Burkina Faso

Deep-fried fritters made from soaked, peeled and blended black-eyed peas whipped with onion.

A thin, lightly fermented pearl millet flour porridge, poured warm and sweetened with sugar, tamarind pulp, or both, eaten as a daily breakfast across the Sahelian belt.

Charcoal-grilled skewers of cubed beef or mutton rubbed with soumbala-spice paste, cooked over live fire and served as street food across Burkina Faso and the wider Sahel.

Bone-in goat pieces slow-braised in a deeply reduced tomato-onion-chili broth anchored by soumbala (fermented locust-bean paste), producing fall-tender meat in a thick, umami-forward sauce.

Steamed hand-rolled pearl millet pellets served with a leaf sauce (baobab, moringa, or sorrel) or groundnut sauce fortified with soumbala and dried fish — the everyday communal staple of Burkina Faso and the broader Sahel.

A chilled dessert of fermented milk poured over sweet, cooked millet couscous and sweetened with sugar.

A Burkinabè stew of red cowpeas (or red beans) simmered with red palm oil, tomato, and onion, seasoned with the fermented locust-bean condiment soumbala.

A deep-crimson cold infusion of dried hibiscus (roselle) calyces, sweetened and often perfumed with ginger and mint.

A whole or halved free-range Burkinabé village chicken — the lean, muscular bird that gave the dish its name — dry-spiced or marinated overnight then slow-grilled over charcoal until deeply charred outside and juicy at the bone.

A West African stew of yam chunks slow-braised with tomatoes and onions in a peanut-thickened sauce until the yam turns tender and the gravy is rich.

A Burkinabè braise of chicken cooked slowly with tomatoes, onions, and fermented néré (locust bean) seeds known as soumbala, which give the stew its deep umami funk.

Riz gras is a West African one‑pot rice dish cooked in a richly seasoned meat broth with tomato, onion, and often leafy greens, characterized by its unctuous, slightly oily texture.

A thick, viscous stew thickened primarily with okra and soumbala, featuring smoked fish and leafy greens as defining proteins and aromatics.

A West African cooking sauce built around soumbala — fermented African locust-bean seeds — which dissolve into the base to give a deep, pungent, umami-rich savor.

A dense, smooth, hand-shaped porridge of millet or sorghum flour cooked to a stiff, cohesive mass and eaten by hand alongside a sauce.

A stiff Burkinabè staple porridge of millet (or sorghum/maize) flour cooked to a firm dough and finished with local shea butter and salt, eaten with a sauce.

A cold, lightly spiced Burkinabè drink of ground millet flour blended with ginger, baobab or tamarind, and sugar.