COPPERWhat is the national dish of Mali?
The national dish of Mali is tigadèguèna (tiga dege na), a stew of beef, lamb or chicken simmered in peanut paste and tomato until red oil rises to the top, served over rice, fonio or tô. Its Bambara name means "peanut paste sauce". No law makes it official, but it is the dish most often cited as Mali's national dish.
What does tigadèguèna mean?
The name is Bambara: tiga is peanut, dɛgɛ is paste and na is sauce. So tigadɛgɛna is literally "peanut paste sauce". It is usually written tigadèguèna in French and tiguadege na in English.
English Wikipedia's article on Malian cuisine and its list of national dishes both name it as Mali's national dish. There is no official decree; it is a status given by usage.
Malian food is built on cereals. Rice and millet are the staples, and they are eaten with sauces made from leaves, such as spinach, sweet potato or baobab, or from peanuts and tomato. Pieces of grilled chicken, mutton, beef or goat often go on top.
Is it the same as mafé?
Close, but not identical. Mafé (maafe) is the Senegalese peanut stew, and the two are often confused. Tigadèguèna comes from the Bambara and Mandinka of Mali and is traditionally more watery, made with unrefined shea butter, while Senegalese mafé is creamier and always served on rice.
Wikipedia's article on peanut stew adds that before peanuts, cooks in the region relied widely on Bambara groundnuts, a native legume. The same article describes mafé as a colonial-era Senegalese dish, distinct from the older Malian sauce, and notes that the two origins are often confused.
Both belong to the same family of West African groundnut stews. For the Senegalese side, see Senegal's national dish.
How tigadèguèna is made
Beef in large chunks is browned in peanut oil with onion and garlic, then tomato paste and fresh tomato are fried in until the colour darkens. Peanut butter is whisked into warm water until completely smooth before it goes into the pot, so it does not form lumps.
The stew then cooks uncovered at a bare simmer for about 45 minutes. It must never boil hard, or the sauce splits. Sweet potato and carrot go in for 20 minutes, cabbage for the last 10. It is done when the sauce coats a spoon and a film of red peanut oil floats on top, about 1 hour 15 in total. Our tigadèguèna recipe gives every quantity.
The ingredient list is short: 800 g of beef, 250 g of peanut butter, 100 g of tomato paste, two fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, sweet potato, carrot, cabbage, peanut oil and salt.
What it is served with
Peanut sauces like this are lunch food. In Mali the midday meal is the main one, built on sauces of peanut, okra or baobab leaves.
- White rice: the most common partner in towns.
- Fonio: a tiny native grain, steamed.
- Tô: the millet or corn paste that is the staple of the Bambara and the Dogon, also the everyday food of Burkina Faso.
Mali's other sauces
Tigadèguèna is one of many Malian sauces, each named after its main ingredient:
- Naboulou: meat and baobab leaves in peanut sauce.
- Saga saga: meat in a sweet-potato leaf sauce.
- N'gougouna: meat in a bean-leaf sauce.
- Diabadji: meat in an onion sauce.
- Lafiri: a soumbala sauce served with white rice.
Other dishes to know from Mali
Fakoye comes from the north of Mali: a dark sauce of dried, pounded jute leaves, the same plant Egyptians call mloukhiya, simmered with mutton and soumbala and whisked in a little at a time so it does not clump. The mutton simmers about an hour first; after the 60 g of leaf powder goes in, the sauce stays at a bare simmer for 20 minutes more until it darkens and turns silky. It is served over rice.
For celebrations, Malians cook rice in the broth of a meat and vegetable stew reddened with tomato paste fried for 10 minutes, a dish known in English as jollof rice and in French as riz au gras.
Breakfast is usually fonde (monoo), a millet porridge, or maasa, fried cakes of rice or millet. Desserts include dégué, millet semolina with curdled milk, and moni, small millet balls boiled and sweetened. To drink, Malians make dableni from hibiscus flowers, gnamankoudji from ginger and zira dji from baobab fruit. Two condiments flavour much of this cooking: soumbala and saalén, a powder of smoked, dried and salted capitaine fish.
You will find all three dishes, with step-by-step methods, on our page about the food of Mali, and more from the region in our guide to West African food.
The recipes
- Tigadege na🇲🇱 Mali · 1 hour and 50 minutes
Fakoye🇲🇱 Mali · 1 hour and 40 minutes
Jollof rice🇲🇱 Mali · 1 hour and 55 minutes
Questions people ask
What is the national dish of Mali?
Tigadèguèna, a meat stew in peanut paste and tomato sauce, is the dish most often cited as Mali's national dish. It has no official status.
What is the difference between tigadèguèna and mafé?
Tigadèguèna is the Malian peanut stew of the Bambara and Mandinka, traditionally more watery and cooked with shea butter. Mafé is the Senegalese version, creamier and served on rice.
What is tigadèguèna served with?
White rice, fonio or tô, a firm millet or corn paste.
Where does tigadèguèna come from?
From the Bambara and Mandinka peoples of Mali. Its name is Bambara for "peanut paste sauce".
Is tigadèguèna spicy?
Not necessarily. The base is peanut, tomato and meat; chilli is added to taste.
Keep reading
- Traditional food of Mali: 13 dishes to know
- What is the national dish of Benin?
- What is the national dish of Burkina Faso?
- What is the national dish of Cabo Verde?
- What is the national dish of Côte d'Ivoire?
- What is the national dish of The Gambia?