African Cuisine! Republic of Benin

The cuisine from Benin is very appreciated in ThecuisinefromBeninisverya all Western Africa. Staple foods in Benin include yams, cassava, rice, corn, millet and rice. There are many fruits rising on the productive grounds of Benin, mostly in the south, like oranges, bananas, mandarin oranges, pineapples, kiwi, avocado and others. Many Beninese dishes are served with rice or corn dough. Generally, people from Benin fry vegetables or meat in peanut oil or palm oil depending on the region.

Ago Glain

Ago Glain (Crab with Peanut Sauce)

www.internationalcuisine.com/category/benin/ Ago Glain is a crab dish with a great blend of flavors with tomato, onion, peanut butter and some heat from the piri-piri peppers. Serve with some hot basmati rice for a great meal from Benin. Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 6 large fresh crabs about 1½ lbs. • 1 cup vinegar • 2 cups peanut butter • 3 large tomatoes • 1 bay leaf • 1 sprig of parsley chopped • 1 large onion • 2 large onions finely chopped • 3 whole cloves • Juice of 3 limes • 1 tablespoon palm oil • 1 tablespoon piri-piri chilies minced • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Wash the crabs and place in a large pot full of boiling water, add in the vinegar. • Season with salt and pepper, cook for 10 minutes, skim off any foam that forms at the top of the pot. • Add in the whole tomatoes, bay leaf, parsley and the whole onion with the cloves stuck into it. • Continue cooking for 5 minutes then remove the tomatoes and continue cooking the other ingredients for another 5 minutes. • Remove the crabs, remove their shells and take out the crab meat from the body and the claws. • Mix the crab meat with the lime juice and set aside. • Heat the palm oil in a pan and add the finely chopped onion and fry until translucent. • Add the tomatoes and peanut butter and cook until they form a paste before adding the chilies. • Now add in the crab meat and stir to heat through. • Stuff the crab meat into the cleaned shells and serve with rice. • Garnish with some parsley.

Spicy Peanut Sauce

https://foreignfork.com/spicy-peanut-sauce/ This Spicy Peanut Sauce is made with a blended onion base and a hearty helping of habanero pepper. Depending on your spiciness preference, you can range your habanero portion from “no addition” to “alllll the spiciness.” Enjoy this Spicy Peanut Sauce on…almost everything. Rice, vegetables, potatoes, meat (consider topping roasted sweet potatoes with this sauce).

Spicy Peanut Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• ½ large, yellow (Vidalia) onion, chopped • 1/2 habanero pepper, more or less to taste • 1 beef bouillon cube • 2 tbsp oil • 2 tbsp Tomato paste • ¾ tsp salt • ¾ cup Water • ½ cup creamy all natural peanut butter (no added sugar)

Directions:

• Blend onion and habanero pepper together in a blender until smooth. • In a frying pan on the stove, use oil to fry the blended onion and pepper with tomato paste, salt, and bouillon cube. Fry for about 5 minutes. • Add peanut butter and water to the pan. Mix to combine. • Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. • Use to top meat, vegetables, rice, or potatoes.

Chicken Meatballs with Red Sauce

https://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-meatballs-with-redsauce-benin-477347 If you like chicken with peanuts then you will definitely want to try this dish. Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken, cut up, deboned and diced • 3⁄4 cup no-sugar-added peanut butter • 1 habanero pepper, minced • 1 bunch green onion, washed and chopped • 4 onions, peeled and chopped • 6 tomatoes, blanched, peeled, de-seeded and chopped • 1 cup red palm oil • salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

• Take about half of the peanut butter and mix it with a little bit of hot water. It should still be a paste, but it should be just thin enough so you can stir it. Set aside. • Take the remaining peanut butter, the diced chicken, the habanero, the green onions and salt and put them in a food processor. Pulse

until smooth. • Shape the mixture into meatballs. • Chop the blanched tomatoes and the onions and toss them with the peanut butter/water paste. • Melt the palm oil in a pan and fry the meatballs in the palm oil until they are nicely golden all over. • Add the onion, tomato and peanut butter mixture. Cover the pan and reduce the temperature to low. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, then remove the lid and check the internal temperature of the meatballs (they should be at 165 degrees or higher).

Chicken Meatballs with Red Sauce

Yovo Doko (Beninese Sweet Fritters)

Try these fritters for breakfast with your favorite jams, jellies or butter spreads.. Makes up to 40 fritters

Ingredients:

• Peanut oil

Yovo Doko

• 500g plain flour • 170g caster sugar (refined white sugar but in smaller granules) • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder • 15g yeast • 500ml water • Salt

Directions:

• Put the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and water in a bowl and mix with your fingers until it is well blended. • In a large frying pan, heat the oil to low – medium. • Place spoonfuls of the mixture around the pan and fry for 6 minutes on each side and then 2 minutes again on the first side. • Drain on kitchen towel and serve with a dusting of icing sugar.

Carmelized Bananas in Orange Sauce

Carmelized Bananas in Orange Sauce

https://foreignfork.com/caramelized-bananas/ These Beninese Caramelized Bananas in fruit juice are a great topping for ice cream. Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 large bananas • 6 oz fresh squeezed orange juice (or whatever fruit juice you’d prefer) • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • 3/4 cup brown sugar • ¼ tsp vanilla

Directions:

Make sure to pay attention that your brown sugar boils the right way. You’ll want it to simmer very low for about 15 minutes and then plop the bananas in just to warm them through. Any longer and they won’t be as enjoyable. • Put all ingredients besides bananas in the pan.

Boil then simmer for 15 minutes. • Peel bananas and slice in half vertically. Add bananas into the sauce and cook for another 2 minutes, until the bananas are warmed through.

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