East Africa · Soup
Wal-Wal (Sorghum Flour Dumpling Broth)
Tender rolled sorghum dumplings simmered in an aromatic bone broth enriched with peanut butter, garlic, and wild greens.
The story
Prepared primarily in Dinka and Nuer pastoral communities across the Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile regions, Wal-Wal is traditionally served at twilight as an easily digestible restorative for elders and young children. Unlike heavy staple porridges like asida, this preparation requires rolling moist sorghum dough between the palms into tiny, marble-sized spheres called wal-wal before poaching them. Technically, the cooking broth must never reach a violent rolling boil, as the lack of gluten in sorghum makes the dumplings prone to disintegrating if subjected to turbulent bubbling.
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