Culture Tuesday: an Exploration of Sierra Leonean Cuisine

Culture Tuesday is a weekly column in which Best of Vegan Editor Samantha Onyemenam explores different cultures’ cuisines across the globe through a plant-based and vegan lens. In today’s column, she is taking a closer look at vegan Sierra Leonean cuisine.

Culture Tuesday – Sierra Leonean Cuisine

Sierra Leonean cuisine is the traditional foods and cooking practices of the West African country, Sierra Leone (nicknamed, ‘Sweet Salone’). Similar to other countries in the region, the staple foods of Sierra Leone are rice, cassava, plantains, beans, groundnuts, and yam (although yams are not as commonly used in Sierra Leone as they are in some countries, such as Nigeria).

Cassava

Cassava is used almost in its entirety in the country as both the root tuber and leaves are cooked making the cassava plant one of the most important crops in the cuisine.

The tuber is peeled, washed, chopped/sliced, cooked in boiling water, and pounded using a mortar and pestle to make fufu. It is also served in chopped or sliced pieces cooked in water and/or fried or made into bread (after drying and pulverizing the cassava into flour).

As for the leaves, they are washed and pounded using a mortar and pestle till they break down into fine pieces or they are finely sliced and cooked with stock, palm oil, onions, chili peppers, ginger, peanut butter, and other ingredients (such as potato leaves and/or okra) to make stews known as, ‘plasa,’ or ‘palaver.’

Another dish made using the cassava plant is yebe. Yebe is a stew that originates from the Mende tribe of Sierra Leone. It is a reflection of the farming culture of the Mende people who have been very successful farmers of cassava, rice, and yams (amongst other foods). The stew is made by cooking boiled cassava and yam pieces with sautéed onions, garlic, ginger, scotch bonnet chillies, and blended tomatoes. It is seasoned with stock/seasoning cubes and salt, although some cooks also include aromatic fresh herbs to the dish towards the end of the cooking process and before serving the stew with freshly cooked rice. This dish is traditionally non-vegan but can be made vegan through the exclusion of meat and/or inclusion of meat substitutes.

It is believed that historically, stews like yebe were made using fermented oilseeds and beans in place of stock/seasoning cubes to add flavor (especially an umami flavor) to dishes. These fermented seeds and beans include ogeri (fermented sesame seeds) and sounbareh/kainda (fermented locust beans that have been roasted and ground). Seasoning cubes were not used in traditional recipes prior to the introduction of Maggi cubes to West Africa (from Switzerland) in the 1950s. Somehow, they became an indispensable ingredient in the recipes for most traditional Sierra Leonean dishes.

Beans

Beans, mostly binch (black-eyed beans), are an integral ingredient in a lot of dishes in the cuisine of Sierra Leone and are often part of breakfast meals. Beans feature in dishes such as oleleh, binch akara, and beans pottage. These dishes are not always vegan-friendly (due to the addition of fish) although they can be made and/or found in vegan-friendly versions quite easily.

Oleleh, is a steamed beans pudding. Binch are soaked, peeled, and ground/blended with onions, red chillies, palm oil, a stock cube, and salt. The mixture is blended with as little water as possible (best without any water) and poured into parcels made of banana or kola leaves, sealed, and steamed for, approximately, forty minutes. When banana and kola leaves are unavailable, parcels made from aluminum foil or ramekins covered with foil are used as vessels the bean mixture can be steamed in.

Binch akara is a fritter made from beans. The beans are soaked and peeled then blended with onions, chillies, a stock cube, and salt. The blended mixture is whisked for up to ten minutes to incorporate air into the batter and make it fluffy. The fluffy mixture is then deep-fried until golden brown and served on its own, between slices of bread/in a bread roll, or with an onion gravy.

Beans pottage, is a stewed bean dish. The beans are cooked in boiling water till softened (but not mushy). In another pot/pan, chopped onions, and chillies are fried in palm oil and seasoned with a stock cube. The fried mixture is stirred into the cooked beans and left to simmer for a few minutes. Some cooks make this dish with the addition of sweet potatoes, tomatoes/tomato paste, and/or green leafy vegetables. The dish is either served on its own, in bread rolls, or with fried plantains, sweet potatoes, or yams. Although it might be less traditional, some people do opt to eat their beans pottage with rice.

