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Malian · Burkinabè · West African

Tô with okra sauce

Non-vegetarian

A firm, smooth millet porridge cut into slices and served with a slippery okra sauce flavoured with soumbala and beef. The everyday staple of rural Mali and much of the Sahel.

Tô with okra sauce is a Malian main course, ready in about 1 hour 35 minutes and made with pearl millet flour and okra. It serves 4 and is rated intermediate to cook.

Start cooking
Plate of maize tô with green okra sauce
Photo: Marina Ingrid / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-4.0
Prep
15 min
Cook
1 h 10 min
Rest
10 min
Total
1 h 35 min
Serves
4
Level
Intermediate
Calories
662

Ingredients

4 servings

For the tô

For the sauce

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Brown the beef in the oil with the onion (opens in a new tab), then add the tomatoes (opens in a new tab), soumbala (opens in a new tab), whole chilli, salt and 700 ml water. Simmer covered until the beef is tender, about 45 minutes.

    Meat searing in a hot pan
    How it looks · Photo: Skylar Kang on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Add the okra (opens in a new tab) and simmer, whisking now and then, until it turns into a smooth, stretchy sauce, 10–12 minutes.

    A curry simmering in a pot
    How it looks · Photo: Bachir Mamud on Pexels

  3. Step 3

    For the tô, whisk (opens in a new tab) 150 g of the flour into 500 ml cold water. Bring the remaining water and lime juice (opens in a new tab) to the boil, pour in the slurry and cook, stirring, to a thin porridge.

    Eggs being whisked in a bowl
    How it looks · Photo: Kampus Production on Pexels

  4. Step 4

    Add the remaining flour a handful at a time, beating hard with a wooden spoon, until very thick and smooth. Cover and cook on low for 8 minutes.

    • 12 min
    • low heat

    Press lumps against the side of the pot as you beat.

  5. Step 5

    Spoon the tô into a wet bowl and let it set for 10 minutes, then turn out, slice and serve with the okra (opens in a new tab) sauce.

    • 2 min
    A finished dish being plated
    How it looks · Photo: Willians Huerta on Pexels

About this dish

Origin
Not attributed to one place · Commonly attributedTô is the daily staple across the Sahel — Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and northern Ghana (as tuo zaafi) — rather than belonging to one country.Also popular in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Main courses · Porridge & cereals
Cooking method
Boiled, Simmered
Taste
earthy, savoury, umami, mild
Diet
No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · High-protein
All labelsNon-vegetarian · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · High-protein · Low-fat
With the listed swaps: Pescatarian, Beef-freeWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Budget-friendly · Everyday
Cook more with
Pearl millet flour · Okra · Lime juice · Beef chuck · Onion · Tomato
Techniques
Boiling · Simmering

Allergens

None of the 14 major allergens appear in the listed ingredients.

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

662 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 700 g · recipe makes 4

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 21%
  • Carbohydrate 53%
  • Fat 26%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g
Energy662 kcal95 kcal
Protein35.8 g5.1 g
Carbohydrate88.4 g12.6 g
Net carbohydrate80.3 g11.5 g
Sugars6.2 g0.9 g
Added sugars0 g0 g
Fibre8.1 g1.2 g
Fat19.6 g2.8 g
Saturated fat3.2 g0.5 g
Trans fat0.3 g0 g
Cholesterol——
Sodium979 mg140 mg
Salt equivalent2.4 g0.3 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
1101 mg
Calcium
178 mg
Iron
7.1 mg
Magnesium
220 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
—
Vitamin C
37 mg
Vitamin D
—
Vitamin B12
—
Folate (DFE)
120 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • Fermented locust beans: Natto (fermented soybeans, FDC 172443) used as a stand-in for fermented African locust beans (iru / dawadawa / soumbala); both are alkaline-fermented, protein- and fat-rich legume seeds. Contains no soy itself.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Keep a bowl of water by the pot to wet the spoon and the serving bowl; tô sets fast and smooth that way.

Common mistakes

  • Adding all the flour at once — it forms lumps that won't beat out.

Serve with

  • Eat with the right hand, pinching a piece of tô and dipping it into the sauce.

Food safety

  • Simmer stewing beef, goat or lamb until fork-tender; cool leftovers quickly and refrigerate within 2 hours.

Storage

  • Refrigerate sauce up to 3 days; tô is best the same day.

Reheating

  • Steam slices of tô; reheat the sauce gently.

Variations

  • Tuo zaafi (Ghana): The northern Ghanaian version, usually with ayoyo (jute leaf) soup.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

The body of the dish

For the sauce

Used in steps 1, 2, 3

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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