Niger

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Guinean Pili-Pili

Pili-pili

African bird's eye chili pepper (50,000-175,000 SHU); used in sauces, as a condiment, and as pili-pili oil; the heat source of Guinean cuisine; called piri-piri in Portuguese.

🇬🇭Ghana

Hausa Koko

Fermented millet porridge spiced with ginger, chilli, cloves and pepper, drunk hot from a bowl at breakfast.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Hibiscus Juice

Bissap

Dried hibiscus calyces steeped with sugar, mint and sometimes orange-blossom water into a deep red drink served ice-cold.

🇳🇪Niger

Iru

Ìrú

African locust beans fermented until they turn black and pungent, pressed into cakes and used a pinch at a time in soups.

🇳🇪Niger

Jute Mallow Soup

Miyan Ayoyo

A soft, mucilaginous soup of jute mallow leaves (ayoyo) cooked with meat, groundnut or palm oil, tomato, onion, and spices; smooth and slightly sticky, served with tuwo in Hausa areas of Niger.

🇳🇪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.

🇳🇪Niger

Koura-Koura

Peanut snack sticks or rings made from oil-extracted peanut paste, spiced and fried; the Burkinabè name for kuli-kuli; a crunchy, protein-dense snack.

🇬🇭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.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Kunun Zaki

Millet or sorghum soaked, ground and fermented with ginger and cloves into a pale, faintly sour drink served cold.

🇲🇱Mali

Malian Couscous

Couscous

Malian couscous made from millet or sorghum; steamed and served with meat, vegetable, or peanut sauces; the Mali tourism document notes that millet couscous has an exquisite flavor; different from North African couscous which uses wheat; a staple dish across Mali; served at celebrations and family meals; the couscous of the Sahel.

🇸🇱Sierra Leone

Malian Tamarind

Tamarin

A sweet-sour Sierra Leonean tamarind drink made by soaking tamarind pulp in water and flavouring it with sugar, cinnamon, honey, and sometimes a pinch of cayenne; sold as pulp in small bags to mix at home or ready to drink.

🇳🇪Niger

Masa

Waina

Fermented rice cakes from Niger, small and spherical with a crisp outer crust and a soft, spongy, slightly sour interior; made from rice batter, yeast, sugar, and salt, served with honey, miyan taushe, or suya.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Masa

Waina

Fermented rice batter cooked in a dimpled iron pan into small, spongy, faintly sour cakes, eaten with pepper sauce or honey.

🇲🇱Mali

Meat in Sweet Potato Leaf Sauce

Saga saga

A Malian dish of meat in sweet potato leaf sauce; listed in Wikipedia's Malian cuisine; sweet potato leaves are a common sauce base in Mali; the leaves are cooked with onions, tomatoes, and sometimes peanut; a nutritious, green sauce served over tô or rice; a traditional dish that uses every part of the sweet potato plant.

🇳🇪Niger

Miyan Geda

Northern Nigerian groundnut soup cooked with aromatics and meat or fish.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Miyan Kuka

Powdered baobab leaf cooked into a dark, slippery northern soup with dried meat, dawadawa and pepper.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Miyan Taushe

Pumpkin cooked down with groundnut paste, spinach and meat into a thick orange northern soup, mildly sweet.

🇳🇪Niger

Moringa Soup

Miyan Zogale

A nutritious Nigerien soup of fresh moringa leaves simmered with groundnut paste, meat or dried fish, tomato, onion, and dawa dawa; dark green, slightly thick, and highly valued for vitamins and minerals.

🇨🇲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.

🇳🇪Niger

Nigerien Tamarind Drink

Kunun Tsamiya

A tangy, refreshing Nigerien tamarind drink made by soaking tamarind pulp in water, sweetening with sugar, and spicing with ginger; sweet and sour, often sold chilled or frozen into ice pops.

🇬🇭Ghana

Nkate Cake

Roasted groundnuts set in dark caramelised sugar and cut into slabs while still warm.

🇲🇱Mali

Nététou

Dawa Dawa

African locust bean seeds fermented for days and pressed into dark balls with a pungent, savoury smell.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Ofada Rice and Ayamase

Ofada rice

Unpolished short-grain local rice with a strong fermented aroma, served in banana leaf with ayamase — a green pepper stew bleached in palm oil with assorted meats.

🇹🇬Togo

Palm Nut Soup

Déku Déssi

A thick, red-orange palm nut soup from Togo, simmered with beef, offal, smoked fish, or crab; rich in palm oil and deeply savoury, traditionally eaten with akoumé or fufu.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Puff Puff

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

🇲🇱Mali

Salade à la Tomate et au Concombres

Salade tomate concombre

A traditional Malian tomato and cucumber salad; listed in Wikipedia's Malian cuisine; tomatoes and cucumbers are sliced and dressed with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper; a refreshing side dish; a simple, fresh accompaniment to grilled meats and rice dishes; found at restaurants and family tables; the salad of Malian cuisine.

🇹🇬Togo

Sauce Arachide

Miyan Geda

A rich, creamy Togolese peanut sauce simmered with chicken, beef, or fish, tomatoes, onion, and palm oil; one of the most common sauces and a key partner to akoumé and fufu.

🇲🇱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.

🇲🇱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.

🇳🇪Niger

Sesame Leaf Soup

Miyan Karkashi

A silky, mucilaginous Nigerien draw soup made from sesame leaves (karkashi), simmered with dried fish, potash, and ground crayfish; slightly green and sticky, served with tuwo dawa or masara.

🇬🇭Ghana

Shea Butter

Nkuto

Nuts of the shea tree boiled, pounded and churned into a pale, nutty cooking fat used across the north.

🇳🇪Niger

Suya

Thin strips of beef threaded on sticks, coated in yaji — a groundnut, chilli and spice rub — and grilled over open coals, then dusted with more yaji.

🇳🇪Niger

Taguella

A traditional Tuareg flatbread baked in the hot sand of the Sahara: a thick, unleavened galette of millet, wheat, or sorghum flour is buried under hot sand and embers, then broken into pieces and eaten with a meat or tomato sauce.

🇹🇬North (Parakou / Borgou / Bariba), Togo

Tchoukoutou

A traditional beer from fermented millet, sorghum, or maize; high alcohol content; a northern Benin specialty; brewed by women; the social drink of the north.

🇳🇪Niger

Tuwo Alkama

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

Tuwo Dawa

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.