Groundnuts

Groundnuts, also known as, ‘peanuts,’ are present in Sierra Leonean cuisine in the forms of crushed groundnuts, peanut butter, whole groundnuts, and groundnut oil. Each form of groundnut is used to make delectable dishes such as groundnut soup and hot peanut sauce.

Salone groundnut soup is a creamy and flavorsome dish. It is made by combining onions and peppers that have been sautéed in palm oil (or groundnut oil) with a blended mixture of tomatoes, freshly made peanut butter, garlic, ginger, scotch bonnet chillies, and vegetable stock and cooking down the mixture till it reaches the desired consistency. It is seasoned with herbs and spices and served with rice, plantains, or bread, unlike most West African countries which serve their groundnut soup strictly/mostly with fufu or pounded yam.

On the other hand, groundnut/peanut sauce is a condiment that can be served with meat substitutes or anything that might need a bit more flavor. It is made by processing onions, garlic, ginger, peanut butter, stock cubes, tomato paste, and chillies together into a paste then frying the paste in hot vegetable oil.

Rice

Rice is either the main ingredient or an accompanying part, to a lot of Sierra Leonean dishes. It is served with plasas, other stews, such as Jollof rice or in banana akara.

Jollof rice is a highly debated dish amongst West Africans as the people of each country believe their country makes it best. The loudmouths of this debate are the Nigerians and Ghanaians. However, Sierra Leone ought to have a place, and voice, at the table as a nation that also makes great Jollof rice.

The key aspect of making Sierra Leonean Jollof is ensuring you make a “tight” stew. To start the stew (vegan-friendly version), a meat substitute is browned in a pan with vegetable oil then sautéed with tomato paste, purple onions, and spring onions (scallions/green onions). A blended mixture of tomatoes, scotch bonnet chillies, and onions are stirred in followed by variously colored bell peppers. This stew is seasoned and left to cook down to further develop its flavor.

For the rice, oil is poured into a pot (any excess from making the stew can be used). When the oil is hot, onions are added to it (some cooks might also add chopped carrots at this point). The onions are left to fry till translucent then, a blended mixture of tomatoes, chillies, and onions is stirred into the pot alongside some tomato paste, stock cubes, dried herbs, and spices. After this mixture has fried for a few minutes, freshly washed rice is stirred into the mixture followed by enough water to cover the rice. The pot will be covered with foil or parchment/baking paper then its lid to trap in steam as the rice cooks and the heat is reduced to medium-low to prevent the rice from burning during the cooking process. Towards the end of the cooking process, chopped/sliced cabbage is stirred into the rice then the pot is covered again till all the water has been absorbed. The resulting dish is served with the stew made with the meat substitute to make a delicious Salone Jollof.

Salone Jollof Rice is usually always vegan-friendly, however, the stew is, more often than not, non-vegan, although it can easily be made vegan.

Another dish made with rice is banana akara (also known solely as, akara). These are, essentially, banana fritters. The rice used in making this is in the form of rice flour. It is made by deep-frying spoonfuls of a mixture of rice flour, ripe (or overripe) bananas, sugar, and water. Some cooks also include salt, baking powder, and flavorings such as ground nutmeg and/or vanilla extract to their akara batter. The resulting dish is served as a breakfast food or snack enjoyed by all.

Recipe from Vegan Sierra Leonean Cuisine
Cuisine: Jollof Rice by Recipes from a Pantry

These Jollof Rice recipes are by Bintu Hardy of Recipes from a Pantry (@recipesfromapantry on Instagram). One of them is an instant-pot Jollof recipe while the other is not. She also adds a twist to one of the recipes by including coconut milk. However, she also mentions that for both recipes, vegetable stock can be used to replace coconut milk and/or water.

Only the rice recipe is featured here although it is mentioned that the Jollof rice will need to be served with a stew and she suggests a vegan-friendly Black Eyed Beans and Sweet Potato Stew as well as a side of fried plantains.

Click here for the full recipe.

Author: Samantha Onyemenam.