Waakye

Story

Waakye (pronounced wah-chay) originated in northern Ghana among the Mole-Dagbon people and was later spread south to Accra and other cities by Hausa traders who settled in Zongo communities. The name is a contraction of the Hausa phrase shinkafa da wake, simply meaning rice and beans. The dish's signature reddish-brown colour comes from dried sorghum leaf sheaths, which are boiled with the beans and impart both colour and a subtle earthy flavour. Food historians note that waakye, or something very close to it, may be the culinary ancestor of the rice and beans dishes found across the Caribbean and South America, carried there through the transatlantic slave trade.

Ingredients

• 300 g black-eyed peas or cow beans, soaked overnight
• 5 to 6 dried sorghum leaf sheaths (waakye leaves), rinsed
• 900 ml water
• 200 g white long-grain or jasmine rice
• Half a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• Salt to taste

Method

• 1. Soak the beans in cold water overnight. Drain and rinse before cooking.
• 2. Place the sorghum leaves in a medium saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes until the water takes on a deep reddish-brown colour.
• 3. Remove the sorghum leaves and discard. Raise the heat to medium.
• 4. Add the drained beans and bicarbonate of soda to the coloured water. Stir, then cover and cook for 30 minutes, until the beans have softened and absorbed some of the colour.
• 5. Add the rice and stir gently. If the liquid looks too low, add a small splash of water so it just covers the grains.
• 6. Cover tightly and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for a further 25 to 30 minutes, until the rice is tender and all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir once halfway through.
• 7. Season with salt. Serve warm, accompanied by shito (fermented fish pepper sauce), fried plantain, boiled eggs, spaghetti, or a tomato-based stew.

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