Welcome to the Celtnet Recipes Benin Recipes Home Page

Welcome to the Celtnet Recipes section for recipes from the West African country of Benin. Here you will find all the recipes from Benin on this site all gathered into one place. I have attempted to gather together here as many Beninese recipes as possible. The current collection represents the largest gathering of Beninese recipes into one place on the web today. (Just scroll down for the recipes, they follow the brief introduction to Benin given below.)

Please not that this recipe page (and all the other recipe pages on this site) are brought to you in association with the 'One Million People' campaign, which attempts to educate the children of Liberian refugees exiled to Senegal, West Africa [this is detailed below]. If you find this and the other recipes on this page informative and/or useful please consider giving a small donation to this cause... thank you!

Your donations keep this site going and they keep me motivated to add more and more content to the site as well.

You can also browse recipes from the following other African Regions:

North Africa West Africa Central Africa East Africa Southern Africa

Benin and its Cuisine

Benin, officially: République du Bénin; Republic of Benin was formerly known as Dahomey (until 1975) or Dahomania. Its capital is Porto Novo, but the seat of government is Cotonou. The name "Benin" has no proper connection to Kingdom of Benin (or Benin City). The name Dahomey was changed in 1975 to The People's Republic of Benin, named after the body of water on which the country lies, the Bight of Benin. This name was picked due to its neutrality, since the current political boundaries of Benin encompass over fifty distinct linguistic groups and nearly as many individual ethnic groups. There are several dozen ethnolinguistic groups in Benin, representing three of Africa's language families: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afroasiatic. The latter is represented by Hausa living mostly as merchants in the north, while Nilo-Saharan is represented by the Dɛndi, descending from the Songhai Empire. The Dɛndi language predominates along the Niger River in the far north, and is used as a lingua franca in Muslim areas throughout the north, in Alibori, Borgou, and Donga provinces. The largest ethnic group are the Fon, with 1.7 million speakers of the Fon language (2001), followed by the various Yoruba groups (1.2 million), the Aja (600,000), the Bariba (460,000), the Ayizo (330,000), the Fulbe (310,000), and the Gun (240,000). Near the ports in the south can be found people of lighter skin who are descended from returned Brazilian slaves. There are also small numbers of Europeans, principally French, and Asians, mainly Lebanese and Indians. ndigenous religions are followed by a majority of the people. They include local animistic religions in the Atakora (Atakora and Donga provinces) and Vodun among the Yoruba and Tado peoples in the center and south of the country. The town of Ouidah on the central coast is the spiritual center of Beninese vodun.

Traditional Beninese recipes are rich in rice, corn, beans, yams, cassava and millet while the most popular meat found in Benin is fish and Chicken. In common with much of West Africa, due to its relative expense meat is consumed only on special occasions. Due to its having been a French colony there is a significant French influence in Beninese cuisine. The country is also rich in vegetables such as oranges, bananas, mandarin oranges, pineapples, kiwi, avocado and peanuts. These are commonly used in recipes and Beninese cuisine is recognized all through Africa for it's exotic ingredients and cooking methods.


The alphabetical list of recipes from Benin follows (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 27 recipes in total:


Page 1 of 1



Ago Glain
     Origin: Benin
Cheese in Tamarillo Sauce
     Origin: Benin
Poisson au Gril
(Beninese Grilled Fish)
     Origin: Benin
Akassa
     Origin: Benin
Crabe Béninoise
(Beninese Crabs)
     Origin: Benin
Ragoût Béninoise
(Beninese Ragout)
     Origin: Benin
Akkra Funfun
     Origin: Benin
Dahomey Fish Stew
     Origin: Benin
Riz au Gras
('Fat Rice')
     Origin: Benin
Benin Red Sauce
     Origin: Benin
Flan au citron
(Lemon Flan)
     Origin: Benin
Sauce d'Arachide
(Peanut Sauce)
     Origin: Benin
Beninese Beef Stew
     Origin: Benin
Ingame
     Origin: Benin
Sauce de Tomates Crues
(Raw Tomato Sauce)
     Origin: Benin
Beninese Bouille
     Origin: Benin
Mouton aux Arachides
(Lamb in Peanut Sauce)
     Origin: Benin
Sauce Gumbo II
(Gumbo Sauce II)
     Origin: Benin
Beninese Jollof Rice
     Origin: Benin
Moyo de Poulet Fume
(Moyo of Smoked Chicken)
     Origin: Benin
Sauce Légume
     Origin: Benin
Beninese Peanut Sauce
     Origin: Benin
Pâté Blanche
(White Pâté)
     Origin: Benin
Sesame Balls
     Origin: Benin
Calalu
     Origin: Benin
Pâté Rouge
(Red Pâté)
     Origin: Benin
Wagasi in Sauce
     Origin: Benin

