Cook this: Beef baguette — ‘an African street food invention’ — from Saka Saka

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Our cookbook of the week is Saka Saka: Adventures in African Cooking, South of the Sahara by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet. Over the next three days, we’ll feature more recipes from the book and an interview with one of the authors.

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To try another recipe from the book, check out: Peanut-crusted chicken (Chef Anto’s version of mafé) and papaya gazpacho.

For Anto Cocagne (a.k.a. Chef Anto), beef baguette is a taste of childhood.

Growing up in Libreville, Gabon, “Every lunch, it was beef baguette,” says the Paris-based chef, artistic director of Afro Cooking magazine, president of the We Eat Africa food festival, and star of the TV series Rendez-vous avec Le Chef Anto.

She and her friends would spend their high school lunch breaks washing down beef baguettes with Coca-Cola. Maimouna, the vendor they bought them from, is still selling the street food specialty on the same spot 20 years later.

“It’s something you can find in many countries in Africa,” adds Cocagne. “For me it’s just good memories.”

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There’s no set recipe for the “African street food invention,” she says. Any combination of roasted or grilled meat, raw vegetables, mayonnaise and hot chilies is fair game.

The recipe calls for two of Cocagne’s bases: ntorolo and red nokoss. The latter is a seasoning paste used to marinate meat; the former a condiment “used in the same way as mustard or mayonnaise,” she writes.

“Place it on the table to delight guests who love spicy food.” (If you prefer a milder paste, swap the hot chilies for a mild or sweet variety, Cocagne suggests.)

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BEEF BAGUETTE

2 red onions
1 tomato
1/3 cup (35 g) homemade or good-quality mayonnaise
1 tsp ntorolo (recipe follows)
1 tbsp red nokoss (recipe follows)
Vegetable oil
9 oz (250 g) ground beef
Salt and pepper
3 small baguettes
A handful of lettuce leaves, to serve

Step 1

Peel and thinly slice the red onions. Cut the tomato in half and slice it into half-rounds.

Step 2

Mix the mayonnaise and ntorolo together.

Step 3

In a frying pan, sweat the red nokoss in a little oil, add the ground beef and cook for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Step 4

Cut the baguettes in half and then split them open. Spread the ntorolo mayonnaise over the baguettes. Add some lettuce and tomato and onion slices to each baguette, then add the ground beef and any juices. Serve immediately.

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Serves: 6

Note: Beef baguette is an African street food invention. There is no set recipe. The idea is to make a baguette with roasted or grilled meat, fresh vegetables, mayonnaise and chili.

NTOROLO

Chili and herb paste

1 3/4 oz (50 g) hot chilies
1 white onion
5 garlic cloves
3/4 oz (20 g) fresh ginger
1/3 cup (90 mL) vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Step 1

Cut the tops off the chilies, then roughly chop.

Step 2

Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Combine in a blender with the chili.

Step 3

Blend everything into a smooth paste, add the oil and salt, then blend again.

Step 4

Keep the paste in a glass jar in the fridge.

Note: Ntorolo is a condiment that is used in the same way as mustard or mayonnaise. Place it on the table to delight guests who love spicy food. If you find it hard to eat really spicy chilies, choose mild or sweet chilies, or add red wine vinegar to your jar and the mixture will pack less of a punch.

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RED NOKOSS

For meat

1 red sweet pepper
2 mild/sweet red chilies
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves
3/4 oz (20 g) fresh ginger
1 tomato
1 celery stalk
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp soumbala powder (see note)

Step 1

Deseed the sweet pepper and chilies. Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Roughly chop the tomato and celery.

Step 2

Using a blender, blend the sweet pepper, chilies, onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, celery and herbs into a smooth paste. Add the soumbala and 3 tablespoons water, then blend again.

Step 3

Keep the paste in a glass jar in the fridge (see note).

Notes: Soumbala is a traditional condiment used in West African cooking and is an ingredient that is widely used, in the same way that fish sauce is used in Southeast Asia. It is made by processing the seeds from the pods of the néré tree. It can be found with different names: “nététou” in Senegal, “moutarde africaine” in Togo, “soumbala” in Guinea and Mali, “soumara” in Ivory Coast, and “dadawa” or “iru” in Nigeria and Ghana. Source it from African and Afro-Caribbean grocery stores, or online (e.g., mychopchop.ca, obiafric.ca, Etsy).

Nokoss is a paste used to season sauces, meats and fish. It will keep longer if you add a layer of vegetable oil to the jar. Store it in the fridge for up to a week. To keep the paste for longer, use an ice cube tray (that you use for nokoss only) and freeze the whole batch.

