The following highlights some of the popular Traditional Sierra Leonean Foods. If you manage to be in an Sierra Leonean restaurant or you are visiting Sierra Leone, I recommend the following
1. Krinkrindand Fish Balls
This dish is an appetizer and is popular at celebrations and is also sold as street food. Fish balls are a combination of boneless fish and condiments such as coriander, onion, garlic, potatoes and peppers. The mix is rolled into balls and then deep fried. The type of fish and spices used depend on the fish available and the taste of the preparer.
2. Ockra Stew
Okra is a distinctive ingredient of West African cuisine. It is a hearty African-style dish. The base of this stew is the classic tomato stew, with red palm oil, onions and spices, plus the named ingredient finely chopped okra. You can find it in various forms and consistencies, from quite liquid to very thick, some choose to mix it with other vegetables, such as eggplants, others like the traditional okra stew.
3. Pepper Soup
It is a typically hot soup, hence its name, with a slight and wet consistency. It has various cuts of meat, paprika and flying fish as main ingredients. Pepper soup is considered a delicacy on the west coast of Africa and is believed by some to have medicinal properties.
4. Groundnut Stew
This is a meat and vegetable stew simmered in peanut butter. You can use freshly ground peanuts or peanut butter. Usually the chicken is first browned in oil and then removed from the pan. Other ingredients such as potatoes and vegetables are cooked in peanut butter. Peanut soup is usually served with rice or tofu.
5. Benny Cake
A healthy treat made from sesame seeds. These fresh sesame seeds are toasted in a frying pan and allowed to cool. In the same frying pan a caramel is made and the toasted seeds are then stirred to form small sticks or squares.
6. Cassava Bread
This tuber is peeled, washed, cut into pieces or slices, cooked in boiling water and crushed with a mortar and pestle after drying and pulverizing to form a flour, which is then used to prepare bread. Yucca bread can be served as a starter or as a snack.
7. Coconut Cake
The cake recipe is made with fresh, shredded coconuts, it looks more like a cookie than a cake. To prepare it, the dried shredded coconut is soaked in hot water for a few minutes to cool it naturally. It is then mixed with flour, sugar, coconut oil and a pinch of salt. It can be found in almost every street food stall.
8. Plantains Chips
This delicacy is available from street vendors everywhere and is eaten simply with the hands. Almost ripe plantains are cut into thin slices and fried until crispy. Very popular and very delicious!
9. Yebe
Yebeh is a typical dish from Sierra Leone, an African country where one of its many riches is its gastronomy. It is a cuisine of basic products, but for that reason healthy, in which tubers, vegetables, fish, meat, nuts and condiments come into play. Yebeh is a thick stew of yam or cassava, onion, chicken, broth, chili and other spices, easy to make, nutritious and delicious.
10. Cassava and Potato Leaf Stews
Cassava leaf stew is known by several different names, such as Pondu, mpondu, palava and saka saka. It is always served over steamed rice and is considered the national dish of Sierra Leone. It can be made with any meat or fish. Most African countries use dried fish.
If you found this list useful, here are some more Traditional African Foods to try out on my Pinterest channel.