West African cooking builds rich soups and stews on chilli, onion, tomato and palm oil, seasoned with native spices such as grains of paradise, selim pepper and dawadawa.
Overview¶
West Africa stretches from Senegal to Nigeria and Cameroon and holds hundreds of peoples and languages; its cooking is far more varied than the few dishes known abroad. Still, some features recur: a starchy staple (rice, yam, cassava, plantain, millet, fonio) eaten with a sauce, soup or stew; a base of onion, tomato and hot pepper; palm oil or groundnut oil; smoked and dried fish or crayfish for depth; and fermented seeds used much as other cuisines use stock cubes — though stock cubes are also ubiquitous now.
The region has its own native spices, several of which were once traded to Europe: grains-of-paradise was so associated with the coast that part of it was called the Grain Coast by European traders. Chillies arrived with the Portuguese and the Atlantic trade (see how-chillies-spread-around-the-world and the-columbian-exchange) and became central; the trade also carried West African foods and cooks to the Americas, shaping caribbean-cuisine and cajun-and-creole-cuisine.
The core palette¶
- Hot peppers: Scotch bonnet and habanero-type chillies (often simply "pepper"), plus dried ground chilli and small bird's eye types.
- Native spices: grains-of-paradise (Aframomum melegueta, alligator pepper is a close relative sold in its pod); selim pepper (Xylopia aethiopica, called uda, kani or hwentia), smoky and musky, in pepper soups and Senegalese café Touba; calabash nutmeg (Monodora myristica, ehuru), related to neither nutmeg nor mace but similar in effect; uziza (Piper guineense, West African pepper).
- Fermented seasonings: dawadawa or iru (fermented locust bean), ogiri (fermented oil seeds), and Senegalese netetou.
- Aromatics: onion in quantity, ginger, garlic.
- Curry powder and dried thyme: both entered Nigerian and Ghanaian cooking during the colonial period and are now standard in jollof rice, stews and fried rice. Dried bay leaves are common too.
- Leaves: scent leaf (Ocimum gratissimum, a clove-scented basil), bitter leaf, utazi and ugu (fluted pumpkin leaf) — used as vegetables and seasonings.
Regional differences¶
Nigeria¶
Yoruba cooking in the south-west uses iru and hot pepper stews (ata dindin); Igbo cooking in the south-east has soups like ofe onugbu (bitter leaf) and oha, and the spicy yam-and-pepper-soup tradition with selim pepper and calabash nutmeg; the Hausa and Fulani north gives suya, grilled meat coated in yaji — ground peanut, chilli, ginger and other spices — and kilishi jerky.
Ghana¶
Groundnut soup, light soup, palm-nut soup, kenkey with shito (a black pepper and dried fish chilli oil), and kelewele — plantain fried with ginger, chilli and spices. Jollof rice exists in friendly rivalry with Nigeria's.
Senegal and the Sahel¶
Senegalese cooking is often said to be the origin of jollof (from the Wolof empire): thieboudienne, fish and rice with a stuffing (roof) of parsley, garlic, chilli and pepper. Yassa is chicken or fish marinated in lime and onion; mafé a peanut stew. Café Touba is coffee roasted with selim pepper.
Cameroon and the Gulf of Guinea¶
Ndolé (bitter leaf with peanuts), pèbè and njansang (Ricinodendron heudelotii seeds), and extensive use of Penja white pepper, a Cameroonian pepper with a protected geographical indication.
Key techniques¶
- The pepper base: onions, tomatoes, red bell peppers and scotch bonnets blended to a purée, then fried in oil for a long time — often 30–45 minutes — until the water evaporates and the oil rises. This is the foundation of Nigerian stew and jollof. Under-frying it gives a sour, raw taste.
- Smoking and drying: fish and crayfish are smoked and ground, adding savoury depth.
- Pepper soup: a light, very hot broth of meat or fish with a ground spice mix of selim pepper, calabash nutmeg, alligator pepper and others.
- Grilling: suya and other skewered meats over charcoal.
⚠️ Handle scotch bonnets with care
These are 100,000–350,000 SHU. Wear gloves when cutting several, and remember much of the heat is in the pale pith. See handling-chillies-safely.
Landmark dishes¶
Jollof rice, thieboudienne, yassa, mafé, egusi soup, efo riro, banga soup, pepper soup, suya, kelewele, red-red (black-eyed peas in palm oil), fufu with light soup, ndolé, and moi moi.
Stocking the cupboard¶
- Scotch bonnets (fresh or frozen) and ground dried chilli
- grains-of-paradise
- Selim pepper and calabash nutmeg from an African grocer
- Suya spice — or make it with peanuts, chilli, ginger and paprika
- Curry powder and dried thyme
- Bay leaves
- Iru or dawadawa, and ground crayfish
- Red palm oil and groundnut oil