Green lalo is a powder of dried, ground baobab leaves. In Senegal and Mali, it is the binder for millet couscous: it is mixed into thiéré to make it soft. 100 g bag, NUMBER ONE brand.
What is lalo?
Lalo (or laalo) is the Wolof name for baobab (Adansonia digitata) leaf powder. The leaves are dried, then pounded. On contact with water, the powder becomes sticky, a bit like okra: it coats the millet grains and stops them from drying out. So lalo is not used to flavour a dish, it is used to bind it.
Do not confuse it with the baobab powder diluted for bouye juice: that one comes from the fruit pulp, the monkey bread, and has neither the same taste nor the same use. In Senegal, lalo is also the name of a light-coloured powder drawn from the gum of another tree, the mbep: hence the "green" specification on this bag. In Haiti, finally, lalo is a completely different dish, a stew of jute leaves.
How to use it?
Dilute the lalo in a little water, about 10 cl, pouring it in little by little: you get a kind of gel. Stir this gel into millet couscous already steamed, fluffing it well between your fingers. Allow one to three tablespoons of lalo per 500 g of couscous, depending on the softness you like.
Do not sprinkle the dry powder onto the dish: it would form lumps. Lalo also binds sauces served with millet, sorghum, maize or rice.
What to pair it with?
With thiéré de mil KEBA, a plain millet couscous. If you prefer a couscous already mixed with lalo, take the thiéré lalo TANTIE. Everything you need for the rest of the meal is in the Senegalese cooking range, and other sauce binders are in okra, ogbono and sauce binders.
Product information
- Brand: NUMBER ONE
- Capacity: 100 g bag
- Ingredient: dried, ground baobab leaves
- Allergens: none of the 14 regulated allergens by nature
- Preparation: dilute in a little water before stirring in
- Storage: in an airtight jar, away from moisture and light
