Attiéké
Fermented, grated cassava steamed into light, slightly sour grains — Ivorian couscous, classically served with grilled fish.
Ingredients A–Z
A growing guide to the ingredients behind African cooking — what they are, where they come from and how they’re used. Each entry will link to full guides and recipes as we publish them.
Fermented, grated cassava steamed into light, slightly sour grains — Ivorian couscous, classically served with grilled fish.
The tangy, powdery pulp of the baobab fruit, stirred into drinks, porridges and sweets.
A deep red spice blend built on chilli and fenugreek; the backbone of doro wat and many stews.
Starchy root behind fufu, garri, attiéké and more. Must be properly processed and cooked before eating.
Taro-like tuber eaten boiled or pounded; in Ghana its leaves (kontomire) make a much-loved stew.
Fermented locust beans — also called iru or soumbala — adding deep, savoury umami to soups and stews.
Protein-rich seeds of a gourd, ground and cooked into thick, nutty soups with leafy greens.
A tiny, fast-cooking ancient grain from the Sahel with a light, earthy flavour.
Granulated, fermented and roasted cassava — soaked as a snack or made into eba with hot water.
Smoky, peppery seed pods (uda, hwentia) used in pepper soup and Senegalese café Touba.
A Tunisian paste of chillies, garlic, oil and spices, used as a condiment and cooking base.
Dried roselle flowers brewed into deep red drinks: bissap, zobo or sobolo.
Fermented maize dough wrapped in husks or leaves and cooked, served with fried fish and pepper sauce.
A bitter, caffeine-rich nut with deep ceremonial meaning, offered to guests as a sign of welcome.
Fast-growing tree whose tender leaves are cooked as greens or dried into powder.
Ground wild mango seeds that give Nigerian ogbono soup its famous ‘draw’.
Pods that thicken soups and stews; the word ‘gumbo’ is thought to trace back to West African names for okra.
Rich red oil from the oil palm fruit, giving colour and flavour to stews, soups and beans.
A cooking banana enjoyed green or ripe — fried as dodo and kelewele, boiled, or pounded into fufu.
Lemons cured in salt until soft and fragrant; essential in Moroccan tagines.
A warm Moroccan spice blend whose name means ‘head of the shop’ — the spice seller’s best mix.
Fruity, floral and fiercely hot; the heart of pepper soups, stews and jerk.
A dark, rich chilli sauce made with dried fish or shrimp, served with kenkey, rice and much more.
Air-dried cod, long traded from Norway to West Africa, used to give soups a deep, savoury flavour.
A ground peanut, chilli and spice mix rubbed onto suya, the grilled meat skewers of Hausa street food.
A tiny grain ground into flour and fermented to make injera, the spongy sourdough flatbread.
Peppery leaves and seeds of a West African pepper vine, used in pepper soup and egusi.
The starchy tuber (not sweet potato) that is boiled, fried or pounded into smooth pounded yam.
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