# World Sauces — West & Central African Sauces

> Brad's reference for West and Central African sauces — obe ata, shito, egusi soup, maafe, peanut stew, yassa, moambe, and more.

### Obe Ata
- **Country of Origin:** Nigeria (Yoruba)
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 3:4:2:1 tomatoes:bell peppers:habaneros:onions
- **Instructions:** Blend tomatoes & peppers; simmer with palm oil & spices until thick.
- **Typical Uses:** Stew with fufu, rice.

### Ata Din Din
- **Country of Origin:** Nigeria
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 7:3:1 bell+chili peppers:tomatoes:onion
- **Instructions:** Blend; simmer 20–30 min until thick.
- **Typical Uses:** Base or condiment for Jollof.

### Shito
- **Country of Origin:** Ghana
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 4:2:2:3 dried chilies:tomato:onion:garlic
- **Instructions:** Fry blended paste with oil & dried fish until dark brown.
- **Typical Uses:** Condiment for rice dishes, meats.

### Palaver Sauce
- **Country of Origin:** Ghana
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 4:1:0.5:8 tomato:onion:egusi seeds:spinach
- **Instructions:** Stew tomato mix with meat & egusi paste; add fish & spinach.
- **Typical Uses:** With yams or rice.

### Egusi Soup
- **Country of Origin:** Nigeria
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 1:2:8 chili:onion:egusi seeds
- **Instructions:** Cook onion-chili paste; add egusi & greens.
- **Typical Uses:** With fufu or rice.

### Peanut Stew
- **Country of Origin:** Nigeria
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 1:3:3 peanuts:tomatoes:onion
- **Instructions:** Blend peanuts; simmer tomato-onion base with meat; add peanut paste.
- **Typical Uses:** Serve over rice.

### Maafe
- **Country of Origin:** Senegal
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 4:1:1 peanut butter:tomato paste:onion
- **Instructions:** Brown meat; simmer onion & tomato; add peanut butter.
- **Typical Uses:** Eaten with rice.

### Nkate Nkwan
- **Country of Origin:** Ghana
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 1:1:1:0.5 peanuts:tomatoes:onion:chili
- **Instructions:** Add peanut paste to tomato-onion-chili soup; simmer.
- **Typical Uses:** With rice balls or fufu.

### Ndole
- **Country of Origin:** Cameroon
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 1:1:1 spinach:peanuts:protein
- **Instructions:** Simmer meats; cook with peanut paste & bitterleaf/spinach.
- **Typical Uses:** With cassava or plantains.

### Moambe
- **Country of Origin:** Congo/Angola
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 4:1:1 palm nut butter:tomato:peanut
- **Instructions:** Brown chicken; stew in tomato; add peanut & palm nut butter.
- **Typical Uses:** With rice, plantains.

### Okra Soup
- **Country of Origin:** Nigeria
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 3:1:0.5 okra:bell pepper:onion
- **Instructions:** Cook pepper mix in stock; add okra & greens.
- **Typical Uses:** With fufu.

### Banga Soup
- **Country of Origin:** Nigeria
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 4:1:2 palm fruit extract:chili:onion
- **Instructions:** Simmer palm nut extract with meat & spices.
- **Typical Uses:** With fufu or rice.

### Yassa
- **Country of Origin:** Senegal
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 1:1:0.1 lemon juice:onion:chili
- **Instructions:** Marinate chicken; sear & braise in caramelized onions.
- **Typical Uses:** Over rice.

### Gboma Dessi
- **Country of Origin:** Togo/Benin
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 1:0.2:0.6 spinach:tomato puree:onion
- **Instructions:** Simmer tomato, spinach & meat.
- **Typical Uses:** With cornmeal dumplings or rice.

### Pondu
- **Country of Origin:** DRC
- **Ingredient Ratios:** 10:1:1 cassava leaves:onion:garlic
- **Instructions:** Cook cassava leaves with onion, garlic, palm oil & fish.
- **Typical Uses:** Served with rice or fufu.

## Details

- **Category:** Cooking
- **Tags:** cooking, west-african, central-african, sauces, jollof, egusi, maafe, peanut-stew, shito, yassa, palm-oil, okra

**Also read:** [All writing](https://bradanderson.org/writing?format=md) · [About Brad](https://bradanderson.org/about?format=md)

---

**Navigate:** [Home](https://bradanderson.org/?format=md) · [About](https://bradanderson.org/about?format=md) · [Work](https://bradanderson.org/work?format=md) · [Projects](https://bradanderson.org/projects?format=md) · [Breeds](https://bradanderson.org/breeds?format=md) · [Writing](https://bradanderson.org/writing?format=md) · [LLM guide](https://bradanderson.org/llms.txt)

_Ask BradBot directly: POST https://bradanderson.org/api/agent/ask with {"question": "..."} (details in https://bradanderson.org/llms.txt)._
