Waakye (Ghanaian Rice and Beans)

About This Recipe

Waakye (pronounced 'WAH-chey') is northern Ghana's gift to West African cooking and one of the country's most beloved street breakfasts. Rice and black-eyed peas (or cowpeas) are cooked together with dried sorghum or millet leaves — locally called 'waakye leaves' — which release a rich burgundy-purple color and a faintly earthy flavor. The plate, served on a banana leaf or wax paper, is built around the rice: spicy tomato stew (usually with goat, beef, or fish), shito (Ghana's smoky pepper sauce), boiled egg, fried sweet plantain (kelewele or aboboi), gari (toasted cassava flakes for crunch), and shredded raw spaghetti or salad. The orchestration of textures and temperatures — soft, hot, sour, crunchy, sweet, fiery — is what makes a great plate of waakye.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 300 gblack-eyed peas or cowpeas, soaked 4 hours
• 1.5 Lwater
• 8dried sorghum/millet leaves (waakye leaves) — or 1 tsp baking soda + 1 tbsp dried hibiscus
• 1 tspsalt
• 350 glong-grain parboiled rice, rinsed
• 500 gbeef chuck or goat, cubed
• 1 tspsalt
• 2 tbspred palm oil (or neutral oil)
• 1 largeonion, diced
• 4 clovesgarlic, minced
• 1 thumbginger, minced
• 1scotch bonnet, minced (use half for less heat)
• 4tomatoes, blended
• 2 tbsptomato paste
• 1 tspground coriander
• 1 tspground white pepper
• 4hard-boiled eggs, halved
• 2ripe plantains, sliced and fried
• 60 ggari (toasted cassava granules)
• shito (Ghanaian black pepper sauce) to serve

Instructions

1. 1

   Start beans

   Drain soaked beans. Combine with water and waakye leaves in a heavy pot. (If using substitute: omit baking soda for now; add hibiscus tied in cheesecloth.) Bring to a boil, then simmer 35 minutes until beans are al dente.

2. 2

   Add rice

   Stir in salt and rice. Top up water if needed so rice is barely submerged. Cover; cook over low heat 18–20 minutes until rice is tender and most liquid is absorbed. (If using baking soda substitute, add a pinch now for color.)

3. 3

   Rest and check color

   Remove from heat. The rice and beans should be a deep dusky purple. Fluff with a fork. Cover and let steam 10 minutes.

4. 4

   Make stew

   Season beef with salt; sear in palm oil 5 minutes. Remove. Sauté onion 4 minutes; add garlic, ginger, scotch bonnet; cook 1 minute. Add blended tomato, paste, coriander, white pepper; reduce 8 minutes until thick and dark.

5. 5

   Stew the meat

   Return beef with 200ml water. Simmer 35–40 minutes until beef is tender and sauce is glossy and reduced.

6. 6

   Assemble

   On each plate: a scoop of waakye rice, a ladle of stew with a chunk of meat, half a boiled egg, two fried plantain slices.

7. 7

   Finish with sides

   Sprinkle gari over the rice for crunch. Spoon shito on the side — start small, this stuff is potent. Eat with hands or fork, mixing as you go.

Variations

• •

  Vegetarian waakye: skip beef stew; use a hearty mushroom-and-spinach stew with palm oil.

• •

  With fish: substitute fried smoked mackerel or tilapia for the beef.

• •

  Serve with talia (raw shredded spaghetti) instead of gari for the Accra street-vendor style.

Storage

Rice and beans refrigerate 3 days; reheat with a splash of water in a covered pan. Stew keeps 4 days and improves overnight. Shito keeps months refrigerated.

Frequently Asked Questions