West African food, known for its delightful moorish flavors, rich textures, and surprisingly nutritious fruit and vegetable basis, is growing in popularity among travelers to the region and beyond. From Cape Verde to Cameroon, and throughout West Africa, here are some of the best traditional West African dishes to try.
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Egusisoup from Nigeria.
This soup or stew, made from dried and pulverized melon seeds high in fat and protein, usually includes green vegetables, meat, or fish. Variations of this delicious stew are popular among Nigeria’s Ibo people.
Thieboudienne is a traditional Senegalese dish. This traditional cuisine is made with rice, fish, and tomato sauce, and is seasoned with spicy onions, carrots, cabbage, cassava, and peanut oil. Interestingly, Savannah red rice, a meal from the American deep south, is strikingly similar; many believe it was brought to the New World from here and adapted by the Creole people.
Moin Moin from Nigeria.
Moin Moin is a steaming bean pudding made with black-eyed peas, onions, and a variety of fresh ground peppers. It is a fairly diverse recipe, with some adding smoked salmon, corned beef, or boiled eggs to enhance the flavor. It can be consumed alone, with toast, or with rice.
Waakye from Ghana.
Waakye, Ghana’s breakfast of champions, is a popular morning meal that can be consumed at any time of day. Filling and flavorful, it includes beans, rice, moist gari (ground cassava), stew, and spaghetti (the only non-Ghanaian component). It is frequently served with a choice of protein, such as fish, pork, or boiled eggs. Kelewele (spiced plantain) with a vegetable salad are another
Cachupa from Cape Verde
This famous dish from the volcanic archipelago is a stew of slow cooked corn, cassava, sweet potato, fish or meat. It is commonly referred to as the country’s national dish and nine out of the ten inhabited islands have their own version of the cachupa.
Ndole from Cameroon
Ndole is an aromatic, flavourful dish made of bitter leaves (cooked several times to make them lose their bitterness), stewed nuts, crushed spices and fish or beef. It is usually eaten with plantains, rice or potatoes.
Yassa from Senegal
This spicy, delicious dish has a base of onions, garlic, peppers and cabbage that is topped with typically chicken marinated with lemon and onions. A Senegalese staple, it is one of the most popular food items in West Africa.
Kedjenou from the Ivory Coast
This popular Ivorian dish consists of a spicy stew that is slow-cooked in a terracotta pot over fire or coals. Usually made with guinea fowl or chicken, it adapts well to many variations. Although it is traditionally served with attieke (flaked cassava), most other starches go well with it, too.
Superkanja from Gambia
This is a Gambian okra stew that packs a nutritional and flavourful punch with its combination of leafy greens, such as spinach, collards, okra and sweet potato leaves. Combined with onions, chilli peppers and fish or meat, variations of this dish are found all over West Africa, such as the Ghanaian kontomire.
Eddoe soup from Liberia
Eddoe is a tropical root vegetable similar to yams or sweet potato. This fragrant and hearty soup is simmered with delicate seasonings and a meat or fish of choice.
Efo riro from Nigeria
Efo riro is a rich Yoruba dish prepared with vegetables, fish, beans and palm oil along with leafy greens. All these ingredients make for a very hearty soup.
Jollof rice from the West African region
For the sake of smooth-sailing diplomatic relations, jollof rice is ascribed to the whole region although fierce wars (of words, thankfully!) have broken out to determine which nation makes the best version of this spicy tomato rice dish. It is evidently one of the most popular West African dishes and each country has its own version. Furthermore, jollof rice have also garnered international interest with chefs, such as Jamie Oliver, controversially including it in their cookbooks.