7 billion neighbors
Recipe books to share African cuisines
Audio 48:30
Recipe for yam dumplings by Chef Anto © Aline Princet for Mango editions
By: Emmanuelle Bastide
1 min
In recent years, African recipe books have been multiplying on the shelves of bookstores and on the shelves of our kitchens.
Advertisement
A way to transmit and share the richness and diversity of the continent's culinary heritage.
It is also an opportunity to make African cuisines travel and to remove certain prejudices from which they still suffer.
Mafé, Yassa, Ndolé, Thiéboudiène... How to promote the continent's most popular dishes?
What are the real authentic recipes and those revisited?
Tips and anecdotes from our chefs
With :
Anto Cocagne
,
Chef Anto
, chef at home, author of
Goûts d'Afrique
(Mango Editions)
Abdoulaye Djikine
, co-founder of
BMK Paris-Bamako restaurants
and co-author of
BMK – cuisines d'Afrique from Paris to Bamako
(Hachette cuisine, 2021)
Marie Kacouchia, chef,
author of
Cuisines d'Afrique vegan
(La plage editions, 2021)
Musical programming:
►
Pull Up
– Koffee
►
Rock Rock
- The Allergies, Andy Cooper
Cover of the book "Tastes of Africa - recipes & encounters" by Anto Cocage and Aline Princet at Mango Editions © mango editions
Stuffed Yam Meatballs Recipe by Chef Anto
Difficulty:
easy
Preparation time:
1 hour
Cooking time:
30 min
Cost:
inexpensive
Ingredients for 6 people:
1 large yam, around 2 kg
400 g minced meat
4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1 bunch of chives
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp red Nokoss (see the essentials)
100 g gari (dried cassava semolina)
Salt, pepper
Frying oil
Preparation:
Peel the yam and cut it into large pieces.
Wash the chives and chop finely.
Cook the pieces of yam for 30 minutes in a saucepan filled with water and added salt.
Prick the pieces of yam with a knife to check for doneness.
When cooked, drain the yam and mash it while still hot.
Add turmeric, egg yolks and minced chives.
Salt and pepper.
Mix well.
In a salad bowl, mix the minced meat with the red nokoss.
Salt and pepper.
Make balls with the mashed yam and stuff them with the minced meat.
Bread the stuffed yam balls by passing them alternately first in the beaten whole eggs then in the gari.
Fry until the balls are golden brown.
Chef's advice
As an aperitif or as a hot starter, these yam balls can be accompanied by a spicy tomato sauce or green salad.
If you don't have gari on hand, regular breadcrumbs will do.
Cover of the book "BMK - African cuisine from Paris to Bamako" by Abdoulaye and Fousseyni Djikine and Marie-Liesse Cabaret © Zoé Armbruster and Blaise Gargadennec, at Hachette Cuisine
Recipe for Djouka Fonio & crushed peanuts by Abdoulaye and Fousseyni Djikine
For 4 to 6 people
Preparation: 3 0 min
Cooking: 1 hr 20
Marinade: 2 hr to overnight
In Mali, Djouka is considered a popular dish because it is prepared with inexpensive ingredients that are easily accessible in many villages, even for less well-off families.
Djouka is made from fonio and ground peanuts in a mortar according to the purest Malian tradition.
For families who can afford it or for holidays, it is served with grilled meat (mutton or chicken), onions and the famous okra.
We are delighted to share this recipe with you because it is our Dad's Proust madeleine!
When he was a child, after eating it, he refused to wash his hands to keep the smell of it all day…
True story
.
It is today the favorite dish of Fouss who always has at least one portion in the freezer prepared by the Mom (you never know)!
