🇬🇭 Cooking Vegan West African Food 🇳🇬

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Today's video is the exploration of a bunch of West African dishes I wanted to make after buying some ingredients from AFROCAN Market (My West African grocery haul: • Grocery Haul // West A... ) I hope you give West African cuisine a try and check out Afia and Tomi's blogs and channels for more West African Dishes!
The Canadian African: About Red Palm Oil: bit.ly/3rKQS50
Afia's Vegan Red Red Stew: bit.ly/3BAXYgP
Tomi's (The Vegan Nigerian) Vegan Egusi Stew: bit.ly/3zxRvS4
Afia's Vegan Ghanaian Jollof Rice: bit.ly/3eTy9Pr
The Canadian African KZbin: / @eatwithafia
The Vegan Nigerian KZbin: / @cosyfoodie
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♡ Where do you live? - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada :)
♡ Where do you find mushroom broth powder? - Asian grocery stores have it. I show what the packaging looks like in this video: • Vegan Asian Grocery Ha...
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[@outsidejournal8832]

So my lil west African input. First, ur lil palm oil drops is cute n healthy but West Africans are heavy heavy handed, like that palm oil to coat and swim around the pot. Lol. Yes, egusi should be soupier. U have the same idea I had, I can see egusi being a tofu scramble sub. My aunt made me a version of egusi, she said it's Igbo version (S.E Nigeria) she adds lil water to ground egusi and forms balls then drops them into the soup. The ball egusi tastes chewy like tofu, best egusi I've had. P. S try Senegalese food, in the west African jollof rice wars 🇬🇭 vs 🇳🇬, Senegalese 'wolof' rice low key my fave! U did good 👌🏿😊

[@outsidejournal8832]

Ps dirty plates in the sink is a pet peeve, I go visit people and start washing their dishes. Lol. I wash as I cook too!

[@Thevietvegan]

Hahaha i was afraid to go heavier handed but I think I will next time esp for the red red and jollof to really get the flavours carried throughout! Ball egusi sounds like a great time!!

[@eatwithafia]

while I agree west Africans are heavy-handed, I purposely create my recipes to not be too heavy-handed on the oils. Just enough to get the flavour without all the saturated fat. Adding too much oil is why so many people are starting to say that west African food is unhealthy when in essence we are adding more than we need. But every person from the region cooks food differently so was not off guard with this comment

[@amychilliard1684]

Mi ml I'm

[@eatwithafia]

Loved watching this video!! Also, a lot of our jasmine rice comes from Vietnam 😊Adding the palm oil for the jollof is a good idea actually, getting close to native jollof which is more local jollof rice.

[@madcitywendy]

And yes - we don’t talk about the clean up demands of all this cooking we do.

[@Thevietvegan]

It’s definitely a lot of dishes to do! But worth it 😁😁

[@PunkDove]

I did enjoy this video, and I agree cleaning as you go is best, so there’s less work. I’d be interested in seeing similar videos as well, like you making groundnut soup.

[@Thevietvegan]

The pile of dishes at the end is WAY less daunting if you clean as you go for sure!!

[@jenwylie4093]

The black eyed peas look so good! If you make more, freeze them for when the baby comes. I attempted to fill my freezer when I was pregnant. I didn't make as much as I should have, but I had dinner for the first 2 weeks.

[@lari13s]

I’m Ghanaian so I’m familiar with a lot of these foods and I think you did a good job for your first time. Your flavor/ingredients are on point but the technique is different from the traditional ways. Like for the jollof, you can add more oil so that the onions really fry when you put them in. That’s what helps with the onion flavor of the food. Also cooking the tomato paste first gives you a deeper flavor which is very nice, but if you want a slightly sweeter flavor you can just add the paste and blended tomatoes together when you stew it. For seasoning it’s actually simpler than you think with jollof. It’s usually pepper, onion, tomatoes, garlic, and ginger (optional) blended with the tomatos. The only other seasoning is just Maggi, curry, and salt that we add to the stew. But of course you can add whatever else you like! Those seasonings and techniques is also useful when you make other dishes:) Your food looks good and it’s nice to see more people trying west African food! Last minute tip, add the water after you put in the rice for jollof so that you can better control the dry/wetness of the rice

[@eatwithafia]

I (and my mother) don’t cook with maggi so I just followed her lead with how she adds flavour to her jollof. Everyone cook jollof differently and the most important part is that it turns out tasty 😁

[@lari13s]

@@eatwithafia Absolutely!

[@margarett_b]

I am totally new to African cuisine and wow, I will be 100% testing some of these ideas! This cuisine looks so so aromatic, comforting and delicious! Plus, isn't it amazing to explore new part of the world through what they eat?! Thank you so much for this video! Hoping you will be doing more content like that! Stay safe and have a wonderful rest of the week!

[@raneesahachartsiri]

I am the same way with following recipes. These look delicious, thank you for the new channels to follow. I had a Nigerian colleague and I enjoyed her Jollof rice very much, except it was not vegan. Much love to you and Eddy.

