Is fonio the new quinoa?

A salmon dish, with the fish served atop a pool of cheesy, buttery fonio that resembles polenta, is an easy start. And fonio tossed with beetroot and spicy pickled carrots shows off its lighter side.

AN INDIVIDUAL grain of fonio is tiny, like a speck of sand. But this humble, mostly unknown grain has a massive mission: Stimulate the economy in sub-Saharan Africa. It's fast-growing and flourishes in dry soil in a part of the world, West Africa, where few other crops grow and where unemployment is high.

Pierre Thiam is the leading evangelist of fonio. Thiam, a chef and cookbook author based in New York who hails from Senegal, is positioned to bridge the vast distance between the farmers of the sub-Sahara and America's upscale grocery store aisles.

As a boy, Thiam ate fonio at his greataunt's house during summer breaks in the southern Kolda region.

Thiam blames its relatively low profile on the effects of colonization: Many Africans believe native crops to be inferior to imports. And so even the national dish of Senegal, the fish and rice dish known as thieboudienne, is made using the "broken" rice leftovers from Asia originally introduced to the country by the French. "Countries like Senegal could be exporters, which would not only bring food security, it changes the mind-set. Now that mind-set is terrible - because of colonization, we look down at our own products."

His sales job is made easier by how easygoing fonio is in the kitchen. The grain cooks almost instantly. A quick boil and a fork fluff, and it's ready.

Erik Oberholtzer, a chef and co-founder of the fast-casual chain Tender Greens, first encountered fonio through his work with Food Forever, an initiative aimed at increasing biodiversity. While Oberholtzer appreciates its environmental and economic benefits, he says he just likes it and its versatility. He tosses it with salads and uses it to sop up stewy dishes the way he might otherwise use rice. "It's a very intuitive grain," he says.

That simplicity makes it easy to use in a commercial setting, he says, unlike, say, beans - which need to be soaked and cooked to the exact right level of doneness. Tender Greens has incorporated it into salads, and it's on the menu in a tabbouleh at Choice Market, the upscale Denver convenience store whose menu he helped create. "It's easy operationally to hand over to a kitchen crew," Oberholtzer says. | The Washington Post

CURRIED FONIO RICE PILAF (SERVES 6)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups onions, finely chopped

2 cups diced sweet potatoes (about 1 potato) in ¼ to ½cm dice

Pinch of salt

3 tablespoons curry powder

1-½ teaspoons fresh grated ginger root

1 can chickpeas, strained and rinsed

4 cups cooked fonio

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 bunch mint, chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

Add the oil to a large saucepan and place it on the stove over medium heat. Add the onions, sweet potato, and salt. Mix well.

Add the curry powder and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently so the onions don’t burn. Turn heat down to medium-low; add ginger and chickpeas. Mix well. Add more oil if the mixture seems dry, and continue to cook for 2 to 4 minutes more.

Gently fold in the cooked fonio. Remove the mixture from the heat, and transfer to a bowl.

Allow to cool. Just before serving, mix in pomegranate seeds, parsley, mint, and lemon juice, stirring lightly to combine the flavours.

Recipe by Claire Alsup