Chad

🇸🇩Sudan

Kawal

Leaves of the senna plant pounded and buried in a clay pot to ferment for weeks, then dried and crumbled into stews as a meat substitute.

🇸🇩Sudan

Kawari

Cattle or sheep trotters simmered for hours with onion and spice until the broth turns gelatinous and the tendons go soft.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Kilishi

Beef sliced paper-thin, sun-dried, coated in a groundnut and spice paste, dried again and briefly roasted — northern jerky that keeps for months.

🇸🇸South Sudan

Kisra

Sorghum batter fermented for days and spread paper-thin on a hot iron plate, peeled off in sheets and stacked to be torn and dipped.

🇹🇩Chad

Kissar

Chadian fermented flatbread or crepe; made from semolina or flour of rice, maize, or sorghum; mixed with other ingredients and fermented for at least six hours; more consumed in cities than in the countryside; accompanied by sauces like moulkhiya, tomato, gombo, and charmout; a staple of Chadian culinary art.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Koki beans

Koki

Black-eyed peas soaked, skinned and ground to a paste, beaten with red palm oil until light, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed.

🇹🇩Chad

Koumranga

Chadian sauce made from savonnier (soapberry) leaves; also called moula hidjilidj; a traditional leaf-based sauce; cooked with meat or fish and peanut paste; a regional specialty; one of the many leaf sauces of Chad; served with boule or kissar.

🇬🇭Ghana

Kuli Kuli

Groundnut paste with the oil pressed out, spiced and deep-fried into hard rings or sticks, eaten alone or crumbled over other food.

🇹🇩Chad

Lamb and Sweet Potato Stew

Bangaou

Chadian stew from the Arab north; made with lamb, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes; a hearty, warming dish; reflects the nomadic traditions of northern Chad where meat is central; served with boule or esh; a northern specialty that showcases the region's livestock.

🇱🇾Libya

Libyan Asida

Asida

Plain wheat flour beaten into boiling water into a smooth mound and served with a well of date syrup, honey and melted butter.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Maafe

Sauce d'arachide

Beef, lamb or chicken stewed in a groundnut paste and tomato sauce with cassava, carrot and sweet potato, served over rice.

🇰🇪Kenya

Mandazi

Mahamri

A Kenyan sweet fried dough, golden and puffy, served with chai, a daily and street classic

🇹🇩Chad

Meatball Sauce

Kanda

Chadian meatball sauce; ground meat shaped into balls and simmered in a tomato-onion sauce; one of the ten most essential Chadian sauces; hearty and family-friendly; served with boule or kissar; a simple, satisfying dish that stretches meat into a full meal.

🇹🇩Chad

Millet Ball

Boule

The most popular staple food of Chad; a thick, stiff porridge of millet or sorghum flour cooked with water until it forms a dense, moldable dough; served as a large communal ball from which diners tear off pieces and dip into sauces; known by many names across ethnic groups: gou (Zaghawa), tii (Daza), biri (Kanembou), mour (Sara), esh (Chadian Arabic).

🇹🇩Chad

Millet Balls

Aiyash

Deep-fried millet flour balls eaten by Chadian Arabs; simple in flavor, which is why they are dipped in sauces; popular sauces include harissa lime sauce, peanut sauce, and saka saka sauce; ubiquitous in Chad; the dumpling of Chadian cuisine; served with dishes that provide a sauce for dipping.

🇱🇧Lebanon

Molokhia

ملوخية

Jute mallow leaves cooked into a green stew with chicken or lamb, served over rice with vinegar, onion and toasted bread.

🇹🇩Chad

Mouloukhie

Mouloukhié

Chadian stew of jews mallow leaves; called gom or légume gluant locally; the leaves are cooked into a viscous, dark green sauce; similar to molokhia across the Arab world but adapted to Chadian tastes; served with kissar or esh; one of the ten most essential Chadian sauces.