Page 1 of 1



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The image above shows the entire continent of Africa with West Africa picked out in red. West Africa is formed from sixteen states: 1: Benin; 2: Burkina Faso; 3: Côte d'Ivoire; 4: The Gambia; 5: Ghana; 6: Guinea; 7: Guinea-Bissau; 8: Liberia; 9: Mali; 10: Mauritania; 11: Niger; 12: Nigeria; 13: Senegal; 14: Sierra Leone; 15: Togo. Also included are the islands of Cape Verde, off the Senegalese coast (not shown on the map).

This list of Beninese recipes is brought to you by the One Milion People Campaign please take a few minutes to make a donation to help Liberian/Sierra Leonian refugee rebuild their lives (all donations are made securely via PayPal):

Solution Graphics

Review of 'Thai Food' by David Thompson

By gwydion | Published 2008-04-15 18:29:57 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

'Thai Food' by David Thompson is one of those rare 'must have' culinary books that presents the culture and history of Thailan from a food perspective. This well-written book presents over 300 recipes covering all aspects of Thai cuisine and represents the most comprehensive collection and examination of Thai Food printed in the English Language.

Drinks Recipes - The Quest for Safe Drinks

By gwydion | Published 2008-11-03 14:22:44 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

When you examine the history of drinks, what you see is the attempt by human civilizations to render drinking water safe. This article gives an introduction to the ways various civilizations have chosen to make water safe to drink as well as providing two recipes for a fruit juice drink and a spice infusion of lemongrass.

Ice Creams and Sorbets – Freezing as a Cooking Technique

By gwydion | Published 2008-05-27 18:59:27 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

Freezing is often ignored as a cookery technique, yet where would we be without those cold delights of ice creams, sorbets, sherbets and granaches? Here you will find recipes for classic ice cream and a classic sorbet. I hope that you will come to accept that chilling is also is also a valid and vital form of cookery.

Making a Home-made Hot Smoker

By gwydion | Published 2009-09-20 21:40:59 | 2009 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

A hot smoker is a method of cooking food, particularly fish, in a mixture of steam and wood chip or sawdust smoke. This article tells you how to make a very cheap home-made smoker from standard kitchen components, as well as telling you how to cook with it.

The Recipes of Ghana

By gwydion | Published 2008-04-28 21:20:37 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

Ghana is one of the most fertile and productive of West African countries. It is also the inheritor nation of the Ga and Ashanti poeples, ancient rulers of West Africa. The cuisines of Ghana are diverse and characterized by he use of chillies, native spices and boiled eggs in the cooking. Here you will find two typical Ghanaian recipes.

The Recipes of Nigeria

By gwydion | Published 2008-08-08 18:05:06 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

Nigeria has a very vibrant and dynamic culture and this is reflected in the country's food. Staples remain stews ('soups' in West African parlance) and staples based on grains, cassava flour and millet. Here you will see two authentic Nigerian recipes to help you gain a flavour for this country's cuisines.

The Recipes of Liberia

By gwydion | Published 2008-08-11 11:59:42 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

Liberia is a West African country formed by freed slaves. It is one of only two African countries never to have come under European rule. Liberia is also one of the few African countries with a tradition of baking. Sitting alongside these are ingredients sourced directly from the rainforest.

The Traditional Cooking of England

By gwydion | Published 2008-06-22 13:58:47 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

Much of what we know, historically, about English cookery originates from the grand houses, as only these recipes were written down in recipes. The food of the 'common man' had to rely on oral tradition to be transmitted through the ages. As a result we know far more about the cookery of the grand houses than the cookery of the common man. This all changed in the Victorian ear with the rise of the middle classes and the adoption of recipes, spices and cookery methods from elsewhere in the world.

The Wild Side of Food — Cooking with Wild Greens

By gwydion | Published 2008-05-01 19:52:39 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

When spring comes around nature begins to offer her bounty of wild flowers and wild greens for your table. Many of these are both edible and good to use. Here you will find two recipes that help you make the most of this natural spring-time bounty...

Traditional Barbecue Recipes

By gwydion | Published 2008-11-19 18:37:55 | 2008 Recipes and Cookery Articles |

Recipe Information:

Barbecuing, or cooking meat directly above a flame, is a very traditional cooking method and probably represents humanity's oldest cooking technique. There is nothing like a summer outdoor barbecue and here you will find recipes for a classic kebab and sticky ribs both designed to make the most out of barbecuing.


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