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Waakye with Shito and Boiled Egg

Name: Waakye with Shito and Boiled Egg
Prep time: 1 h 44 min
Total time: 3 h 54 min
Cuisine: Ghanaian
Ingredients: black-eyed peas — 300 g; long-grain rice — 400 g; dried red sorghum leaf sheaths — 15 g; food-grade potash — 1 g; water — 1600 g; salt — 10 g; peanut oil — 27 g; eggs — 400 g; gari — 120 g; shito — 150 g; thin spaghetti — 200 g; plantains — 200 g

Waakye with Shito and Boiled Egg reads sweetness 4.1, richness 3.9 and salinity 3.6 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Ghanaian main, about 3 hr 54 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 4.0 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 4.9 / 10
Sour & Bright — 1.5 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.6 / 10
Rich & Fat — 4.9 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 0.7 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 4.1 · Richness 3.9 · Salinity 3.6 · Nutty 3.3 · Umami 2.9 · Fruity 2.7 · Earthy 2.4 · Sourness 1.3 · Bitterness 0.8 · Herbaceous 0.7 · Citrus 0.7

What's in it (12)

black-eyed peas — 300 g
long-grain rice — 400 g
dried red sorghum leaf sheaths — 15 g
food-grade potash — 1 g
water — 1600 g
salt — 10 g
peanut oil — 27 g
eggs — 400 g
gari — 120 g
shito — 150 g
thin spaghetti — 200 g
plantains — 200 g

Time & effort: about 3 hr 54 min (1 hr 44 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 105.2 kcal, 4.5 g protein, 1.7 g fat, 18 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

Rinse the cowpeas and soak them in cold water for 2 hours, then drain.
Rinse the dried sorghum leaf sheaths under cold water. Put the peas, the leaves, the potash and the 1.6 litres of water in a large pot, bring to a boil, skim the foam, then cover and simmer 40 to 50 minutes until the peas are just tender and the water has stained a deep red-brown. The colour comes from the leaves alone and the pinch of potash fixes it and softens the skins; nothing is coloured artificially.
Lift out the leaf sheaths and discard them.
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, stir it into the pot with the salt and the groundnut oil, and check that the liquid sits about 3 cm above the rice, topping up with boiling water if it does not. Cover and cook on low heat 25 minutes, then take off the heat, rest 10 minutes and fold everything together with a fork.
While the rice cooks, boil the eggs 9 minutes, cool them under running water, peel and halve them.
Cook the spaghetti in salted water 9 minutes, drain and set aside.
Fry the plantain slices in a little oil over medium-high heat, about 3 minutes a side, until gold.
Serve the waakye in bowls with the spaghetti and fried plantain on top, half an egg on each, a spoonful of gari at the side and a generous spoon of shito over everything.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Boli (Roasted Plantain) — Nigerian
Cambuulo (Adzuki Beans with Cracked Corn) — Somali
Sałatka Jarzynowa — Polish
Mooncake (月饼) — Chinese
Sanwin Makin (Semolina and Coconut Cake) — Burmese

Keep reading: what sweetness, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.