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Africa →
Liberia → Monrovia
🍽️ DINNER

Dumboy and Pepper Soup

Liberia's national plate: a sticky pounded-cassava dumpling served in a fiery pepper soup of meat, shrimp and okra.
Liberian · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 60 min
~784 cal · 61g protein · 72g carbs · 26g fat · 5g fiber · 6g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Dumboy is Liberia's national dish, a sticky dumpling of boiled pounded until smooth and stretchy, closely related to and pounded yam. It is a swallow food, torn into pieces by hand and dipped rather than chewed, and its mildness is designed to carry a bold, spicy soup.
That soup is pepper soup, a fiery broth of goat, beef or chicken simmered with onion, bay and habanero until the meat is tender, then finished with shrimp and near the end so they stay just cooked. The heat comes from the peppers that give the soup its name, tempered only by the plain dumboy alongside.
The two are served together, the dumboy set in a bowl with the soup ladled around it, and eaten with the fingers of the right hand, pinching off the dough to scoop up the broth.
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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.
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
Serves 4
1.5 lb , peeled and cut in chunks
1.5 lb goat or beef, cut in pieces
1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled
1 large onion, chopped
2 habanero peppers, chopped
6 pods, chopped
3 bay leaves
2 cubes, crushed
Instructions
1
Boil the cassava until very soft, then pound it in a mortar (or pulse and knead) into a smooth, sticky dough and shape into balls.
✎ Chef’s note
If the dumboy dries out as you pound, wet the pestle rather than adding water, or it turns gluey instead of stretchy.
2
Put the goat or beef in a pot with the onion, bay, habanero and crushed stock cubes, cover with water, and boil about 30 minutes until tender.
3
Add the shrimp and chopped okra and simmer 10 minutes more, until the shrimp is opaque and the soup has body.
4
Taste and adjust the salt and heat.
5
Set a dumboy ball in each bowl and ladle the pepper soup around it, to be eaten with the hands.
Monrovia home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Monrovia. Liberia was founded by freed African Americans from the 1820s and the kitchen carries both sides of that: rice at nearly every meal in the West African way, alongside American Southern habits in collards, cornbread and doughnuts sold on the street. Palm butter and cassava leaf are the everyday sauces.
🗺️
Liberia. The American strand is specific rather than general. Liberia was settled from the 1820s by free and freed Black Americans, and Americo-Liberian households brought with them cornbread, doughnuts and Sunday-dinner habits that sit alongside, rather than blend into, the Indigenous West African cooking of rice, pepper soup and cassava leaf.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Liberia
TorborgeeA pungent, spicy Liberian stew of red cowpeas and bitter eggplant with smoked meats and fish, slicked with red palm oil.
Liberian Rice BreadA moist, tender quick bread of rice flour and mashed ripe banana, spiced and baked into a golden loaf for breakfast or tea.
Palm Butter RiceChicken simmered in a rich palm-nut sauce with chili and greens, ladled over rice, one of Liberia's most cherished dishes.
Browse all Liberia recipes →

Good to know

You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Mortar and pestle.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.

Make it a Liberia meal

Liberian Lemongrass TeaDrink
Kanyah (Peanut and Rice Sweet)Dessert
Palm Butter RiceLunch

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Frequently asked questions

What is Dumboy and Pepper Soup?

Liberia's national plate: a sticky pounded-cassava dumpling served in a fiery pepper soup of meat, shrimp and okra.

Where does Dumboy and Pepper Soup come from?

Dumboy and Pepper Soup is a Liberian dish from Monrovia, Liberia.

Can Dumboy and Pepper Soup be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

This Dumboy and Pepper Soup 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 Dumboy and Pepper Soup 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 Dumboy and Pepper Soup take to make?

About 90 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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