If your go-to dish at an Italian restaurant is spaghetti with a good, hearty marinara sauce, you’ll love this dish. It has many similar ingredients like garlic, olive oil, ripe tomatoes and tomato puree, and is served over noodles (egg noodles in this case) but has African flavors and add-ins like squash, turmeric and coriander. Find the recipe from hopeeternalcookbook.com here.
Cassava is a root vegetable that looks like a sweet potato on the outside, but has the consistency of a parsnip on the inside. The leaves are often used in African cooking and are great when cooked down like spinach, or in a stew. In this recipe, they’re mixed with beef and okra, but are just as good on their own as with the other ingredients in the recipe. Find the recipe from KadiAfricanRecipes.com here.
This dish is like a gratin-omelette hybrid, but filled with delicious sauces and produce. This one has beetroot — giving it a gorgeous pink color—along with preserved lemon and merguez — a red, spicy mutton- or beef-based fresh sausage in North African cuisine. And of course, there are several types of cheese. It makes for a great hearty breakfast, lunch or dinner. Find the recipe from TheGuardian.com here.
You’ll never return to regular meatloaf again after you experience what apricot chutney brings to ground beef. This South African dish is full of the flavors of fall and winter from the raisins to cinnamon. It’s something you’ll want to eat right out of the pan. Make plenty for leftovers! The eggy top feels and tastes like cheese, making it an ultimate comfort food. Find the recipe from AllRecipes.com here.
Kids and adults alike can’t resist this sweet, sticky, fluffy South African treat. Koeksisters are similar to glazed doughnut twists, but somehow sweeter, with a gooier, stickier glaze. One of the differences might be the vanilla soymilk, which gives a milky flavor to the dough. Find the recipe from Food.com here.
Somehow, Africans have a way of making sweet things even sweeter. Malva pudding is no exception. This decadent dessert tastes strongly of caramel, is extremely moist and has a tasty glaze on top. It’s perfect with coffee at breakfast or for dessert with ice cream or vanilla sauce. Find recipe from YuppieChef.com here.
At first glance, this looks like a regular chicken pot pie, but underneath that puff pastry topping are bold African flavors. The recipe incorporates ham, which gives the pie a smoky flavor, along with ground cloves and nutmeg, giving it a wintery taste. Find recipe from indo-yummy.blogspot.com here.
If you’re looking for a super-nutritious, filling and warming soup on a cold day, this is your ticket. Instead of red kidney beans, the recipe uses chickpeas — a common source of protein in African dishes — plus it has fiberful kale. It’s also flavorful with saffron, cinnamon sticks, paprika and several other spices. You’ve never had such a tasty broth-based soup. Find the recipe from fatfreevegan.com here.
You’ve probably had lobster mac ‘n cheese or jalapeno mac ‘n cheese, but you didn’t know just how dynamic this comfort food can be. Along with the gouda and mature cheddar cheese, this version has biltong. Biltong is South African beef jerky with its own unique spices, so it makes the dish smoky, salty and beefy. Find the recipe from shonaskitchen.co.za here.
If you’re Jewish and regularly make brisket for holidays, or if you just love the tender, falls-off-the-bone meat, you’ll love this version. Brisket is often eaten with something sweet like a prune sauce, so the fruit won’t be too shocking. But the apricot just gives it a tangier flavor. Find the recipe from kitchendaily.com here.
