Complex, Unforgettable Flavors

Fifame Oussa Alahassa, co-owner of Tulsa’s Afrikan Delights, grew up in Cotonou, the largest city in Benin, a Vermont-shaped nation sandwiched between Ghana and Nigeria. 

“In Benin,” she says, “women cook. I’d watch my mother cook all the time. I’d cry and beg her to let me help. I was eight. All the recipes of Afrikan Delights I got from her. And she got the recipes from her mother, who got them from her mother, who got them from her mother.” 

At Afrikan Delights, everything you eat is authentic West African food. 

Alahassa didn’t start out a chef. After high school in Cotonou, she moved to the United States to pursue higher education. She got a B.A. in health education from Southern Illinois University, then came to Oklahoma, where she got a M.A. in public health at OSU. Sometimes she’d cook for friends, who loved it. 

After university, she says, “I worked, but I was not fulfilled. I decided to become a chef and share a piece of my culture.” 

She did what every aspiring young chef should do – attended the launch program at Kitchen 66, a Tulsa-based entrepreneurial boot camp that teaches culinary hopefuls how to navigate the food business. After that, she and her husband bought a food truck. It was so successful that after only one year, she was given a permanent location inside Mother Road Market. 

You can’t miss it. Her food stall is large and at maybe the best location in the market, right at a corner where two aisles converge and opposite the bar. It’s brightly painted with intricate red designs made to mimic Kente cloth. Her friends in Benin made the designs, then emailed them to her.

There are also big billboards with the huge menu, highlighting every area of Beninois cuisine. And what is Benin food like? 

“Well,” she says, “all our dishes have onion and tomato, even the rice. We use a lot of seasoning: ginger, garlic, white pepper, black pepper. We use a lot of herbs like parsley and bay leaf. We use a lot of greens, including spinach and collard greens.” 

At Afrikan Delights, you’ll find a dessert a lot like a beignet, an okra soup a lot like gumbo, and a rice a lot like jambalaya. You may think it reminiscent of New Orleans, and this is not a coincidence. These American dishes were in large part brought from Africa by enslaved people. What you’re getting at Afrikan Delights is the original version. 

Another thing that all Alahassa’s dishes have in common is this: they’re not easy to make. They take time. Take the Jollof rice, for example, the one that’s like jambalaya. 

“We use jasmine rice, like they do in Ghana,” Alahassa says. “We make a tomato stew with onion, ginger, bell pepper, garlic, and of course lots of tomatoes. We add a bit of oil and then the rice, letting it cook at a low heat in a covered pot so the steam cooks the rice.” 

For the peanut soup — which, by the way, is delicious — “we use peanut butter, tomato, a lot of onion, also garlic and ginger. It must simmer at least two hours on low heat.” 

What do customers think of these dishes, so different from what they’re used to? 

“They’re overwhelmed,” says Alahassa, “by all the good flavor. ‘What did you put in it?’ they ask. ‘What is all this flavor?’”

• 1 ripe tomato, cored and quartered
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 minced ginger
• 2 cups of water
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme or rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 1/4 cups Jamine rice
• 1 bay leaf

DIRECTIONS

Step 1

Combine tomato, red bell pepper, garlic, ginger, and water in a blender for the sauce. Blend on high until smooth and set aside

Step 2

olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and salt and sauté until onion starts to soften, 4 to 5 minutes. Clear space in the middle of the pan, add tomato paste, and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Season with paprika, curry powder, thyme, and black pepper   continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes until everything is well combined.

Step 3

Turn off the heat, and stir in the rice, making sure every grain of rice is coated with the oil-tomato mixture. Add bay leaf

Step 4

Turn heat to high, stir in tomato sauce, and bring to a vigorous simmer. Cover with a tight fitting lid, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Do not remove the lid or stir rice.

Step 5

Turn off heat after 20 minutes and set the timer for 12 minutes. Allow rice to sit and do not remove the lid.

Step 6

After the 12 minutes are up, remove lid, and fluff rice with a fork, separating all the grains. Serve garnished with green onions and chopped parsley

Fried Plantain

Ingredients

• 2 to 3  large ripe plantains
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or any oil)
•  Salt

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Instructions

1. Prep the plantains. Slice the plantains on a bias, at an angle, about 1/2-inch thick Set the sliced plantains aside on a plate/platter or small baking sheet.
2. Add salt for taste
3. Fry the plantains. Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the plantain slices into the skillet- working in batches, careful not to overcrowd. Fry the plantains until golden brown and slightly crisp, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Use a slotted utensil (I like to use a fish spatula) to gently flip the plantains while frying; careful not to handle them too aggressively as they’re super tender.
4. Serve. Set the fried sweet plantains onto a paper towel-lined plate to stop up any excess oil

Beef

Ingredients:

• Beef (cut to your preference: slices, cubes, or strips)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
•  1-inch piece of ginger, grated
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Cut the beef into desired pieces.

2. In a bowl, mix garlic, onion, ginger, black pepper, white pepper, and salt.

3. Add the beef to the marinade and mix well.

4. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

5. Grill, pan-fry, or cook to your liking

6. Add tomato paste for color