Recettes Senegal

Jollof Couscous

Jollof couscous applies the jollof method to North African couscous, and it sits at the meeting point of two quite separate West and North African traditions. The tomato and pepper base is built as it would be for jollof rice; the grain is steamed couscous rather than long grain rice. Couscous itself is North African, rolled from semolina and traditionally steamed several times in a couscoussier until it is light and separate rather than gummy. In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia it is served with a spiced vegetable stew and meat, which is a different proposition entirely from what happens here. Its texture is often compared to attiéké, the fermented cassava of Côte d'Ivoire, though the two share only appearance. Jollof itself is contested territory between Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and beyond, and applying it to couscous is a modern move rather than an inherited one. The source attributes this version to Senegal, which is where the jollof tradition originates in the thieboudienne of the Wolof people, though the framing in the original text is Nigerian. It is quick food, twenty minutes from start to finish, and it is honest about being an adaptation.

★★★★★Les mieux notées

30 minEasySenegal

Recette de Cuisine228 · Africook

Bouye Juice (Baobab Drink)

Bouye is the Wolof name for the fruit of the baobab, and bouye juice is what Senegal makes from it. The fruit hangs in hard woody pods on the most recognisable tree of the African savannah, and inside is a dry, chalky white pulp with a distinctly sour, citrus-like flavour. Baobab has been a staple across the Sahel for centuries, in Senegal and well beyond, and every part of the tree gets used: leaves as a vegetable and thickener, seeds pressed for oil, bark for rope. The English name for the fruit, monkey bread, describes the pulp reasonably well. In Hausa the fruit is kwalba, which is the name that appears in this particular recipe. The method is soaking rather than juicing. The pulp is left in water for around an hour to soften, worked with a whisk to release as much as possible, then strained. What happens next varies: drunk plain and sweetened it is bouye juice, while blending it with nono, the fermented milk of northern Nigeria and the Sahel, or with yoghurt, gives the thicker milkshake version this recipe describes. Both are drunk cold, and it freezes into ice lollies, which is how children across the region most often have it.

1 hr 10 minEasySenegal

Recette de Blessing · Africook