Recipes and images excerpted from Saka Saka: Adventures in African Cooking, South of the Sahara by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet. First American edition published in 2022 by Interlink Books. Copyright © Mango 2019. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

Article content

Our cookbook of the week is Saka Saka: Adventures in African Cooking, South of the Sahara by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet. Over the next three days, we’ll feature more recipes from the book and an interview with one of the authors.

Article content

To try another recipe from the book, check out: Peanut-crusted chicken (Chef Anto’s version of mafé) and papaya gazpacho.

For Anto Cocagne (a.k.a. Chef Anto), beef baguette is a taste of childhood.

Growing up in Libreville, Gabon, “Every lunch, it was beef baguette,” says the Paris-based chef, artistic director of Afro Cooking magazine, president of the We Eat Africa food festival, and star of the TV series Rendez-vous avec Le Chef Anto.

She and her friends would spend their high school lunch breaks washing down beef baguettes with Coca-Cola. Maimouna, the vendor they bought them from, is still selling the street food specialty on the same spot 20 years later.

“It’s something you can find in many countries in Africa,” adds Cocagne. “For me it’s just good memories.”

Article content

There’s no set recipe for the “African street food invention,” she says. Any combination of roasted or grilled meat, raw vegetables, mayonnaise and hot chilies is fair game.

The recipe calls for two of Cocagne’s bases: ntorolo and red nokoss. The latter is a seasoning paste used to marinate meat; the former a condiment “used in the same way as mustard or mayonnaise,” she writes.

“Place it on the table to delight guests who love spicy food.” (If you prefer a milder paste, swap the hot chilies for a mild or sweet variety, Cocagne suggests.)

Article content

BEEF BAGUETTE

2 red onions
1 tomato
1/3 cup (35 g) homemade or good-quality mayonnaise
1 tsp ntorolo (recipe follows)
1 tbsp red nokoss (recipe follows)
Vegetable oil
9 oz (250 g) ground beef
Salt and pepper
3 small baguettes
A handful of lettuce leaves, to serve

Step 1

Peel and thinly slice the red onions. Cut the tomato in half and slice it into half-rounds.

Step 2

Mix the mayonnaise and ntorolo together.

Step 3

In a frying pan, sweat the red nokoss in a little oil, add the ground beef and cook for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Step 4

Cut the baguettes in half and then split them open. Spread the ntorolo mayonnaise over the baguettes. Add some lettuce and tomato and onion slices to each baguette, then add the ground beef and any juices. Serve immediately.

Article content

Serves: 6

Note: Beef baguette is an African street food invention. There is no set recipe. The idea is to make a baguette with roasted or grilled meat, fresh vegetables, mayonnaise and chili.

NTOROLO

Chili and herb paste

1 3/4 oz (50 g) hot chilies
1 white onion
5 garlic cloves
3/4 oz (20 g) fresh ginger
1/3 cup (90 mL) vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Step 1

Cut the tops off the chilies, then roughly chop.

Step 2

Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Combine in a blender with the chili.

Step 3

Blend everything into a smooth paste, add the oil and salt, then blend again.

Step 4

Keep the paste in a glass jar in the fridge.

Note: Ntorolo is a condiment that is used in the same way as mustard or mayonnaise. Place it on the table to delight guests who love spicy food. If you find it hard to eat really spicy chilies, choose mild or sweet chilies, or add red wine vinegar to your jar and the mixture will pack less of a punch.

Article content

RED NOKOSS

For meat

1 red sweet pepper
2 mild/sweet red chilies
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves
3/4 oz (20 g) fresh ginger
1 tomato
1 celery stalk
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp soumbala powder (see note)

Step 1

Deseed the sweet pepper and chilies. Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Roughly chop the tomato and celery.

Step 2

Using a blender, blend the sweet pepper, chilies, onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, celery and herbs into a smooth paste. Add the soumbala and 3 tablespoons water, then blend again.

Step 3

Keep the paste in a glass jar in the fridge (see note).

Notes: Soumbala is a traditional condiment used in West African cooking and is an ingredient that is widely used, in the same way that fish sauce is used in Southeast Asia. It is made by processing the seeds from the pods of the néré tree. It can be found with different names: “nététou” in Senegal, “moutarde africaine” in Togo, “soumbala” in Guinea and Mali, “soumara” in Ivory Coast, and “dadawa” or “iru” in Nigeria and Ghana. Source it from African and Afro-Caribbean grocery stores, or online (e.g., mychopchop.ca, obiafric.ca, Etsy).

Nokoss is a paste used to season sauces, meats and fish. It will keep longer if you add a layer of vegetable oil to the jar. Store it in the fridge for up to a week. To keep the paste for longer, use an ice cube tray (that you use for nokoss only) and freeze the whole batch.

Recipes and images excerpted from Saka Saka: Adventures in African Cooking, South of the Sahara by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet. First American edition published in 2022 by Interlink Books. Copyright © Mango 2019. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.