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African recipes

119 African recipes, from Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, Tunisia. Each one says which country it belongs to and where the recipe came from.

• Aboukir Almonds, sourced from Egypt. A whole roasted almond is wrapped in marzipan, shaped back into an almond, and dipped in hot syrup. Egg, vegetarian.
• Assidat Zgougou, sourced from Tunisia. The pine seed is ground and then strained through muslin, because the husk will never soften. vegetarian.
• Awaze, sourced from Ethiopia. It is fermented, which is what makes it a paste rather than a blend. vegan.
• Baghrir, sourced from Morocco. Pancakes cooked on one side only, where the holes open across the surface and are the point of the whole thing. vegetarian.
• Bambalouni, sourced from Tunisia. A hole is pushed through with the thumb and widened by spinning it on the finger, so the ring is thin and uneven. vegetarian.
• Basbousa, sourced from Egypt. Desiccated coconut goes into the batter, and it is cut only after all the syrup has gone in. vegetarian.
• Bataw, sourced from Egypt. Barley and maize rather than wheat, so it will not stretch at all and is patted out between the palms. vegan.
• Berkoukes, sourced from Tunisia. The semolina is rolled into pellets the size of peppercorns, several times larger than couscous. Lamb.
• Beyaynetu, sourced from Ethiopia. It is an assortment on one injera, and the fasting version leaves out dairy as well as meat. vegan.
• Bissara, sourced from Morocco. Split dried broad beans cooked to a thick purée with nothing in it but garlic, eaten with more oil than seems reasonable. vegan.
• Blunkett Salad, sourced from Tunisia. The bread is torn and soaked in the dressing rather than fried, so it goes soft on purpose. Fish, Egg.
• Boulfaf, sourced from Morocco. Lamb liver wrapped in caul fat and grilled over coals, where the fat melts away and bastes it as it goes. Lamb.
• Brik, sourced from Tunisia. A whole raw egg goes in and must still be runny when it is eaten, which gives about three minutes in the pan. Fish, Egg.
• Brik Danouni, sourced from Tunisia. A semolina dough rather than filo, so it is soft and substantial where the filo one shatters. Fish, Egg.
• Briouat, sourced from Morocco. Small triangular pastries folded like a flag and fried, where the last fold is sealed with flour paste rather than water. Beef, Lamb, Egg.
• Bsisa, sourced from Tunisia. Everything is roasted and then milled together to a flour, so it keeps for months and needs no cooking at all. vegetarian.
• Chebakia, sourced from Morocco. Dough cut and threaded into a rose, fried, and dropped straight from the oil into warm honey where it hisses. Egg, vegetarian.
• Chermoula, sourced from Morocco. A herb and spice paste made fresh each time, where the spices are toasted whole and ground but the herbs are never cooked. vegan.
• Chorba Frik, sourced from Tunisia. Green roasted freekeh is the body of it, and it is added late because it swells to three times its volume. Lamb.
• Chraime, sourced from Tunisia. The name comes from the word for hot, and the chilli is the dish rather than a seasoning in it. Fish.
• Couscous, sourced from Morocco. Grain steamed three times over the broth it will be eaten with, never boiled and never soaked in a kettle. Lamb.
• Dabo kolo, sourced from Ethiopia. The dough is rolled into ropes and cut into small pieces before any of it is fried. vegetarian.
• Dafina, sourced from Morocco. A pot left on the lowest possible heat overnight, with eggs buried in it whole that come out brown and dense. Beef, Egg.
• Duqqa, sourced from Egypt. It stays dry and crumbly, because bread is dipped in oil first and then pressed into it. vegan.
• Eggah, sourced from Egypt. The egg is there to bind the filling rather than the filling to fill the egg — it is far firmer than an omelette. Egg, vegetarian.
• Eish Baladi, sourced from Egypt. Dusted with bran rather than flour, and baked hot enough that it puffs into a hollow pocket. vegan.
• Eish Fino, sourced from Egypt. A soft enriched roll with a thin crust, shaped long and narrow so it can be split and filled. Egg, vegetarian.
• Eish Merahrah, sourced from Egypt. Ground fenugreek goes into the dough, and the loaves are spread out wide and thin with the hands. vegan.
• Eish Shamsi, sourced from Egypt. The dough is left to rise in the sun, which is what the name means and what gives the sour, open crumb. vegan.
