This event took place in August 2020, but you can re-watch the recording of the event, download the recipes and follow along with us at any time. Just download the recipes below, and watch our event recording here:

A virtual cook-a-long event hosted by Feeding Mouths Filling Minds in August 2020. Proceeds benefitted FMFM's food programs in West Africa.

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Learn to cook an authentic West African meal alongside an executive chef from home

Join us for an interactive virtual cook-a-long event, led by executive chef Awa Sibi, owner of Les Délices de Awa, a new West African caterer in Madison, and Maria Nicholas-Groves, founder of Feeding Mouths, Filling Minds. This is a family-friendly event and children are welcome to join in!

During this live event, you will get step-by-step cooking tips, and can ask all the questions you want. Along the way, we’ll learn a bit about foods and cooking in West Africa, and hear updates on what FMFM is doing to help villages gain sustainable access to food for their schoolchildren. All proceeds will go to FMFM’s food programs benefitting children in West Africa.

Here’s how it works:

1. Register for the event on Zoom. You will receive a reminder notification with sign-in instructions 2 days prior and 1 hour prior to the event.

2. Go shopping for your ingredients (listed below) before the event. You can download the recipes here for easy access.

3. On the day of the event, line up your ingredients and ensure you have space to cook. At 6:30 pm CT, sign in using the link and password that was emailed to you.

4. You, the chef, and other participants will cook the entire meal from scratch live during a 60-minute session. Our chef and host will be on camera. You will not be on camera, so feel free to show up in your sweatpants or even your birthday suit! There will be a live chat function so you can ask questions (or heckle us as we cook). You learn, you taste, you serve and you eat!

5. You make a donation to FMFM via our PayPal page here. (Suggested donation: $20.) Proceeds will directly go toward our sustainable food programs benefitting children in West Africa.

What we’re making:

We’ll start by making the main course, a traditional West African Peanut Butter Stew. With the huge expansion of groundnut cultivation during the colonial period, peanut stew became a popular dish across West Africa. You will find variations on recipes depending on the region, but the base recipe is made up of ground peanuts (or peanut butter) and tomato paste, flavored with ginger, garlic and other spices (even a habanero if you like a bit of heat). We have a vegetarian option with cabbage, carrots and eggplant as well, which you’ll commonly find in traditional recipes as well. The stew is commonly served with a grain on the side like white rice (jasmine or basmati) or brown rice. You may even prefer farro or quinoa.

Adjust for dietary restrictions:

Nut Allergies: Omit the peanut butter using almond butter, cashew butter or sunbutter. Even a mix of tahini with any of these butters would be delicious!

Vegetarian: Omit the chicken and chicken bouillon using cabbage, carrots and eggplant instead.

For dessert, we’re bringing you dêguê - a scrumptious and sweet dish made with couscous and yogurt. Dêguê is a sweet, creamy and mildly tangy dessert that is mostly native to Senegal and Gambia. Also called thiakry-millet, it's a dairy-based dessert similar to a rice pudding - but sooo much better.

Your shopping list:

Main dish (serves 4)

• 1 whole chicken (4 to 5 pounds) skin on, cut into medium pieces (omit if making vegetarian option)

• Black pepper

• Garlic salt

• Salt

• Paprika

• Parsley

• 1 jar organic peanut butter (with the oil on top) - see substitution suggestions above

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 2 medium onions

• 3 tomatoes

• 10 garlic cloves

• 1 root of ginger

• 4 chicken bouillon cubes or maggi seasoning (vegetarian option)

• 1 whole habanero pepper (optional)

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 4 cups of jasmine rice (optional, to serve on the side)

• For vegetarian option:

  • 1/2 Cabbage

  • 4 Carrots

  • 1 small eggplant

Dessert (serves 4)

• 24 oz of plain yogurt

• 1 medium-size container of sour cream

• 1 can evaporated milk

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 cup sugar (or can be substituted with agave)

• A handful of dried raisins and cranberry

• 2 cups of couscous

• 3 tbsp of butter