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A well-rounded West African pantry might include buttery orange palm oil, powdery moringa, and tiny pearls of fonio. But if you ask Senegalese chef and activist Pierre Thiam, your kitchen isn’t fully stocked until it’s full of a quality that’s described in Wolof as teranga—a sense of generosity, abundance, and inclusivity.
Thiam, who’s also the author of Senegal (2015) and The Fonio Cookbook (2029), threads this theme throughout his latest cookbook, Simply West African. The book will show you how to make Senegalese-style jollof, a coconut-rich Ghanaian waakye, and a peppery Nigerian buka soup full of black-eyed peas, but it will also show you how to cook generously and intuitively. There are even instructions on how to perfect the vibe of your kitchen before you get started, to set the right ambiance for everything you cook. “We are a vibrant, rhythmic, dance-to-the-music-in-your-soul type of culture, and our food reflects that,” he writes.
Who this book is for
In addition to his work as a chef, Thiam has worked with organizations like the United Nations World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, advocating for more diverse, sustainable diets. Simply West African reflects that ideology, and anyone who’s looking to eat more beans, grains, and greens will find plenty within its pages, without ever getting bored.
If you’ve already stocked up on fonio (which Thiam sells through his company, Yolélé), this book will give you some ideas for how to use the grain, which is widely celebrated as nutritionally rich and easy to grow in dry climates. Try Thiam’s creamy shrimp and fonio grits, or a Japanese-inspired fonio porridge full of grated ginger and smoked mackerel.
What we can’t wait to cook
As a lazy cook who loves a multi-purpose recipe, I’m drawn to the comforting simplicity of Thiam’s mafé sauce—a creamy mix of sautéed onions, caramelized tomato paste, peanut butter, and vegetable stock. Thiam uses this mother sauce as a dip for pumpkin and peanut rice balls, a topping for roasted eggplant, and as the base for his root vegetable mafé. Perhaps most importantly, he assures us that the flavor improves overnight in the fridge, which means that one batch can have many lives.