[@Thevietvegan]

I have yet to try Nigerian jollof! Maybe my next jollof venture :D

[@jupiterb3874]

This reminded me of an African stew I made years ago. It was one of the most flavorful comforting dishes I've ever made. Going to try some of these recipes. Thx for the youtube channel recommendations!

[@Thevietvegan]

Such comforting dishes and spices!! Definitely excited to explore more of the cuisines :D

[@irishgirl81498]

that red red stew looks amazing, I love black eyed peas. very excited to try.

[@Ac35010]

Add the tomato paste at the right time is the came changer …. It’s like the missing ingredient that is very easy to miss but completely changes the flavors and texture of the stew and or soup. It’s keep to fry it

[@FairLadyAshley]

When the weather chills a little more I really want to make this recipe I have for African Peanut Stew! This video has inspired me for those hearty meals. During fall and winter it is some of my favorite savory/sweet cooking seasons because i make a stew/soup once a week (I had to scale back because eating two soups between two people in a week can be stomach churning). My mother taught me the important of cleaning while you cook. There is nothing better than start cooking a meal, putting a couple of dried dishes away and having a clean kitchen. Also cleaning right after you eat makes the process of cleaning so much easier, nothing gets dried on and gross. I know you are busy with pregnancy/baby and life but would love to see what you are reading sometime soon! You inspired me to use storygraph and i have been loving it and have gotten back into reading. I read like 12 books in the past month which that was my goal for the whole year. Trying to go through all my unread books right now on my bookshelves and read everything I own and give away stuff I don’t plan on reading again. I have also been really utilizing my library hold system and reading so many books I don’t have to buy first to see if I love them to own them! Trying to be a more conscious consumer with the things I own and want to keep for as long as possible.

[@lindsaytoussaint]

You have entered the jollof wars! 🤣 the bravery!! It breaks up families like a bad game of spades or dominoes or a wack batch of mac at the cookout! Jkjk my Nigerian side and my Haitian side (we use a lot of west African ingredients and techniques of course) are very happy!

[@garya3056]

Things to add to our family menu! Thx, Lisa. Hope you’re feeling well. 🤗

[@samanthaaiello]

My SO and I have the same dishwashing routine. I typically wash as I go because I tornado my way through so many. He’ll wash whatever is leftover after the meals. He offers to do them as I go too, but he’ll stack them out on the counter to dry, and I cannot handle the chaos. He and I both have our preferred chaos, I guess 😆

[@Thevietvegan]

I’ve had to learn to curb my criticism because I know that my way isn’t the ONLY way, and so long as dishes get clean, I gotta let him do it his way 😂 but if I’m cooking and cleaning I gotta get things out of the way ASAP so I do a lot myself if I can ahaha

[@rozchristopherson648]

That first stew looks absolutely delicious. I’m 62 and vegan for 7 years. I just started my raw vegan journey with the 80/10/10 diet. I still have a nice bowl of soup or stew once a week. Thank you for these recipes. ❤

[@kumuphu]

I always clean as I go. I use something, I wash it, then it's on to the next ingredient. I'd get overwhelmed with the mess otherwise. I know - I used to do it that way and cooking was less fun and rewarding. Now, I LOVE it.

[@ryanjamesc9996]

Don’t know what I enjoyed most...your cooking, your comments, the music or the end results! Looks delicious...I need to try West African vegan cuisine 🙂

[@margarett_b]

Also, thank you for introducing me to Afia and Tomi! I already know I will be a regular viewer of their videos as I really want to explore these flavours and they seem like very nice people!

[@catherineelkhattabystrauch4759]

all of these look so good and I'm immediately following all the recipe creators! also i love how you say "good good" all the time. this was a good good video with lots of good good recipes - thanks!

[@carolinecanihan2515]

Looks wonderful! :) Do you make Ethiopian stews as well? I used to get amazing Ethiopian food all the time but haven't tried to recreate it yet!!

[@Thevietvegan]

Ive tried making misir wot, alicha wot and injera but I haven’t figured out how to get the spices and flavours to be as smokey and rich as from my fave Ethiopian restaurants

[@edwinespinoza2059]

Brazilian cuusine has slot if african accents and meals and Red palm oik is only one of them.......loved it.I cover ny ricecwith babana leaf it jeeps moisture and adds a wonderful flavor.add hit water and soap to your blender gievit a wurl....its washed and you can use blender soapy water to was renainder of those dirty dishes.😊 Enjoyed your video.

[@SundaysSound]

I think with the egusi you only added your vegetable paste but not the water to make it the broth the recipe called for. At least I didn't see you adding water after the paste?!

[@madcitywendy]

Wow, this is exciting.

[@cman3893]

Dude that cube idea for extra tomato paste is brilliant 👏 👌

[@mayamiyazaki150]

Fab video as always ❤️Your videos actually inspire me to cook in this sweltering heat🥺

[@Thevietvegan]

Beat the heat with hot food 😂😂

[@ahamama4780]

Thanks for sharing this video fantastic

[@rockinstrawberries]

Ouuuu this looks sooo good, thanks for introducing me to these recipes!