🇸🇩Sudan

Mullah Sharmout

Sun-dried strips of beef rehydrated and cooked with onion and dried okra into a dark, intensely savoury stew.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Nigerian Jollof Rice

Jollof rice

Long-grain rice cooked down in a blended base of red pepper, tomato, onion and scotch bonnet until the grain absorbs it all and the bottom of the pot catches.

🇰🇪Kenya

Nyama Choma

Kenya's unofficial national dish: grilled goat or sheep meat over open fire, eaten with hands, ugali, and kachumbari

🇳🇬Nigeria

Okra Soup

Ila alasepo

Chopped okra cooked briefly in a pepper and palm oil base with fish and meat, kept slippery and barely cooked.

🇹🇩Chad

Peanut and Squash Stew

Peanut Squash Stew

Chadian stew combining peanuts and squash; creamy, nutty, and sweet from the squash; a hearty vegetarian dish; peanuts enrich sauces with creamy, nutty depth; squash and sweet potatoes thrive in Chad's climate; served with boule; a seasonal favorite.

🇸🇩Sudan

Peanut Butter Salad

Salatat dakwa

Tomato, cucumber and onion chopped fine and dressed with peanut butter loosened with lemon juice and water.

🇱🇷Liberia

Pepper Soup

Thin, fiery broth of goat, catfish or chicken spiced with uda, uziza seed and calabash nutmeg, drunk as much as eaten.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Puff Puff

Balls of sweetened yeast batter dropped into hot oil by hand and fried until deep brown and hollow inside.

🇹🇩Chad

Roasted Peanuts

Arachides Grillées

Roasted peanuts sold as a street snack across Chad; peanuts are a widely grown crop; roasted in their shells or loose; salty and crunchy; sold in paper cones or small bags at markets and roadside stalls; the grab-and-go snack of Chad; a versatile crop eaten boiled, roasted, or ground into paste.

🇬🇵Guadeloupe

Samosa

समोसा

A crisp South Asian pastry is folded around spiced potato, peas, onion, or meat, then fried and served with chutney

🇹🇩Chad

Sauce aux Feuilles de Haricots

Feuilles de Haricots

Chadian sauce of bean leaves; tan bi moujoh in local language; prepared with peanut paste; one of the ten most essential Chadian sauces; leafy greens cooked into a rich, earthy sauce; served with boule or kissar; a plant-based staple of southern Chad.

🇹🇩Chad

Sauce Charmout

Chadian sauce made with charmout (dried meat); the rehydrated meat gives the sauce an intense, concentrated flavor; cooked with onions, tomatoes, and spices; a traditional way to preserve meat for the dry season; served with boule or kissar; a Sahelian specialty shared with Sudan.

🇹🇩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.

🇹🇩Chad

Sauce Longue

Chadian sauce made with grilled meat, smoked or fresh fish; extremely viscous, requiring years of practice to eat cleanly; a source of national pride; President Tombalbaye once served it to French guests who ended up covered in sauce; served with boule; a dish that tests your eating skill.

🇪🇷Eritrea

Shahan Ful

ሻህን ፉል

Stewed fava beans served with chopped fresh vegetables and spices — a lighter, salad-like cousin of ful medames, popular as a fasting dish and street breakfast.

🇸🇩Sudan

Shai bil Laban

Black tea boiled with powdered or evaporated milk and heavily sweetened, often with cinnamon or cardamom.

🇸🇩Sudan

Shaiyah

Cubes of lamb or beef fried hard in a heavy pan with onion, chilli and cumin and tipped straight onto paper on the table.

🇪🇬Egypt

Shakshuka

شكشوكة

Eggs poached in a simmering tomato, pepper, onion, garlic, and chilli sauce, with regional names and seasonings across North Africa.

🇸🇩Sudan

Sharmout

Beef cut in strips, salted and hung to dry hard in the sun, then stored for months and broken into stews.