Mafé, yassa, Ndolé, okra: Chic Africa!

Yassa chicken by Alexandre Bella Ola.

© GKalt

By: Clémence Denavit Follow

3 min

Avant-garde and tasty, the cuisines of Africa show us the way against planetary junk food!

Chef Alexandre Bella Ola explains to us in “Mafé, yassa, et gombo” that 99% of products consumed in Africa are raw, without industrial transformation - when the countries of the North try to reduce the gap between producers and consumers.

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To salivate, the choice is not lacking as with this ndolé Egoussi-Ngondo, the okra crab that grabs us and catches us from the cover of the book, or this gali fôtô which we will try to master the knack.

All the recipes are tempting and accessible, including the vegetarian mango coulis sorbet which catches our eye.

In all flavors, in words too, we revel in the stories that accompany each recipe, intimate stories or pearls of African cultures.

Alexandre Bella Ola in Le Goût du monde.

© Clémence Denavit / Le Taste du Monde RFI

With

, the chef of two restaurants: Rio dos Camaraos in Montreuil, 55 rue Marceau and

, 21 rue Pierre Lescot in Paris, in the Halles district, his latest book: “

is published by Éditions First.

The photos are signed by Grégoire Kalt, a connoisseur of Africa and its cuisine.

Thieb Blanc vegetarien, by Alexandre Bella Ola, from “Mafé, Yassa et Gombo, la cuisine d'Alexandre”, published by First.

© GKalt

For further

In the 1980s, African cuisine was absent from the shelves of French bookstores.

A book or two was lost in the Cuisine du monde section, wedged between Moroccan and Tunisian cuisines.

What a joy to discover, over the past two years, these departments have grown!

Below, the latest titles published and available in bookstores and on the web:

- BMK

- Hachette editions

- Vegan, African cuisine,

by Marie Kacouchia, Éditions la Plage

- The taste of Cotonou,

by Gorgiana Viou, Éditions Alain Ducasse

- Tastes d'Afrique,

Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet, Mango editions

- Small Afro dishes,

by Rudy Lainé, Marabout du monde editions

- Contemporary cuisine of black Africa,

by Alexandre Bella Ola - Éditions First

- Soul Food Equatorial,

by Leonora Miano, published by Nil - Exquisite collection of writers.

- At the theater: “Autophagy, stories of bananas, rice, tomatoes, peanuts, palm trees.

And then fruits, sugar and chocolate ”, by Eva Doubia in Avignon, in July 2021, the play continues to live its life.

Also with Alexandre Bella Ola: our chef is also an actor!

- The Dejean market in Château Rouge - to find the necessary ingredients for recipes and for the trip!

It is the largest African open-air market in Europe.

- Do not miss: on Netflix, the series

taken from the book of Professor Jessica B Harris that we had received in

Ndolé and white rice.

© Clémence Denavit / Le Taste du Monde RFI

Musical programming

The rooster crows

by Guy Zambo

Marie Jeanne

by Donny Elwood

Mo Yaro

from Lass.

RECIPE

MAFÉ DE BEEUF, by Alexandre Bella Ola

The mafé, you will not find two alike in all of Africa.

More or less spicy, associated with okra, rice, plantain, sweet potato, taro: it changes flavor in all longitudes.

Preparation: 20 mn - Cooking 1h20

Ingredients

750g of chuck or roast / peanut or sunflower oil / 125 g of peanut paste / 2 medium onions / 1 clove of garlic / 3 fresh tomatoes / 60 g of tomato paste / 2 carrots / 200 g cabbage / 1 bouquet garni / 2 peppers / 1 spice-onion bouillon cube / salt, pepper / 1/2 l meat broth.

Step 1:

The beef: Cut the meat into pieces.

Boil it in 1.5 liters of water for 20 minutes, after starting to boil.

Season with salt and pepper, add the bouquet garni.

Reserve the meat in a dish and the broth.

2nd step :

Dissolve the peanut paste in ¼ liter of lukewarm water.

To book.

Blanch the coarsely chopped cabbage.

Also book.

Pour a little of the oil into a heavy-bottomed pot.

Add the finely chopped onions to the barely hot oil and sauté until they become translucent.

Add the peeled tomatoes, ¼ pepper, the tomato paste, the crushed garlic clove, the bouillon cube and the bouquet garni.

Mix regularly with a spatula to prevent the sauce from sticking.

Add the beef with ½ liter of water and a stock cube.

Bring to a boil for 10 minutes.

Step 3: cooking the stew

Pour in the peanut paste and gently mix everything together.

Add ½ liter of meat broth, cabbage, carrots cut into slices of about one centimeter.

Season with salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil.

Add the second pepper without cutting it, it will float on the sauce.

Let the whole simmer over low heat for 50 minutes, stirring regularly.

Taste and add salt if needed.

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