[@desichef4778]

Wow great cooking method

[@monadavid1292]

Awesomeness 🎉🎉🎉!

[@jmcoffeecat7]

Looks so good!

[@GabyP17]

Ooh I’m so excited! I can’t find many options near me so I’ve only had Ethiopian which I loved too. Please do more recipes! ❤️😊

[@kyerewaasveggiekitchen8292]

As a Ghanaian and a follow Vegan this is how I prepare most of my recipes. Nice meeting you on KZbin. New friend here and ofcourse you can definitely stop by to have a look at my channel as well. Much love.

[@Vegan_Reader]

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Eddie!

[@Androktasiai444]

Thank you for showing how to do vegan foods from different cultures I love to see this and everything looks delicious!

[@justineelyseda]

This all looks amazing I know what I'm making tomorrow 😋

[@ashlynsule6856]

Great video. 👍🏾

[@ToadalSimplicity]

Extra virgin coconut oil + salt + ripe plantains is fantastic too btw. Coconut flavor with the sweetness of the plantain is wonderful

[@dibamoca9885]

Always enjoy your videos 😋

[@Veleanoria]

Everything looks so so good!

[@Tzulalay]

Beautiful and wholesome food 👏

[@Churros1616]

The food looks amazing!

[@misterkiller89]

Looks so good! Would love to see more African cuisine! There's a dish called Rolex that looks interesting

[@elpresidente699]

What tribe is Rolex from?

[@hollywebster6844]

Check out Beryl Sherewski's channel. She made Rolex recently. It's not vegan, though.

[@jillianvanliew]

Looks great!

[@mosimosi630]

You nailed it though

[@melodioushaste]

I didn't know that about red palm oil. That's great news!

[@AnaisStarshine]

This looks delicious.

[@GamingFoodie]

Is there another bean that would work in the red red stew? Looks really good! Thank you for opening my eyes to West African cuisine! Will need to try. Cleaning while cooking is the #1 best tip for staying sane in the kitchen. I want to relax and digest after eating, not think about more work to do. Those plantains look BOMB!

[@eatwithafia]

black eye peas are indigenous to west Africa so that is always the beans of choice but you can try kidney beans. Very different flavour and might take longer to cook but can be an alternative

[@GamingFoodie]

@@eatwithafia Thank you so much! I didn't know those were indigenous to the area. Will go out and find some then!

[@jackie9068]

Good try, but knowing the dry spice is important in all cuisine that is what make the dishes unique.

[@KpUnderCver]

In sierra Leone we call red red soup "binch"

[@ihearthealth2691]

Is there a substitute for the palm oil in the black eyed pea dish?

[@Thevietvegan]

Probably any neutral oil will do! I used canola before I had the red palm oil

[@MsBeckly]

Looks delicious

[@tamtastic2.066]

Loving the recipe’s but LOVING the nails ! Congrats on the Fam situation and * borders open, roll on down to PDX for a visit ( yaknow to break in the new car ) lol

[@Thevietvegan]

One day!!

[@tamtastic2.066]

@@Thevietvegan aww I’m honored u replied lol just saying take a babymoon ( life before baby and after are just as fun ) Portland may be to Weird RN but on a good day it’s lovely 😊

[@micamckenzie6669]

Yes yes yes Lisa. You should try to clean as you go.

[@dagmarapulawska6964]

why you don’t say what spices are you using for this recipe? Using right flavours is most important!

[@Thevietvegan]

I’m following the recipes linked in the description

[@kendallstone5819]

where did you get those wooden spoons??

[@Thevietvegan]

It’s linked in my Amazon shop if you want em :)

[@nealieanderson512]

Does red palm oil have a flavor?

[@elpresidente699]

Oh yes. Without it the following is loses authenticity. First it's heated to bring out that unique Smoky je ne sais quoi fragrance :)

[@hirondelle398]

I'm wondering... why you don't eat the ginger peel ? :)

[@Thevietvegan]

Dry fibrous texture 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@toBe8ere]

People eat the peel? I've only heard of candied ginger peel or to make veggie broth.

[@hirondelle398]

@@toBe8ere I personnaly never peel it, especially if I put it in a blender, but it tastes fine to me and it feels like a waste to take it off :/

[@Emiluna1994]

I’ve never eaten the peel, but I just use the edge of a spoon to scrape it off. You don’t waste any ginger that way!

[@izzyci]

I'm gay

[@johnwinston9424]

More MEAT!!!!!

[@bigmama5048]

What attracted you to west african food are you married to one?

[@Thevietvegan]

Lol no I am married to possibly the whitest white man. I just like exploring new cuisines and West African is super flavourful!

[@bigmama5048]

Impressive

[@thestranger2830]

You need a damp paper towel under your cutting board

[@johnwinston9424]

Another Vegan propaganda video!!!

[@Thevietvegan]

Yes, push my content up the algorithm with your engagement on my content. GET PROPAGANDA’D

[@melodioushaste]

What did the melon seeds taste like?

[@nohamalife]

Delicious food. Thank you