Africa boasts of countless finger-licking delicacies and dishes, some of which are the absolute best dishes in the world. So good are these foods, that one could be drawn by the aroma waves to return home from overseas. African dishes smell of her rich cultural heritage.
Here are 10 dishes that could make you take the next available flight to Africa or walk into a nearby African restaurant.
1.) Cachupa Dish– Cape Verde
When you run your finger to Cape Verde on a world map, you imagine a bowl of cachupa before you.
Popularly known as the country’s national dish, cachupa is a stew of slow cooked sweet potato, cassava, fish or meat, and corn. There are different ways to prepare the dish, and 9 out of 10 African inhabited islands have their own unique methods.
2.) Waakye Dish- Ghana
Morning meal or lunch in Ghana? It’s simply waakye, pronounced as in “wah-chay” – /ˈwɑːtʃeɪ/.
And it sure can be eaten throughout the day. You can imagine how it tastes by now. It is made with rice, beans, moist garri (dry grounded cassava), tomato stew and spaghetti (not of Ghanaian origin).
You think that’s it? To enjoy a complete course, you can have it served with fried plantain called Kelewele, vegetable salad, fish or meat.
3.) Nkatenkwen Dish– Ghana
Foodies don’t just find Nkatenkwen heart satisfying, they consume quite a lot to fill the belly too.
Photo credit: NoDishrespect
Nkatenkwen is a Ghanaian stew made with mixed chillies, garlic, onions, tomato, fish or meat combined with peanuts or groundnuts and palm oil.
Nkatenkwen can be served alone or eaten with rice or traditionally with fufu (made from cassava).
4.) Thieboudienne — Senegal
This dish from Africa is one in billions but there’s something close to it in the deep south of America. Traditionally, Thieboudienne is made from rice, fish and tomato sauce spiced with carrots, onions, cabbage, cassava and peanut oil.
Photo credit: Pinterest
It is believed that Savannah red rice in America is a borrowed culture from Senegal.
5.) Yassa — Senegal
Yassa is another spicy dish in Senegal. It is typically chicken marinated with lemon, onions, garlic, cabbage, and pepper.
Photo credit: Pinterest
6.) Ndole — Cameroon
If it is possible to fly home on aroma waves, Ndole would be your first ticket. This is an aromatic and flavourful dish made from well-cooked bitter leaves to reduce bitterness. It contains stewed nuts, and the debris of crushed beef or fish to provide great taste. It puts you on another level when eaten with potato, plantain or rice.
Photo credit: Culturebene
7.) Eddoe soup — Liberia
Eddoe soup is made from a tropical root vegetable similar to sweet potato and yam (not to be confused with indigenous Edo soup in Edo Benin, Nigeria).
It smells great and welcoming. The soup is simmered with delicate seasonings adding different varieties of seafoods as you please.
Photo credit: Justyna Manjari
8.) Kedjenou — Ivory Coast
Under ember coals in a terracotta pot, Kedjenou, the Ivorian dish, is made with guinea fowl or chicken. It is a spicy stew served with Attieke, a flaked cassava. But other starches can be a good option to enjoy the stew since it adapts well to many variations.
9.) Superkanja — Gambia
With okra and leafy greens such as: spinach, collards, and sweet potato leaves, the Gambian stew, Superkanja, combined
with onions, chilli peppers and fish or meat is ready.
Ghanaian “Kontomire” is one of the versions of this dish in West Africa.
Photo credit: Riverbank & Badger
10.) Ogbono soup — Nigeria
Ogbono soup is very rich especially when prepared with a variety of fish and meat which could be of goat, cow, or even chicken.
Photo credit: FarmCity Foods
The soup is made from protein-rich nuts containing fat using palm oil, chilli peppers and leafy vegetables such as fluted pumpkin leaf (called ugu in Igbo or ikong-ubong, in Efik and Ibibio languages) or sometimes bitter leaf. With or without adding okra, it is slimy in texture and goes smoothly with pounded yam or fufu.
What are you waiting for? Join our fufu challenge on TikTok (@anewtouchofafrica).
By Elijah Christopher
Elijah Christophe is a journalist at A New Touch Of Africa, is also a creative writer, a poet, and an IT enthusiast. He contributed to the collaborative poem written in celebration of Edwin Morgan Centenary, the first Glasgow poet laureate and Scottish national poet from the University of Glasgow. He loves meeting people and learning about new places, cultures, events, and lifestyles.
