Kwanzaa

These pancakes are quick to cook and are typically eaten for breakfast. Spread them with a little butter, ghee, or sesame oil and sprinkle with sugar if you’d like. Serve with hot tea or alongside cups of Shaah Cadays.

This coconutty soup from Ramin Ganeshram is ideal for fall, when squash and pumpkin are readily available. Serve it with crusty bread or a hearty green salad for the perfect autumn lunch.

Here is my super bougie restyling of an everyday Ghanaian hot chile condiment. My bet is that once you’ve made it, you’ll be shouting at your West African friends because no one told you about it before. Until now, you thought XO sauce solved everything. Until now, you thought sambal belacan was the only smoked fish dip the world needed. But now, you’ve realized: I Shito, therefore I am. This recipe is luxurious, it is decadent, it is rich and textured for lavish enjoyment. Right here is where hot pepper sauce dreams comes true.

This Ethiopian dish of chickpeas in a berbere-spiced, flaxseed-thickened sauce makes for a quick, filling, and wonderfully flavorful meal.

This recipe pairs crispy fried plantains with homemade hot sauce and a cooling lime sour cream, but each is delicious all by itself.

Smothered pork chops may be an iconic soul food specialty, but this recipe proves you can smother anything. All it really means is coating slow-cooked meat with a blanket of saucy aromatics that end up as gravy too.

This tea is brilliantly red and sweet-tart, with a delicious bite from ginger and aromas of clove and citrus

You can personalize these tea cakes if you like, substituting a pinch of cinnamon, allspice, or mace for the nutmeg or sour cream for the buttermilk.

These Dominican mashed plantains are creamy, hearty, and full of flavor, while still tasting fresh and light. They have a mellow, tropical earthiness that becomes a canvas for colorful toppings like pickled red onions and avocados.

The key here is using cornstarch and rice flour. Cutting the okra in half from top to bottom, the seeds cling to the rice flour and cornstarch so the batter isn’t going anywhere.

This rich, flavorful Nigerian dish brings together bold chile heat, the pleasant funk of fermented locust beans and dried shrimp, and a good dose of Old Bay.

This recipe from Bryant Terry highlights the earthy taste and the toothsome texture of collards, and offsets the greens with tofu that’s been soaked in a Jamaican-inspired marinade.

Nigerian peppersoup should be fiery hot with rich flavor—while the traditional spices can be hard to find in the U.S., this recipe approximates the taste with a few more readily available substitutes.

Egusi seeds—the large seeds of an African melon—are toasted and ground to thicken this popular Nirgerian stew.

This savory vegetarian pie gives a nod to the ever-popular Jamaican patty.

This traditional Trinidadian cocktail sings with the island’s most beloved ingredients and flavors. White rum meets citrus, spice, and creamy dairy—don’t skip the nutmeg on top.

Keep the fat rendered from good bacon in a crock in your fridge. It’ll make this the tastiest cornbread you’ve ever had.

The savory, warming flavor of jerk seasoning gets brightened with plenty of citrus in this simple and delicious bass recipe.

This dish is my mother's interpretation of a meal we had at a friend’s birthday party when we were young. We came home raving about it and had to try making it for ourselves!

This classic Somali stew is great for a crowd and packs a big flavor punch, thanks to the xawaash spice mix, a classic Somali spice blend, which lends a warm, peppery flavor.

If you can’t find coconut vinegar for this collard greens recipe, use 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar instead.

You can do the first fry ahead of time, then soak the plantains in garlic water, dry, and hold at room temperature until closer to mealtime.

This Jamaican classic gets richness from coconut milk, heartiness from kidney beans, and an intoxifying aroma from fresh herbs and garlic.

The longer you can let this chicken rest in the marinade (up to 24 hours), the better the warm, aromatic, fiery spices will penetrate the meat.