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Sauce Kirikiri

A Burkinabè leaf sauce prepared from cassia tora greens with onion, seasoning and sometimes meat or fish.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Sauce Oseille

A sorrel or hibiscus leaf sauce with meat, dried fish, soumbala, and peanut powder; the leaves give it a tangy, slightly sour flavour; a traditional Burkinabè sauce served with tô.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Sauce Vouaga

A seasonal Burkinabè sauce made from kapok calyx and aromatics, served with tô.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Souma

Bambara groundnuts (voandzou/pois de terre) boiled for hours with millet flour (piguiri), potash, and baking soda; a protein-rich legume dish sold at Ouagadougou markets.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Soumbala

Fermented locust bean (néré/Parkia biglobosa) seeds; pungent with a blue cheese-like flavour; the essential seasoning of Burkinabè cuisine; produced heavily in Houet province.

🇧🇫Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Soy Brochettes

Brochettes de soja

Soybean paste skewers, grilled over charcoal; an affordable protein alternative to meat brochettes; a specialty of the Pissy neighborhood in Ouagadougou.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Tchapalo

Dolo

Sorghum or millet beer brewed in the north, cloudy pink-brown and served warm from calabashes in courtyard bars.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Tchobal

A Sahelian millet preparation formed into thick dough balls and served with fermented milk or sauce.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Thiakry

Caakiri

Steamed millet couscous stirred into sweetened curdled milk with vanilla and nutmeg, served cold.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Tounka

A Fulani millet-bran drink from Burkina Faso, lightly fermented and served cool.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Toédo

Baobab fruit pulp drink made with water and sugar; high in vitamin C; the refreshing juice of Burkina Faso; called bouye in Senegal.

🇲🇱Mali

Tô

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.

🇧🇫Sahel (North / Fulani), Burkina Faso

Zamnin

Boiled fruits of Acacia macrostachya, washed extensively and cooked with potash; a famine-origin dish from Yatenga now served at ceremonies like weddings and baptisms.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Zoom-Koom

A fermented millet flour drink with tamarind, ginger, and sugar; the name means 'flour water' in Mooré; the traditional welcome and hospitality drink of the Mossi and Dagara peoples.