Gambian cuisine

Location of The Gambia

The Gambia's cuisine mainly consists of Mandinka and Wolof food, with some influence from neighbouring Senegal, whose cuisine is French-influenced. Gambian cuisine is part of West African cuisine and includes the culinary practices and traditions of the nation of The Gambia. Common ingredients include fish, rice, peanuts, tomato, black-eyed peas, lemon, cassava, cabbage, potato, pumpkin, garden egg, lettuces, rice, couscous, corn, findi, salt, pepper, onion, chili, and various herbs. Oysters are also a popular food from the River Gambia, and are harvested by women. ^[1]

Dishes

Domoda , most likely Domoda faring

Grain used in Cakri

Gambian woman pasting peanuts in Farafenni

• Benachin (benna cin, 'one pot'), a slightly different version of Thieboudienne, (both names used in Senegal for the same dish), is an originally Wolof dish traditionally cooked in one pot (the practice giving it its name). Various ingredients including fish or meat are added, seasoned with herbs, lemon juice, basil, aubergine, parsley, onion, chili, tomato, pumpkin, carrot, cabbage, cassava, pepper, garden egg, dry fish, and vegetable oil, with tomato paste sometimes added for color. ^[1]
• Caldo is a lemon-flavored steamed whole-fish dish, a variation of yassa. ^[1]
• Domoda , a Mandinka dish made with concentrated peanut paste, meat or fish seasoned with salt, medium onion, fresh tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, medium cabbage, water, tomato paste, lemon juice, soup stock, and white rice. Domo means 'to eat' and dàa is the word for a stew pot. Domoda is also the national dish of the Gambia. ^[1]
• Wolof : Mbahal or Mandinka : nyankatang, a smoked and salted fish dish prepared with groundnuts, locust bean or black-eyed beans, spring onion, fresh chilies, white rice, and bitter tomato or jaatoo. ^[1]
• Nyambeh nyebbeh, a cassava and bean dish made with oils, onion, chili, soup stock, salt, pepper, and fried snapper. ^[1]
• Peppersoup , a spicy fish stew.
• Yassa is a lemon whole-chicken or fish dish made with salt, pepper, onion, clove, garlic, mustard, chili sauce, lime juice, rice and water (if making it with chicken). ^[1]
• Oyster stew or sauci yohus, a stew of oysters (or mussels) with vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and onions and seasonings such as chili, ginger, garlic, bay leaves and other herbs. ^[1]
• Wolof : Cherreh or chere or Mandinka : futoo is a dish of steamed millet that can be served with various sauces, such as sauce made from okra and leafy plant like spinach for Chere mbuum, peanut sauce for Chere baasi gerte, tomato/peanut sauce for Chere baasi, meat, tomato & vegetable sauce for Chere baasi salte, and Chere Faas/Chere Marokeng for Moroccan-style couscous.
• Chew i kong is a fish stew with catfish, cooked with palm oil and served with rice.
• Chew yappa is a stew that is typically made with beef, but fish can also be used. This is also served with rice.
• Supakanja or superkanja is an okra stew or soup made with palm oil that may also contain smoked fish and beef, and is served with rice or fufu.
• Plasas , a stew/soup dish that appears similar to supakanja, but is actually made with spinach or potato leaves. ^[2]
• Pem Bem, a fish dish served on rice, with cooked onions. ^[2]
• Kucha, a Jola sour fish dish cooked with hibiscus leaf. It is made with fish, hibiscus leaf, okra, locust bean, tomatoes, onion, hot pepper, mixed spices, salt, lime and vinegar. ^[2]
• Fouti or Futti is a Fula dish. It is an okra paste and various vegetables on rice. ^[2]
• Domoda faring is a variation of the original Domoda but is made with flour instead of peanut butter. It is a tomato and vegetable lemony stew with chicken, lamb, beef or fishballs and uses flour to thicken the sauce making it another iconic Gambian dish. ^[2]
• Fishball stew, also known as Chu Bullet in The Gambia, is a hearty meal made of a tasty fishballs paired with a sautéed onion sauce and rice. ^[2]
• Chew diw tirr is a beloved dish in Gambian cuisine, known for its rich flavours and hearty ingredients. The main ingredient is smoked catfish, which imparts a distinct, smoky flavour. The fish is often accompanied by a variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, okra, cabbage, cassava and eggplant. Spices like garlic, hot peppers, and seasoning cubes are added to enhance the flavour. ^[2]

