Cooking tips
Cooking Tips
- Straight out of the jar, our Maffé sauce is thick and concentrated and must be diluted. We recommend using ½ cup water. After emptying the contents of the jar into a heavy-bottomed pan, add ½ cup of water to the jar – shake vigorously (with lid tightly screwed on) for 30 seconds before pouring the liquid into the pan. Simmer covered.
- Adding ½ cup water will yield a semi-thick consistency. For a looser consistency, increase the amount of water up to 1 cup or more if desired.
- You can skip sautéing with 1 Tbsp. of oil as indicated in the directions printed on the jar – simply simmer protein, vegetables or seafood in Maffé sauce diluted with water just like our Company Founder cooks Maffé at home.
- For an exotic twist, replace half or all the liquid with coconut milk. If you are sensitive to heat (spicy), coconut milk will temper the spice.
- We use a generous amount of old-fashioned peanut butter and zero oil in our Maffé sauce – the authentic SeneGambia way! Customary with old-fashioned peanut butter, the natural oil tends to separate – don’t be alarmed or feel inclined to pour out the oil if you received a jar of Maffé with oil pooled at the top of the jar. After cooking, the oil will get homogenized nicely with the sauce and turn into tiny droplets. Enjoy!
- After cooking is completed, allow to sit uncovered for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- The most popular grains to serve Maffé over in The Gambia are jasmine rice, couscous, and fonio (called findi in Wolof). Fonio is an ancestral West African superfood and supergrain.
