Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Sauce Graine (Palm Fruit Stew)
A rich, earthy Ivorian stew built on palm fruit pulp with meat and smoked fish, spooned over rice or foutou.
Ivorian · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 70 min
~274 cal · 28g protein · 6g carbs · 14g fat · 1g fiber · 3g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Sauce graine is one of the great sauces of Ivorian cooking, named for the graine, the fruit of the oil palm, whose boiled and pounded pulp gives the stew its deep russet colour and nutty richness. Meat and smoked fish in the palm base with onion, tomato and fiery chili until the oil rises to the surface.
In Côte d'Ivoire it is Sunday and celebration food, ladled generously over foutou banane, boiled or white rice and shared from a common dish. Its earthy depth is unmistakable and quite unlike any tomato stew.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
400 g palm fruit pulp (graine base)
500 g beef, cut in pieces
150 g smoked fish, flaked
1 large onion, chopped
2 tomato, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 pepper, whole
4 , sliced
Instructions
1
Simmer the beef (or chickpeas and mushrooms) with half the onion, the garlic, ginger and a little salt in water until tender.
2
Stir the palm fruit pulp into about a litre of water in a wide pot and bring to a gentle boil, then cook 10 to 15 minutes.
3
Add the tomato, the rest of the onion, the smoked fish (or mushrooms) and the whole Scotch bonnet, then tip in the meat with its broth.
4
Simmer uncovered 30 to 40 minutes until the stew thickens and the oil rises, adding the okra for the last 15 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Let it simmer long enough for the palm oil to float to the top, which is the sign a sauce graine is ready.
5
Season, remove the whole pepper, and serve over rice or foutou.
Traditional Ivorian home cooking, Abidjan.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Abidjan (Lagunes). The maquis is a format more than a restaurant: open air, plastic chairs, a grill and a short list. Garba, attieke with fried tuna, onion and chilli, is the standing street plate here, and the older partner for attieke was kedjenou, chicken cooked sealed in a pot with almost no added liquid.
🗺️
Côte d’Ivoire. Kedjenou is cooked without stirring. Chicken or guinea fowl goes into a canari, a sealed clay pot, with tomato, onion, ginger and chilli and no added liquid, and the pot is shaken from time to time rather than opened, so everything cooks in the juices it gives up. It is served with attieke or rice.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Côte d’Ivoire
Kedjenou de PouletChicken slow-cooked sealed in a pot with peppers, tomato, and aromatics, with no added water, cooking in all its own juices.
Bouillie d'ArachideA creamy Ivorian peanut-and-millet breakfast porridge sweetened and scented with nutmeg.
Attiéké PoissonFermented cassava couscous served with grilled fish and a fresh onion-tomato relish, Côte d'Ivoire's national plate.
Browse all Côte d’Ivoire recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Côte d’Ivoire meal
GnamankoudjiDrink
Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes)Dessert
Attiéké PoissonLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Sauce Graine (Palm Fruit Stew)?
A rich, earthy Ivorian stew built on palm fruit pulp with meat and smoked fish, spooned over rice or foutou.
Where does Sauce Graine (Palm Fruit Stew) come from?
Sauce Graine (Palm Fruit Stew) is a Ivorian dish from Abidjan (Lagunes), Côte d’Ivoire.
Can Sauce Graine (Palm Fruit Stew) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sauce Graine (Palm Fruit Stew) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sauce Graine (Palm Fruit Stew) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sauce Graine (Palm Fruit Stew) take to make?
About 90 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 70 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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