• Feteer, sourced from Egypt. Always filled or topped, and the filling goes between two stretched sheets rather than into a parcel. Beef.
• Feteer Meshaltet, sourced from Egypt. Served plain, and nothing is ever baked inside it — the layers are the whole dish. vegetarian.
• Fit-fit, sourced from Ethiopia. The sauce is made first and the torn bread is folded into it, never the other way round. vegetarian.
• Fricassé, sourced from Tunisia. The roll is deep-fried rather than baked, so the crumb stays dense and takes the filling without falling apart. Fish, Egg.
• Ful Medames, sourced from Egypt. The beans cook overnight in a narrow-necked pot, so almost nothing evaporates and they collapse in their own liquid. Egg, vegetarian.
• Ful Nabet, sourced from Egypt. The beans are sprouted for two days before they are cooked at all, which changes them into something else entirely. vegan.
• Gazelle Ankles, sourced from Morocco. Almond paste in pastry rolled thin enough to see through, baked pale and pricked so the crescents do not split. Egg, vegetarian.
• Genfo, sourced from Ethiopia. It is served as a mound with a hole in the middle, and the hole is the sauce bowl. vegetarian.
• Gollash, sourced from Egypt. The filo is layered flat in a tray with the meat as a filling between, never wrapped round it. Beef, Egg.
• Gored gored, sourced from Ethiopia. The beef is cubed and left unmarinated, and the fat stays on it. Beef.
• Hamam Mahshi, sourced from Egypt. The cavity is filled only two-thirds, because green freekeh swells and will split a bird that is packed.
• Harcha, sourced from Morocco. A semolina pan bread with no yeast and almost no kneading, where the semolina is left to drink the milk before it is shaped. vegetarian.
• Harira, sourced from Morocco. A thick soup finished with a flour and water slurry poured in slowly at the very end, which is what gives it its body. Lamb.
• Harissa, sourced from Tunisia. The peppers are roasted and peeled before they are ground, and caraway is what makes it taste of this and not of chilli sauce. vegan.
• Hawawshi, sourced from Egypt. The raw meat goes inside the bread and they bake together, so the bread crisps in the meat's own fat. Beef.
• Hilbet, sourced from Ethiopia. The pulses are ground to a powder raw, and the cooked powder is whipped to a cream. vegan.
• Himbasha, sourced from Ethiopia. It is scored into a wheel of spokes before it goes into the oven. vegetarian.
• Hrous, sourced from Tunisia. The onions are salt-pickled for weeks first, so this is a ferment and a preserve rather than a fresh paste. vegan.
• Hummus, sourced from Egypt. The chickpeas are peeled, which is the only thing that makes it genuinely smooth. vegan.
• Injera, sourced from Ethiopia. Part of the fermented batter is boiled and stirred back in, and that is what binds it. vegan.
• Kabkabou, sourced from Tunisia. Capers, olives and preserved lemon are the dish, and they go in at the end so they stay sharp. Fish.
• Kahk, sourced from Egypt. The filling is agameya, a cooked paste of honey, ghee and nuts, made and set before the dough is touched. vegetarian.
• Kamounia, sourced from Egypt. Cumin by the tablespoon, which is what the name is built on and what makes the liver edible in quantity. Beef.
• Kar' Assaly, sourced from Egypt. A béchamel goes over the top, which is unexpected in a pumpkin dessert and is the whole point of this one. vegetarian.
• Kaware', sourced from Egypt. Cooked until the broth sets to a jelly when a spoonful is cooled, which is the only test that matters.
• Kersha, sourced from Egypt. Soaked in vinegar and salt and then parboiled twice, with both waters thrown away. Beef.
• Khlea, sourced from Morocco. Strips of beef dried in the sun for days and then cooked and stored under their own fat, which is what seals them. Beef, Lamb.
• Kitcha, sourced from Ethiopia. It is cooked free-form in a dry pan and turned by hand, and a little scorching is expected. vegan.
• Kitfo, sourced from Ethiopia. The beef is minced and then marinated, which is the half gored gored leaves out. Beef.
• Kocho, sourced from Ethiopia. The pulp is fermented for months before it is ever cooked. vegan.
• Koftet el Hati, sourced from Egypt. Laid straight onto the grill bars with no skewer at all, which is why it is shaped short and fat. Beef, Lamb.
• Koftet Rozz, sourced from Egypt. The rice is crushed into granules rather than ground to powder, which is what holds the meatballs together. Beef.
• Kolkas, sourced from Egypt. The taro is peeled under running water and never handled dry, because raw taro irritates the skin. Beef.
