African Recipes
85 recipes found
Ghanaian Spinach Stew With Sweet Plantains
This recipe is an adaptation of the smoky spinach stew served at Papaye, Samuel Obeng's restaurant in the Bronx. Built on a base of onions and ginger sauteed in palm oil, made fiery with habanero, and thickened with ground pumpkin seeds and tomatoes, the stew calls for African smoked, dried shrimp powder; its flavor is amazing. (Asian versions are typically unsmoked and chewier.) But smoked paprika and fish sauce make a serviceable substitute.
Chicken Mafe
This West African favorite, adapted from Rama Dione and Papa Diagne, balances the richness of peanut butter with tomato and aromatics, cooked down to a thick gravy. The addition of Southeast Asian fish sauce gives the dish depth and is somewhat traditional, given the Vietnamese influence, via the French, in Senegal. But absolutely traditional would be to eat this with guests, directly from a large platter, to demonstrate welcome and unity.
Braai-Spiced T-Bone Steaks
Grilling meat is practically the South African national sport, crossing lines of wealth, geography and even race. Braai means grill in Afrikaans, and some say it’s the only word recognized in all of the country’s 11 official languages. There’s no reason this braai sout, a fragrant dry rub, can’t be used on steaks other than a T-bone. But the T-bone has had special status there since Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as part of a campaign to bring all South Africans together around the braai, pointed out that the shape of that steak mimics the shape of Africa itself. Serve with whole potatoes roasted in the coals, and drink beer or one of South Africa’s excellent wines.
Pilipili Oil
Pilipili, chiles in Swahili, infuse oil along with aromatics like herbs and onion to create a spicy condiment. Similar to hot sauce, these chile oils, found in Africa and across the African diaspora, provide a kick when drizzled on a dish. This version from the chef and author Bryant Terry uses fresh, small bird’s eye or Thai chiles for their vibrant taste and their availability in most supermarkets. Smoked paprika adds a bit of depth and helps to make the oil fire-engine red.
Spicy Lamb Sausage With Grilled Onions and Zucchini
This is modeled after North African merguez, which is sometimes served as part of an elaborate couscous meal, but good on a bun, too. For its deep rust-red color, merguez relies on lots of dried sweet red pepper (paprika) and a goodly amount of hot red pepper (cayenne). Garlic, cumin and coriander are strong supporting players.
Spicy Pickled Carrots
These sweet and spicy pickled carrots are simple to make. The chef Pierre Thiam pairs them with black-eyed pea fritters, but they make a great condiment for just about everything.
Black-Eyed Pea Fritters
The chef Pierre Thiam puts a twist on these traditional Senegalese accara, or black-eyed pea fritters. They are sold on street corners throughout West Africa, usually on fresh baguettes as a sandwich. But Mr. Thiam treats them a bit like falafel and stuffs them into fresh pita bread instead. The spicy pickled carrots he uses as a condiment are based on a recipe from his Vietnamese godfather. Accara are deliciously light and fairly addictive, and they make a great snack with drinks.
Merguez Sausage
Merguez (A Tunisian sausage)
Bobotie (The Boschendal's recipe)
Bobotie
The South African national dish, bobotie, is a meat pie of coarsely ground lamb with plenty of curry, bay or lemon leaves and fruits, covered with a custard of milk and eggs, as homey and much loved as meatloaf is in the United States.
Warm Cabbage and Green Beans
Thiebou Dienn (Cheb)
Peanut Dukkah
This is one of my favorite dukkahs. I like it with vegetables and with pita, and on its own as a snack.
Coconut Dukkah
Adding coconut to dukkah introduces a sweetness to the nutty/spicy Middle Eastern mix. Serve it with crudités and flatbread, or sprinkled over a carrot purée.
Pumpkin Seed Dukkah
Because I associate pumpkin seeds with Mexican food, I decided to add some mild chili powder to this mix. You can substitute Aleppo pepper if you want to keep with the Mediterranean theme. I love this mildly spicy, nutty dukkah with everything, including on its own.
Spicy Egyptian Dukkah With Chickpea Flour
Dukkah is very popular in Egypt, where it is made with chickpea flour, sesame seeds, sometimes dill seeds, and spices. I like to toast the chickpea flour. I use the mixture, which is adapted from a dukkah in “The Arab Table,” by May S. Bsisu, not only as a condiment for vegetables and bread, but also as a coating for fried fish or vegetables.
Mealie Meal
Agwah (Egyptian date filling)
Semolina Pastry With Dates (Makroud)
Collard Greens Tagine With Flageolets
I call the dish a tagine because it tastes like a Tunisian stew; its warm triumvirate of spices — coriander, cumin and caraway — are always present in the classic Tunisian spice mix called tabil. It is inspired by the Tunisian tagines I make to serve with couscous, but I served this instead with whole grain flatbread. Since my version is vegetarian, I cooked the onions and fennel in olive oil before adding them to the beans so the dish would have a bit of fat and the vegetables would have more flavor.
Algerian Okra, Potato and Tomato Tagine
A tagine is a North African stew made in an earthenware dish that has a conical top. You can make a tagine in other types of heavy casseroles, like enameled cast iron, but I prefer to use earthenware set over a flame tamer.
Halibut in Foil Packets With North African Flavors
Lamb-Shoulder Mafe With Fonio
The Senegalese-born chef Pierre Thiam makes this lamb mafe with meat from the shoulder, on or off the bone, which goes tender after a stretch of unattended, gentle simmering. Adapting the dish in New York, Thiam thickened it with jarred peanut butter, which lends the sauce its characteristic creaminess, and Vietnamese fish sauce, for salty depth. Though he leaves the Scotch bonnet whole, if you want a more intense taste of it, crush it apart with a wooden spoon, and you'll tap right into its bright, floral heat. You could serve the stew with rice, or a number of other grains, but Thiam serves his on a heap of warm fonio, a tiny, tender, ancient grain that can be found partly cooked and dehydrated in many West African grocery stores, as well as specialty food stores and health food markets.