For the peanut fonio 200 g
fonio
200 g red peanuts
Salt, pepper
For the chicken
4 to 6 chicken thighs
3 tbsp.
mustard soup
½ lemon
1 stock cube
Salt, pepper
Frying oil
For the okra purée
200 g of okra
1 tbsp.
tablespoons lime juice
Salt, pepper
For the pan-fried
onions 4 yellow onions
1 stock cube
1 tsp.
mustard coffee
2 tbsp.
teaspoon of colored vinegar
4 cl of neutral vegetable oil
Salt, pepper
Marinate the chicken
1. Make incisions in the flesh of the chicken thighs.
In a salad bowl, marinate them with the mustard, lemon juice, crumbled bouillon cube, a pinch of salt and pepper.
Leave to marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator (ideally overnight).
Prepare the peanut fonio
2. Soak the fonio in lukewarm water for 10 minutes then drain it.
Grind the peanuts using a blender to reduce them to powder.
You must obtain a preparation with very fine grains.
3. Steam the fonio in a couscous maker for 15 minutes.
Pour it into a bowl, stir the grains and let it cool for a few minutes.
4. Steam it again in the couscoussier for 15 minutes.
Book.
5. Steam the ground peanuts for about ten minutes.
6. In a bowl, then mix the fonio and ground peanuts.
Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
Mix and reserve.
Cook the chicken
7. In hot oil, fry the chicken thighs for 15 to 20 minutes, turning them halfway through cooking.
They must have a well grilled appearance with a crispy skin!
Prepare the okra puree
8. Stalk the okra (both ends).
Boil water in a saucepan.
Add the okra and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.
Remove them from the water and mash them by beating them with a fork, whisking them or blending them.
Add a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and the lime juice.
Mix.
Prepare the pan-fried onions
9. Slice the yellow onions.
In very hot oil, sauté the onions over high heat for about 5 minutes, adding the crumbled stock cube, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Stir frequently.
10. On the fonio/peanut base, arrange the chicken thighs, the onions and the okra purée.
Enjoy hot!
Tips from Bamakool & the Gang
• Before steaming the peanuts, you can add 1 pinch of baking soda.
According to our Mum, this would have the effect of exacerbating their reddish color and thus improving the aesthetics of your dish.
This would be the secret of all the most beautiful dishes of Djouka!
• Fry the chicken thighs in not too hot oil.
Indeed, if the oil is too hot, the outside will be golden, but the chicken will not be cooked through.
Count 15 to 20 min for chicken thighs of about 350 g.
• After the recommended frying time, to be sure that the chicken thighs are cooked properly, you can cut them at the joint.
If they are still bloody, cook them again.
• You can also cook the chicken thighs in the oven for about 45 minutes.
Pour some water into the dish before putting them in the oven, then regularly wet the thighs with the juice so that they don't dry out during cooking.
• Okra has a viscous appearance that can put off many people despite its excellent taste.
If you don't want to be tempted, you can roast them in the oven instead of mashing them.
Then cut the okra in 2, let them soak for 30 min in vinegar water, then roast them in the oven for 20 min at 200°C (th. 6/7): tadam, the viscous aspect has disappeared !
Arrange these roasted okra on your fonio/peanut base before serving.
Cover of the Book "Vegan - cuisines of Africa" by Marie Kacouchia at La plage Editions © Editions la Plage
Plantain banana fritters recipe by Marie Kacouchia
For 4 people :
4 ripe plantains
3 tbsp.
all-purpose flour
1 shallot
1 clove of garlic
1 pinch of hot pepper powder
1 tsp
grated fresh ginger (optional)
Salt pepper
Frying bath
Preparation
1- Peel the bananas and cut them into medium-sized pieces.
2 - Crush them coarsely in a small mortar or in a bowl then add the flour.
3 - Finely chop the shallot and garlic and add them to the banana paste.
4 - Add the chilli, ginger, salt and pepper and mix well.
5 - Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes.
6 - In the hot oil, drop small spoonfuls of batter and cook for about 4 minutes until golden brown
7 - Serve hot or warm.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Company
Gastronomy
On the same subject
So what can we say
From clerk to chef, the inspiring journeys of Abdou and Mamadi
life here
Senegal: a booming gastronomy
7 billion neighbors
Cuisine: journey to Creole lands