Yodo / Ganda Foy Sauce
Green and slimy Nigerian sauce prepared with Ceratotheca sesamoides leaves (yodo, ganda foy, leafy sesame, or false sesame), served with a millet or sorghum paste.
Ingredients
- 70 g dried and ground yodo leaves (or 400 g fresh leaves)
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 ripe tomatoes, crushed
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 tablespoon crushed soumbala (about 10 g)
- 100 g dried fish, cleaned and crumbled (optional)
- 1.2 l water, including 300 ml cold and 900 ml hot
- Salt to adjust at the end of cooking
- Ground dry chili, optional and served separately
Preparation
Sift the yodo powder to remove twigs and stem fragments. With fresh leaves: pick them, wash them in several changes of water, then pound or chop them very finely.
Mix the powder with 300 ml of cold water, whisking until smooth. Let rest for 10 minutes: the mixture will become slightly stringy.
If using dried fish, soak it for 10 minutes in hot water, drain, carefully remove bones, then crumble it.
Heat the oil in a pot. Sauté the onion for 5 minutes over medium heat, add the tomatoes and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until they break down.
Add the soumbala and fish, mix for 1 minute, then pour in the 900 ml of hot water. Let simmer for 10 minutes to form a fragrant broth.
Lower the heat. Pour the yodo mixture in a stream into the broth, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.
Cook for 8 to 10 minutes at a gentle simmer, uncovered, whisking often. Add a little hot water if the sauce becomes too thick.
Taste, salt carefully — soumbala and fish are already salty — and serve immediately with a millet or sorghum paste, with chili on the side.