Q: My boyfriend is from Liberia, and we've been trying to make fufu for our soups and stews. We use cassava flour and water, usually a 1:2 ratio. It thickens up, but never to the right consistency. Does anyone know a good fufu recipe?

Sent by Karen More

Cassava, manioc, and yuca are all names for the same starchy tuber grown throughout South America, Africa, and Asia. You might be more familiar with it in its dried and powdered form: tapioca. This root is a dietary mainstay in many parts of the world and forms the carbohydrate base for many excellent meals. Do you ever cook with cassava? More

Two dear friends were married last weekend, in a three-day explosion of fun, laughter, tribal drum squads, and really, really good African food. One half of this couple is from Texas. The other is from Burundi, a small East Africa nation between Rwanda and Tanzania. Her family brought rich cultural traditions to this wedding, including, to my surprise, a dowry ceremony. Have you ever been to an African wedding? More

Is your garden teeming with okra right now? If so, you can easily make a pantry item that will keep for the rest of the year and come in handy in soups and sauces come winter. Just take a hint from West African cooking: More

If pictures aren't enough to get me excited about trying a new food, then a good story certainly is. That's the situation right now with injera, a crepe-thin bread that is a staple in Ethiopian cuisine. The book Cutting for Stone describes it like this: "The mark of a native is that your fingers are never stained by the curry; you use the injera as your tongs, as a barrier, while you pick up a piece of chicken or beef sopped in the sauce." Mmmm. You had me at curry and now I need to know more. More

Yesterday Cambria shared a family recipe for African peanut stew, a celebratory dish made with beef, spices, and rich peanut butter. The classic side dish for this meal — and indeed, nearly any meal throughout much of eastern Africa — is sukuma wiki, braised greens with a very apt meaning to their name! Do you know what sukuma wiki means? More

It may look like a simple cheese panini, but braaibroodjie is more than meets the eye both culturally and taste-wise. Traditionally served at the end of a South African barbecue — braai in Afrikaans — these sandwiches are usually cooked over open coals and include and unusual combination of flavors: sharp cheddar cheese, tomato, onion and a layer of fruit chutney. My twist swaps out the raw onion for smoky grilled scallions and can be made on a grill pan or outdoor grill. Crunchy and gooey with a unique savory-sweet balance, they make a great lunch or crowd-pleasing late-night snack.
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I'm currently on the road, where nutritious, veggie-packed meals are few and far between, and wishing I had a few of these unusual samosas from Sarah of The Yellow House. Inspired by her travels in East Africa, they are baked instead of fried, made with whole wheat flour and lots of vegetables, and taste good hot or cold. It's an American twist on the African version of an Indian snack — intrigued? More

Q: I had fasolia (string beans, carrots, caramelized onions) at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was so delicious and I want to make it at home. Does anybody have tips or a recipe to make this healthy, naturally vegan dish?

Sent by Victoria More

Maggi is an umami-intense all-purpose seasoning, and according to Jack Carneal in his recent article in Lucky Peach, it has come to "define the taste of Malian cuisine." Maggi is used in everything from traditional tige dege na to spaghetti sauce, and at this point, Carneal says few people remember how Malian food tastes without this mass-produced seasoning. Good or bad, it sounds like Maggi is here to stay. More