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Tô (Stiff Millet Flour Mash with Dried Baobab Leaf Sauce)
Dense, smooth pearl millet porridge served alongside an earthy, mucilaginous sauce made from dried baobab leaves and smoked fish.
The story
In the sun-baked plains of Haute-Guinée, Tô represents the ancient agrarian backbone of the Malinké people, served unfailingly as the grounding evening meal. Women gather around heavy cast-iron cauldrons to vigorously beat the millet mash with a flat wooden paddle called a gwandé to ensure a lump-free, elastic texture. The accompanying lalo sauce relies on pulverized young baobab leaves, which provide a distinct slippery mouthfeel and deep mineral sweetness. Historically, cooks add a splash of strained wood-ash lye or tamarind water to calibrate the porridge's pH, directly governing its starch gelatinization and final firmness.
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