South Sudan

A thick, stiff, dough-like paste made by cooking sorghum, maize, or wheat flour in boiling water while stirring continuously until the mixture pulls away from the pot and holds its shape.

A staple South Sudanese stew of okra — often dried and ground or whole — simmered with meat in a tomato-and-onion base until thick and savoury.

A slow-braised beef stew in which ground peanut paste is the defining thickener and flavor base, enriched with dried okra and onion to produce a dense, earthy, deeply savory one-pot dish central to South Sudanese home cooking.

A Dinka ceremonial stew of freshly collected and coagulated cattle blood simmered with animal fat and wild herbs, eaten communally at cattle-slaughter feasts.

A thick, gelatinous soup made from ground dried okra cooked with groundnut oil and aromatics, simmered into a viscous main dish.

Dried fava beans slow-cooked until completely tender in their own starchy liquid, then dressed at service with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and cumin — the foundational breakfast of Egypt and a staple across the Levant, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa.

A condiment made from roasted groundnut (peanut) or sesame paste thinned with water, seasoned with salt, and typically served with starchy staples such as asida.

Kisra is an ultra-thin fermented sorghum flatbread cooked on one side on a hot clay or iron griddle, serving as the primary starch base and edible utensil in Sudanese, South Sudanese, and Chadian cuisine.

An everyday East African stew of collard greens or cowpea leaves wilted down with onion, tomato, and groundnut oil, eaten as a side or budget main with a starch.

A stew of jute (mallow) leaves cooked with meat, garlic and coriander into a thick green soup, traditionally eaten over asida in South Sudan.

A South Sudanese stew of tripe, liver, and heart braised with tomato, onion, and fenugreek.

A rich, creamy soup built on ground peanuts or peanut butter simmered into a savoury broth, commonly with chicken and starchy roots, found in Surinamese and West/East African cooking.

Whole or jointed goat, dry-salted and slow-roasted over open charcoal until smoky and tender, eaten as a celebratory shared meat.

A thin, hard confection of toasted sesame seeds suspended in cooked sugar (or honey) syrup, set into snappable sheets or bars.

Freshwater Nile perch or tilapia that has been gutted, air-dried, and smoked over wood until firm and preservable, eaten whole or crumbled into stews and sauces.

A traditional African opaque, cloudy, mildly sour beer fermented from malted sorghum (or millet), low in alcohol and drunk communally, often while still actively fermenting.

Ugali is a dense, cohesive stiff porridge made by working maize meal into boiling water over high heat until the mass pulls cleanly from the pot and holds its shape when molded by hand.