• Koshary, sourced from Egypt. Four starches cooked separately and layered, never cooked together, under three separate sauces. vegan.
• Lablabi, sourced from Tunisia. The bowl is built at the table on torn bread, and the broth is ladled over it to order. Egg, vegetarian.
• Lahoh, sourced from Ethiopia. A sorghum batter beaten by hand until creamy, then left overnight. vegan.
• Maakouda, sourced from Morocco. Potato cakes dipped in beaten egg immediately before frying, which is what holds them together in the oil. Egg, vegetarian.
• Macarona bil-Bechamel, sourced from Egypt. The béchamel is thinned so it sinks through the pasta instead of sitting on top as a lid. Beef, Egg.
• Makroudh, sourced from Tunisia. The filled rope is cut on the diagonal, which is where the diamond shape and the name come from. vegetarian.
• Malawah, sourced from Ethiopia. It is enriched with milk and eggs, unfermented, and browned on both sides. Egg, vegetarian.
• Matbucha, sourced from Tunisia. Cooked down for three hours until the oil separates and the colour goes from red to brick. vegan.
• Méchoui, sourced from Morocco. Lamb rubbed with spiced butter and cooked for five hours until it is pulled apart by hand and dipped in cumin salt. Lamb.
• Mechouia Salad, sourced from Tunisia. Everything is grilled over a flame and then ground together, so it is a coarse paste rather than a salad of pieces. Fish, Egg.
• Merguez, sourced from Morocco. A thin red lamb sausage with no pork fat in it, where the fat is lamb and must be kept cold throughout. Lamb.
• Mesaqa'ah, sourced from Egypt. No béchamel and no meat, and it is as good cold as hot — which is the opposite of the dish it shares a name with. vegan.
• Mesfouf, sourced from Tunisia. Steamed three times with the grains rubbed between the hands in between, and finished sweet rather than savoury. vegetarian.
• Mish, sourced from Egypt. It ferments in its own salted whey for months, and the older the jar the better it is thought to be.
• Mombar, sourced from Egypt. Stuffed with rice rather than meat, boiled first and then deep-fried, so the casing blisters. Beef.
• Moroccan Mint Tea, sourced from Morocco. Green tea whose first infusion is thrown away, boiled with the sugar rather than sweetened after, and poured from a height. vegan.
• Mrouzia, sourced from Morocco. Lamb cooked down with honey and raisins until the sauce is a glaze, sweet enough that it once kept without refrigeration. Lamb.
• Msemen, sourced from Morocco. Square laminated flatbreads folded around oil and semolina, stretched on an oiled surface until the dough is translucent. vegetarian.
• Msoki, sourced from Tunisia. Matzah is crumbled into it at the end, and the vegetables are whatever the spring has given — a dozen of them. Lamb.
• Niter kibbeh, sourced from Ethiopia. The spices go into the butter before it is strained, not after. vegetarian.
• Om Ali, sourced from Egypt. The pastry is baked dry and broken up before any milk touches it, so it swells rather than dissolving. vegetarian.
• Pastilla, sourced from Morocco. A savoury pie dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon, where the eggs are cooked into the cooking liquid until almost nothing is left. Chicken, Egg.
• Preserved Lemons, sourced from Morocco. Lemons packed in nothing but their own juice and salt for a month, where the salt is the only thing keeping them safe. vegan.
• Qâlat Daqqa, sourced from Tunisia. Five warm spices and no chilli at all, with grains of paradise doing the work pepper usually does. vegan.
• Qishta, sourced from Egypt. The skin that forms on scalded milk is lifted off and layered, over and over, until there is a slab of it. vegetarian.
• Rfissa, sourced from Morocco. Chicken and lentils heavy with fenugreek, poured over torn flatbread that is steamed rather than fried. Chicken.
• Rigouta, sourced from Tunisia. It is made from the whey left over from another cheese, not from milk — which is why it must be used within days. vegetarian.
• Rozz Me'ammar, sourced from Egypt. The rice bakes in milk until a browned skin forms on top and the grains below set in cream.
• Sabanekh, sourced from Egypt. The spinach goes in raw and finely chopped and cooks down into the tomato until it is a sauce rather than a vegetable. Beef.
• Salata Baladi, sourced from Egypt. Everything is cut to the same small dice, and the dressing is lemon, oil and salt with nothing else in it. vegan.
• Seffa, sourced from Morocco. Fine couscous steamed with butter instead of broth and built into a mound with cinnamon drawn down the sides. vegetarian.
