Assamhate Wallet Imalahite,
cooking sorghum for a mid-day meal
Malian cuisine varies from region to region, but does not offer a great deal of choice. Most meals are based on a kind of porridge with a sauce.
The main foods eaten by a moderately well-off family living in Mali’s capital, Bamako, are rice, millet, sorghum, and beans, cooked as a sort of porridge, served with a meat or fish sauce. A common meal in southern Mali is called tô, a pudding made from pounded millet, served with a sauce of meat or vegetables. In the north, the Songhay and Touareg make thick doughy pancakes served with wild leaves. Tô is also popular in Burkina Faso.
Girls learn to prepare food and cook from their mothers, from an early age. Find out how to make tasty Sesame seed and honey sticks, see what a Bamako family sits down to eat for Sunday lunch, and learn about Mali’s tea ceremony.
Kadidia Traoré spends the whole morning cooking Sunday lunch for her family in Bamako:
"First I put the oil in the pot, and while that is heating, I clean and salt the fish. I then peel the potato and fry it in the oil with the fish. Then I pound black pepper and garlic together and add it to the pot. I bought all the ingredients this morning. We go to the market each day. There’s also cabbage, aubergine, courgette, and okra, as well as rice in the finished dish.
"This is a typical Sunday lunch when you have the money, but it is much more expensive than an everyday meal. Normally we would just eat rice, with some kind of meat, vegetable, or fish sauce."
making tea
"I empty a sachet of tea into the teapot, and add three glasses of water -- five if there’s a bigger group of us. I put the pot on the stove [which is a small metal brazier] until the water boils. Then I put fresh mint and sugar into a second teapot, and pour the hot tea onto them. I hold the pot so high that it creates foam and cools the tea so you can drink it quickly. I pour the brew into the glasses, and share them among the group. We take our time over the tea, chatting around the teapot on the stove.
"Making and drinking tea like this isn’t just for old men. All over Mali, you will see young men making tea together. People start at different times. I like the taste of tea now, but when I first started, I found it a bit bitter."
Dramane Oumar Samaké, age 12, Sogoniko, Mali
Making and drinking tea is also an important part of life for people in the United Kingdom.
recipe
Sesame seed and honey sticks (Meni-meniyong)
Remember to ask an adult to help you with this recipe.
Ingredients:
1 cup/100g sesame seeds
50g margarine
1 cup/350ml honey or 1 cup/175g sugar
Method:
1. Heat the sesame seeds in a shallow pan without any oil, until they begin to jump about and turn golden. Shake the pan so that they do not stick or burn. Allow to cool.
2. Using a heavy pan, heat the margarine or oil and then add the sugar or honey. Stir continuously until the mixture begins to caramelise (which is when it turns slightly brown, but without burning).
3. Pour the sesame seeds into the warm mixture and stir thoroughly.
4. Transfer the mixture into a flat tin. As the mixture cools, shape it into sticks either by cutting or rolling, and then coating it with more sesame seeds if required.
Photos for Oxfam GB by Rhodri Jones
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