Waakye (Ghana) Recipe

Waakye is a traditional Ghanaian dish of cooked rice, beans, and dry sorghum leaves which give this dish the particular reddish color.

5 from 2 votes

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Course: Breakfast, lunch, Main dishes

Cuisine: African

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword: waakye, waakye recipe

CookingStyle: One-Pot Cooking

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1 1

Servings: people

Calories: 594kcal

Author: Kelly Atkinson

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Equipment

pot

Ingredients

3 cups of rice
1 ½ cup beans or any kind of beans peas
salt
4 dry sorghum leaves
10 cups of water

Instructions

Wash the beans and soak them in water for 3-4 hours.
Drain the beans and put them in a large saucepan with partly filled with water. Leave to cook for 45 minutes.
Wash the sorghum leaves and cut 3 to 4 inches, add to the boiling beans and cook together.
If the sorghum leaves are not accessible, substitute with a teaspoon of baking soda to give Waakye its distinctive color.
After 5 minutes, remove the sorghum leaves from the pot.
Wash the rice thoroughly and add to the beans. Add more water to the pot.
Cook the mixture for 15-20 minutes.
Make sure the food does not burn. Stir occasionally while it’s cooking.
Season with salt
You can serve with stew, egg or fish, pepper sauce, beef, chicken, and vegetables.

Video

Notes

You can use beans or any kind of beans peas to cook this dish, but we recommend you to use black-eyed peas or cow beans to give an optimal and authentic result - a dish of Ghanaian. Besides, you can use limestone instead of sorghum leaves. Because limestone also gives the characteristic flavor for your Waakye dish.

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Nutrition

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the Spoonacular Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

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