• Sellou, sourced from Morocco. Flour toasted in a dry oven until it is the colour of sand, then bound with butter and honey and never cooked again. vegetarian.
• Sfenj, sourced from Morocco. Wet unsweetened dough shaped with a wet hand and pulled open with a finger, fried and eaten within the hour. vegetarian.
• Shahan ful, sourced from Ethiopia. The beans are crushed to a coarse paste in the pan after they have softened, not before.
• Shakshouka, sourced from Egypt. The sauce is cooked until the oil separates out of it before any egg goes near the pan. Egg, vegetarian.
• Shiro, sourced from Ethiopia. It is built on pulse flour rather than whole pulses, so it thickens as it comes to the boil. vegan.
• Siwa, sourced from Ethiopia. It is brewed from baked bread rather than raw grain, and the bread floats in the glass. vegan.
• Stuffed Squid, sourced from Tunisia. The tubes are filled only half full and pinned shut, because squid shrinks hard and rice swells. Shellfish.
• Ta'ameya, sourced from Egypt. Fava beans and not chickpeas, which is why the inside is bright green rather than pale. vegan.
• Tabil, sourced from Tunisia. Coriander leads it, and the garlic goes in dried and ground rather than fresh. vegan.
• Tabouna Bread, sourced from Tunisia. It is slapped onto the inside wall of the oven and bakes stuck to it, so one face is smooth and the other blistered. vegan.
• Tagine, sourced from Morocco. A lid-shaped pot that cooks almost dry, where the steam runs back down the cone instead of leaving. Lamb.
• Taktouka, sourced from Morocco. Roasted green peppers and tomato cooked down together, where the peppers are charred and skinned rather than fried raw. vegan.
• Tamriyeh, sourced from Egypt. The semolina filling is set firm and chilled before it is wrapped, or it bursts out in the oil. vegetarian.
• Tangia, sourced from Morocco. Lamb sealed in a tall urn and left upright in low heat for six hours with nothing to stir and no vegetables in it at all. Lamb.
• Tej, sourced from Ethiopia. One part honey to five parts water, and gesho does the bittering. vegetarian.
• Tella, sourced from Ethiopia. The clay pot is washed with grawa before anything goes into it. vegan.
• Tfaya, sourced from Morocco. Onions and raisins cooked down for an hour until they are dark and jammy, spooned over couscous rather than eaten alone. vegetarian.
• Tihlo, sourced from Ethiopia. The barley is roasted before milling and the flour is only moistened, never cooked. Beef.
• Torly, sourced from Egypt. The vegetables are layered in order of how long they take, rather than piled in together. Beef, Lamb.
• Tunisian Tagine, sourced from Tunisia. A baked egg dish and not a stew — the pot gives it its name and nothing else is shared. Chicken, Egg.
• Ummak Huriyya, sourced from Tunisia. The carrots are boiled and then crushed with a fork, not grated raw — it is a warm salad, closer to a mash. Egg, vegetarian.
• Usban, sourced from Tunisia. Liver and heart are chopped in with the rice, and it is simmered in the couscous broth rather than cooked alone. Lamb.
• Wat, sourced from Ethiopia. The onions cook dry first, with no fat at all, and the butter goes in after. Chicken, Egg.
• Zaalouk, sourced from Morocco. Aubergine and tomato cooked right down to a rough paste and then crushed in the pan, served cold rather than hot. vegan.
• Zalabiyeh, sourced from Egypt. A poured batter rather than a dough, which is what separates it from the squeezed fritters it resembles. vegan.
• Zigni, sourced from Ethiopia. The meat goes in first and the spices go in last, hours later. Beef.

What counts as African

A country on the African landmass, or in the island chains off it.

This rule is ours. It is not borrowed from any standard, so it is a choice rather than an authority, and you may reasonably disagree with where it lands.

EGYPT IS THE EDGE CASE AND IT IS DECIDED HERE: the Sinai peninsula lies east of Suez, on the Asian landmass, so Egypt genuinely straddles the two. It is admitted, because almost all of its territory, its people and its cooking lie west of the canal -- and it is placed in middle-east as well, on the same page, which is the honest way to show a country that belongs to both rather than picking one and hiding the other. Morocco and Tunisia are nobody's borderline. Anything later that is -- the Canaries, Madeira, Sinai read the other way -- gets decided here, in the open, when a recipe needs it to be.

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