West Africa · Volume 02, The Cassava-and-Bitter-Leaf Belt
Lafidi
Guinea, every ethnicity, under a different name
Illustration
- Time
- 45 minutes
- Researched
- Researched from 133 sources in the brief
- Reviewed
- Awaiting a reader from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Awaiting a cook report
The dish Guinea has put forward for UNESCO intangible-heritage status, on the grounds that no single ethnicity owns it: lafidi in Maninka, fouti among the Peul, malé khoulangni in Susu.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 45 minutes.
Ingredients
- 400 g okra, chopped
- 2 aubergines, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 400 g (3 to 4 fillets) dried or smoked fish
- 60 ml palm or groundnut oil
- to taste chilli
- 600 g rice
Method
- Soften the onion in the palm or groundnut oil.
- Add the okra and aubergine and cook down until the okra releases its mucilage and the sauce turns ropey.
- Add the smoked fish and chilli, and simmer until the vegetables have collapsed into a thick, dark sauce.
- Serve over plain rice, most often at breakfast.
What a modern chef changes
The oyster-spoon service Chef Yaya Barry uses in Conakry, and the crayfish-and-bonga umami base from Rung 6
Rung 6
Method
- Build a concentrated smoked bonga and crayfish stock separately, and use it to cook the okra and aubergine rather than plain water, doubling the savoury depth without doubling the salt.
- Serve a small, refined portion as a starter taste rather than a full breakfast bowl, the exact move Barry and Touré make with tô in Conakry: this dish translates cleanly to a smaller format because its whole appeal is texture and depth, not volume.
- Keep the okra's cook time honest. Rushing it gives you crunch without the ropey draw the dish depends on.