Food from Mali

Especially for those preparing to attend a Mali themed potluck, this may be just enough to get you started. Most of the references are about current eating habits in Mali, and not historical information.

As I hope you would do at any potluck, please bring the list of ingredients and label a dish if it has known allergens or ingredients one might not expect.

From oxfam, "The main foods eaten by a moderately well-off family living in Mali’s capital, Bamako, are rice, millet, sorghum, and beans, cooked as a sort of porridge, served with a meat or fish sauce. A common meal in southern Mali is called tô, a pudding made from pounded millet, served with a sauce of meat or vegetables. In the North, the Songhay and Touareg make thick doughy pancakes served with wild leaves. Tô is also popular in Burkina Faso."

Africa Guide says "The food in Mali is similar to that found in Senegal and other areas of West Africa.

Along the Niger river, fish dishes are popular and include Nile perch (or capitaine) which is either fried or grilled, stewed or baked."

iexplore seems to be more of tourist/traveler information. They say Mali National specialties include La Capitaine Sangha (a kind of Nile perch served with hot chilli sauce, whole fried bananas and rice).

National drinks:
• Malian tamarind and guava juices are delicious.
• A traditional drink is Malian tea which should be drunk in three stages; the first is very strong (‘as bitter as death’); the second is slightly sweetened (‘just like life’); the third is well sugared (‘as sweet as love’). Visitors to Mali may be invited to partake in this tea ritual."

Some Recipes
Sesame Seed & honey sticks

Recommended one a site about Mali: Poulet Yassa (Senegalese chicken with onions)

Recipe Hound has a whole list of recipes, including:

• Sweet Millet Fritters (Maasa),
• Chicken and Peanut Stew (Maafe),
• West African Kebabs (steak or liver suggested in the recipe),
• Couscous De Timbuktu (Stew with Dates and Couscous),
• Fried Bean Balls (Akara),
• Malian Fish Stew, and
• Jollof Rice.

There are some Mali and many more West African recipes at Celtnet.org.

Our (West African, mostly Mali) potluck menu:

• beverages: papaya juice, ginger juice & water
• Fried Bean Balls (Akara),
• Pumpkin soup (where is the line between authentic & what our children will eat? the line between easy to make after a long day (step 1: open a can of pumpkin puree) and more authentic (step 1: peel & cook sweet potatoes)?),
• Millet & lentil pilaf,
• Jollof Rice,
• Crunchy cabbage salad,
  
• Poulet Yassa,
• Sesame Seed & honey sticks,
• Couscous de Timbuktu, and
  
• dessert: lime cake, coconut pie, bananas.