Waakye (Ghanaian Rice and Black-Eyed Peas)

Ghana’s breakfast rice and beans, cooked with dried sorghum or millet leaves that stain the pot a red-brown; baking soda stands in when the leaves cannot be found.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Rice section’s regional pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

• 225 to 250 g (8 to 9 oz) dried black-eyed beans, or one 400 g (14 oz) can of black-eyed beans or red kidney beans
• 400 g (14 oz) medium- or long-grain brown rice
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 to 4 dried millet or sorghum leaves (waakye leaves), or 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 red Anaheim or bird’s eye chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• 1 litre (about 4¼ US cups) boiling water, or good chicken or vegetable stock

To garnish (optional)

• 2 soft-boiled eggs, shelled and halved
• 1 small bunch chives, finely sliced
• 1 green chilli, finely sliced

Directions

Key ingredients

Baking Soda & Baking Powder · Salt

1. If using dried beans, rinse them, cover with water, bring to the boil, then simmer for at least 1 hour, until one squeezes easily between thumb and forefinger. Drain. If using a can, drain, rinse and drain again.
2. Wash the rice in several changes of cold water, at least three, until the water runs clear. Drain.
3. Heat a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat and sauté the oil and onion for about 3 minutes, until lightly golden.
4. Meanwhile wash the dried leaves quickly, because the colour starts to run as soon as they are wet, and cut them into 7.5 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inch) pieces.
5. Add the rice, beans, leaves, chilli and salt to the onions and toss together. Stir in the boiling water or stock, and the baking soda if using it instead of leaves. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Take the pan off the heat and leave it covered for 15 minutes more, until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. Lift out the leaves, or leave them in for show.
7. Garnish with the eggs, chives and green chilli. Serve with shito and a meat or vegetable stew; fried ripe plantain (kelewele) is a good partner.

Notes

Source Adapted from Zoe Adjonyoh, Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, as republished on nigella.com (“Waakye Rice”). The baking-soda swap for the leaves is hers. She cooks the beans separately to cut their starchiness; she notes the traditional way is to add the rice to a pot of beans and leaves already boiling.

Two things to watch The page’s U.S. measure gives the water as “1¾ pints”, which is the imperial equivalent of the metric litre; in US pints that would be about 17% short, so the litre is used here. The recipe uses brown rice but cooks it only 15 minutes covered plus 15 standing, which is short for most brown rice; Adjonyoh’s own Food & Wine essay (2021) says waakye is usually made with basmati or jasmine. Check the rice for doneness before the stand and add a little boiling water if it is still hard.

The dish The name is Hausa, a contraction of shinkafa da wake, “rice and beans”, and Adjonyoh places its origins with the Hausa communities of northern Ghana. It is sold as a street breakfast from chop bars, often wrapped in leaves, with gari, shito, spaghetti, eggs and fried plantain. Her Food & Wine essay calls it more of an everyday staple in Ghanaian homes than jollof. The Rice section’s West Africa and the Carolinas page (/rice/west-africa-and-the-carolinas/) covers the region’s rice.

The photo The photograph shows waakye served Ghanaian style with gari, spaghetti, an egg and stew, not this exact recipe.