Starting authentic African cooking at home calls for a few key ingredients that are easy to find on nkosiagro.com. Here are the 10 fundamental ingredients for West and Central African cooking, essential for successful thieboudienne, mafé, ndolé, jollof rice and other iconic dishes.
1. Red palm oil
Red palm oil gives West African dishes their orange colour and unique taste: banga soup, Ghanaian red red, egusi soup. Essential.
2. Peanut paste
The base of Senegalese mafé, Malian tigadeguena and many sauces. DAKATINE peanut paste at NKOSI is the reference.
3. Soumbara / Néré
A fermented condiment with deep umami, flavouring sauces and soups. See soumbara NUMBER ONE.
4. Cassava and cassava flour
The base of foufou, fufu, foutou, as flour or root. See RACINES cassava flour.
5. Millet and fonio
Ancestral African cereals, gluten-free. For thiakry, fonio in sauce, millet porridge.
6. Dried hibiscus (bissap)
For the Senegalese national drink and Jamaican sorrel. An essential refreshment.
7. Plantain
Green or ripe, the plantain is the ally of African and Caribbean cooking: alloco, plantain fufu, dombre.
8. Scotch bonnet chilli
The scotch bonnet gives the characteristic fruity heat. Essential for pepper soup, jerk, mafé.
9. Dried shrimp powder
The marine umami that adds depth to all West African stews.
10. Baobab (powder or pieces)
A superfood rich in vitamin C. See TANTIE baobab powder.
Where to order these 10 ingredients?
On nkosiagro.com, find all these references. See our full catalogue. NKOSI delivers to France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg within a few days.
Conclusion
With these 10 essential ingredients, you can already cook 80% of traditional African dishes. Start with the first 5 (palm oil, peanut, soumbara, cassava, millet) and build up as you discover more. See also our ultimate guide to the African grocery.
