Asanka
The ridged clay bowl for grinding, in Ghana.
West African cuisine · The table
The West African table
A West African meal is jollof with a scatter of sides, or egusi with swallow — not rice under the soup, and suya is the street night.
Nigerian jollof is a party or Sunday rice, often with fried plantain and a simple salad, sometimes a piece of chicken. Egusi is a seed soup eaten with pounded yam, eba, or fufu — the swallow is the utensil. Suya is grilled meat with yaji, onion, and tomato, usually in the evening.
Chicken yassa is a Senegalese-Gambian onion-lemon grill or stew with rice — another rice night, not a side for egusi.
Back to West African cooking · Host a West African night · Pantry · Cookware
How it looks
The jollof table
A pot of red rice, plantain, a little salad.
The inherited party table is jollof in the middle. Plantain. Salad. Meat if you roasted some. No swallow, no egusi.
How it looks
The swallow table
Egusi, a board of pounded yam or eba, a bowl of water for the right hand.
The newer or everyday table can be soup and swallow. Pinch, scoop, swallow. Rice is another night.
How it is served
The order of the room
Jollof is the rice. Egusi wants swallow. Suya is the stick.
Do not pour egusi over jollof. Soup wants swallow. Jollof is already the starch.
Suya is not a garnish on the rice. Yassa is its own rice plate.
Bring it home
What this table needs
Objects you can read about here, then find on Amazon — search links, not a single SKU that goes stale.
Coal pot
The old hearth.
Palm oil
The red fat in many soups.
Suya spice
Yaji for the stick night.
Cayenne
Heat on the side.
Keep cooking
The West African pantry, pots, and table
The spices, mixes, and hearths that belong to West African cooking — then the people around them, and the kitchens still joining the table.
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