Liberia
Ask what Liberia eats and the answer starts with this: rice with rich soups: palm butter, cassava leaf and potato greens, pepper-hot and palm-oil deep, with Americo-Liberian baking. Look for Palm butter (meat or fish simmered in creamy pressed palm-nut sauce, over rice), Cassava leaf (finely pounded cassava leaves with palm oil, meat and dried fish) and Potato greens (sweet-potato leaves fried with onions, peppers and meat; everyday favourite). Palm nuts are boiled and pounded, and the pressed cream simmered slowly with meat and fish; it is Liberia’s defining celebration dish. This atlas has 28 Liberia dishes catalogued below, from everyday cooking to food kept for festivals and special occasions.
28 dishes.
Bitterballssmall bitter African aubergines cooked in soups or eaten raw with salt
Cabbage stewShredded cabbage stewed with beef, chicken and tomato paste, served over rice
Cane juicepotent home-distilled sugarcane spirit
Cassava leaffinely pounded cassava leaves with palm oil, meat and dried fish
Check ricerice cooked flecked with greens, eaten under gravies
Club Beerpale lager brewed in Monrovia, Liberia's own beer
Country chopmixed greens, meat and fish cooked down together in palm oil, over rice
Dry meatsmoke-dried meat and fish, hard as wood, simmered soft in soups
Dumboyboiled cassava pounded elastic, swallowed with pepper soups
Fanti breadDense sweet loaf sold in slices, eaten with roasted peanuts
FufuStiff cassava-corn flour swallow rolled to scoop stews
GeebeeCassava pounded to a stiff dough, torn and dipped into soup
Ginger beerSharp homemade drink of pounded fresh ginger, lime and sugar
Goat soupPeppery broth of goat meat and offal with hot pepper and seasoning
Jollof riceRice steamed in smoky tomato-pepper stew base; fierce national pride
Kalasweet fried dough puffs sold in the mornings
KhanyanFermented grated cassava mixed with roasted ground peanuts and cane sugar
Liberian pepper saucehabanero pounded with onion, oil and seasoning, set on every table
Palm buttermeat or fish simmered in creamy pressed palm-nut sauce, over rice
Palm wineSweet-then-sour sap tapped from the oil palm, drunk the day it runs
Peanut soupGroundnut paste simmered with meat, chilli and greens, eaten over rice
Pepper soupfiery clear broth of goat or fish with country peppers
Plantain chipsgreen plantain sliced thin and fried crisp, sold in bags
Potato greenssweet-potato leaves fried with onions, peppers and meat; everyday favourite
Rice breaddense sweet loaf of rice flour and mashed banana
Roasted cornFresh maize cobs peeled and roasted over coals at the roadside
Sweet potato poneBaked pudding of grated sweet potato, coconut and spice, chewy at the edges
Torborgeesour, bitter palm-oil stew of dried fish, meat and bitterballs-
Cane juice
Potent home-distilled sugarcane spirit. A wine & spirit recipe from Liberia.
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Bitterballs
Small bitter African aubergines cooked in soups or eaten raw with salt. Ready in 15 minutes prep and 30 minutes…
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Cabbage stew
Shredded cabbage stewed with beef, chicken and tomato paste, served over rice. Ready in 20 min prep and 1 hr…
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Check rice
Rice cooked flecked with greens, eaten under gravies. Ready in 20 minutes prep and 30 minutes cooking. Serves 6. A…
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Country chop
Mixed greens, meat and fish cooked down together in palm oil, over rice. Ready in 40 minutes prep and 1…
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Dry meat
Smoke-dried meat and fish, hard as wood, simmered soft in soups. A charcuterie & cured recipe from Liberia.
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Dumboy
Boiled cassava pounded elastic, swallowed with pepper soups. Ready in 20 min prep and 50 min cooking. 4 servings. A…
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Fanti bread
Dense sweet loaf sold in slices, eaten with roasted peanuts. Ready in 30 minutes prep and 50 minutes cooking. One…
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Geebee
Cassava pounded to a stiff dough, torn and dipped into soup. Ready in 30 minutes prep and 50 minutes cooking.…