How to Cook Sierra Leonean Tola

This week’s recipe spotlight is on Tola from Sierra Leone! This is one of my absolute favorite soups and my kids love it too!  It’s super quick and very tasty!  I have fond memories of specifically asking my mom to show me how to make this because it’s in my top 5 favorites. This is how I grew up making this soup and now I’m happy to share it with you all! You can use any meat of choice in any of the dishes I spotlight like smoked turkey, goat meat, stock fish or dry fish.  Sometimes I even add medium shrimp to my draw soups but today it slipped my mind. Enjoy!

Ingredient List:

• 1 Package Tola 
• 1 Tablespoon Bean Powder 
• 1.5 Small Onions 
• 2 Habanero Peppers
• Beef Neck Bones
• Hen 
• Palm Oil
•  Maggie Powder or Cubes
• Onion Powder 
• Garlic Powder 
• Accent
• Salt

Step 1: Boil your meat

I somewhat cheated on this step because I boil my meat with maggie and accent (no salt) ahead of time and freeze them in meal sized portions for later.  It’s very time consuming when I’m doing it, but definitely a time saver throughout the month (10/10 recommend)! For this step I thawed the meat on low heat with the maggie, onion powder, garlic powder, accent, and salt.

Step 2: Blend your onion and peppers

Blend one small onion with your desired number of habanero peppers to match your spice level.  I try to consider my kids when I cook their favorites and minimize on the pepper a bit.  But you can use as many as you like.  After blending, add the pepper mix to the boiling meat so that the onions and peppers will cook.

Step 3: Add palm oil

Add a small amount of palm oil to your boiling meat and cook until the oil disappears into the water.

Step 4: Remove the stock from the fire

Remove the soup from the fire and place in a bowl off to the side. 

Step 5: Blend tola and beans powder

In a bowl, pour the entire contents of the Tola pouch.  Then take a teaspoon or two of beans powder and mix it into the tola.

Step 6: Fry the palm oil

Add another small amount of palm oil to the pot and let it heat up. Once ready, fry the chopped half onion inside the oil for a minute stirring continuously. Add the tola powder blend to the oil slowly and continue to stir it in smoothing out any lumps and bumps.  This is very important so the soup will be blended perfectly!  

Step 7: Add your stock back 

Once you’ve smoothly blended the powder into the oil, begin to pour the stock back into the pot.  Be careful here, the oil mix will still be frying and it’ll be very hot as you add the stock back in.  Once you add all the stock into the pot, quickly stir everything together ensuring the stock blends into the palm oil and tola.  

Step 8: Add your meat 

This is the final step in this process. At this point, the tola should begin to thicken up and draw. Add the meat back to the pot, stirring everything together. Then add any additional whole peppers, cover and let cook for roughly 5-10minutes.  The key is to peep when the oil begins to separate to the top.  After that, it’s done and ready to serve! 

Pro Tip

When I cook, I always pack a freezer container for later. This ensures that I always have food somewhere in my house and also makes it so I don’t have to constantly cook. Win-win.

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