Burkinabe Recipes

6 recipes

Burkina Faso's food is the food of the Sahel savanna: millet, sorghum and maize are cooked into tô, a firm porridge dipped into sauces of okra, leaves, peanut or tomato. Sauces often carry soumbala (fermented locust beans), dried fish or smoked meat, and cooks spice them with chili and ginger. Rice is kept for celebrations, especially riz gras, a one-pot dish with chicken and tomato. Babenda, a Mossi dish of leaves and grain, is a favorite, and grilled chicken (poulet bicyclette) and skewers fill street corners at night. Yam, sweet potato and groundnuts add variety, and shea butter and peanut oil are the cooking fats. Drinks include zoom-koom (a millet and ginger drink), bissap (hibiscus), baobab juice and dolo, a millet beer. Desserts are mostly fruit, with sweet millet and yogurt dégué served at celebrations.