Beverages

• Attaya, a sweet Green tea traditionally triple-brewed with a small kettle on an African charcoal pot, adding more sugar and pouring the tea from each cutting tea glass to another with each brew. The name Attaya presumably comes from English attire. ^[2]
• Mandinka : Wonjo or Wolof : Bisaab , a sweet drink made from steeping the Wonjo fruit , and adding sugar and mint. It is usually served cold. ^[2]
• Bouyi or Baobab juice, a drink made from the baobab fruit, milk, and sugar. Usually served cold or at room temperature, however, when frozen, it becomes known as ice, and is typically sold on streets or next to buses. ^[2]
• JulBrew , the only beer made in The Gambia, which is no longer produced.
• Ginger juice, a strong ginger drink made from ginger, sugar, and vanilla. ^[2]
• Kabaa juice, a sour-sweet juice made from crushing the pulp of the Kabaa fruit, and adding sugar and water. ^[2]
• Ditakh juice, a drink made from removing the shell and soaking the ditakh fruit, then adding sugar. ^[2]
• Palm wine , made from the sap of various palm trees.
• Tamarind juice or Dahaar, a sweet drink made with tamarind, sugar, lime juice, and cloves. ^[2]

Snacks, Lunches, Breakfasts, and Street foods

Caramelized disc Groundnut cake

• Tapalapa is a bread shaped like a baguette, but with a denser texture. It is made from wheat flour, millet flour, and black-eyed peas, in addition to water, salt, and yeast. The bread is baked in a special tapalapa oven. It is usually stuffed with things such as: nyebbeh (black-eyed peas), fish, boiled egg, fried egg, mayonnaise, potato, chocolate paste, and more. ^[2]
• Senfuur, a more traditional French baguette bread, usually stuffed with the same things as Tapalapa.
• Fish ball s are made with ground bonga, onion, tomato, breadcrumbs, parsley, black pepper, oil, soup stock, tomato paste, chilis and white rice. ^[1]
• Akara , are West African deep-fried fritters made from ground black-eyed peas seasoned with salt, pepper, and onion. They are often eaten for breakfast with tapalapa.
• Afra or Dibi is a popular street food made from grilled meat cubes seasoned with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and bouillon cubes. ^[2]
• Fufu are balls made from flour from plantain, yam, potato or cassava. They can be served in layers with various dishes, such as supakanja.
• Panket are roughly racquetball-sized deep-fried balls made out of sugar, water, baking powder, and millet flour for panketu dougub, or wheat flour for panketu fanrin. ^[2]
• Street yassa, not to be confused with yassa, is a fish and onion dish made out of bonga, onions, hot pepper, salt, tamarind, and lemon. ^[2]
• Fish ket are flat fried discs made out of flour, salt, and water. They are almost always topped with Grone soup (marinated smoked fish), or a bean sauce with stir-fried onions. ^[2]
• Meat pie, meat stuffed pastry similar to Jamaican patties. ^[2]
• Ebbeh is a spicy soup with seafood such as crab. ^[2]
• Unripe mango with spices and sugar is often enjoyed as a quick street snack. ^[2]
• Groundnuts , usually sold salted and roasted with the skin on. ^[2]
• Groundnut cake, referring to either groundnuts with a thick ginger and sugar coating, or groundnuts shaped into a flat disc by hardened caramelised sugar. ^[2]
• Bissap sauce ^[2]
• Kabaa, not referring to the drink, but instead to Kabaa flesh in a cup, seasoned with sugar and spices. ^[2]
• Roasted corn, corn cobs roasted usually until there is little to no moisture left. ^[2]

Desserts

• Chakery , a sweet dish made from couscous (wheat or millet), milk (or sweetened condensed milk or yogurt), fruit and spices.
• Lakh is a sweet porridge made from the baobab fruit and millet. It can be optionally topped with Njineh jobe or Ndine diop, a sweet, peanut-based sauce also made with boabab and nutmeg. ^[2]
• Churai guerrteh or chura gherteh ^[2]
• Mono ^[2]
• Nan mbuur or naani mburu ^[2]
• Latchiri a Fula dish. ^[2]

Gallery

• 
  Gambian child enjoying making Attaya
• 
  Gambian women harvesting rice
• 
  Gambian lady's stall in a market
• 
  Scotch bonnets in Serrekunda Market
• 
  Big bag of dried Wonjo fruit
• 
  Frozen Wonjo juice

References

1. Dishes ^{[ permanent dead link ]} Gambian cuisine Visit Gambia
2. Gambian cuisine, MyGambia

• Ghanaian Dishes
• Nigerian Dishes Archived 2020-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
• West African Dishes
• Gambian Dishes