Waakye

Waakye is Ghana's ultimate breakfast and lunch dish — rice and beans cooked with dried millet leaves (which give it its distinctive reddish-brown colour), served with a mountain of accompaniments.

Ingredients

• 3 cups rice
• 1 cup black-eyed beans
• Dried millet leaf stalks
• Water
• Salt
• Serve with:
• Shito (black pepper sauce)
• Spaghetti
• Fried plantain
• Boiled eggs
• Gari
• Fried fish or chicken

Directions

1. Wash the rice and beans. Soak beans for 2 hours or overnight.
2. Boil beans in water with millet leaf stalks for 25 minutes until half-cooked.
3. Add rice and more water if needed. The millet leaves will colour the water reddish-brown.
4. Cook covered on low heat until rice and beans are tender and water is absorbed.
5. Serve with shito (black pepper sauce), spaghetti, fried plantain, boiled egg, gari, and a protein of choice.
6. The magic of waakye is in the accompaniments — pile them high.