Daily Staple · Okra Sauce
Sauce Gombo au Tô
Photo: Alicepegie / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The sauce's signature sliminess comes from okra's natural mucilage, the same texture-giving compound behind Louisiana gumbo, a dish whose name descends from a West African word for okra.
A glossy, deep-green okra stew, simmered with tomato, onion, and meat or dried fish, ladled generously over a mound of firm tô (millet or sorghum paste). Diners pinch off a piece of tô with their fingers and dip it straight into the sauce.
Why it's made this way: Tô eaten with a leafy or okra-based sauce is the daily midday meal across the Niger inland delta towns, and in Ségou, sauce gombo is one of the most common versions, cooked in household kitchens and served at roadside canteens to workers on their lunch break.
More from Mali
Attaya
Brochettes
Dèguè (Thiakry)
Riz au Gras (Malian "Fat Rice")
Tigadèguèna (Malian Peanut Stew)
Nems (Malian Spring Rolls)
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.