Waakye
Ghanaian rice and beans cooked together with dried sorghum leaves for a distinctive reddish hue.
Vegan
⚠ Contains: Gluten, Egg. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
How this varies: Waakye originates from Northern Ghana (Hausa/Zabarma influence), and the full "waakye package" — rice, beans, boiled egg, spaghetti, gari, shito, and sometimes wele (cow skin) — is itself a beloved variant tradition, since many Ghanaians consider the full plate, not just the rice-and-beans base, to be "waakye."
Ingredients
- 1 cup black-eyed peas (or dried cowpeas)
- 2 cups rice, rinsed
- A small bunch dried waakye leaves (millet/sorghum leaves), or substitute 1/2 tsp baking soda for color
- 1 onion, chopped
- Salt, to taste
- Shito (Ghanaian pepper sauce), fried plantain, boiled egg, gari, and spaghetti, to serve (traditional accompaniments)
Steps
- Boil the black-eyed peas in plenty of water with the dried waakye leaves (or baking soda, if substituting) until the peas are just tender and the liquid has turned a deep reddish-brown, about 25-30 minutes; discard the leaves.
- Add the rinsed rice and chopped onion directly to the same pot with the colored bean cooking liquid, topping up with a little water if needed to cover the rice.
- Season with salt, cover, and simmer 20-25 minutes until the rice is tender and the liquid is fully absorbed, taking on the same reddish-brown hue as the beans.
- Fluff gently and serve with shito, boiled egg, fried plantain, gari, and/or spaghetti, as desired.