Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Torborgee
A pungent, spicy Liberian stew of red cowpeas and bitter eggplant with smoked meats and fish, slicked with red palm oil.
Liberian · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 60 min
~385 cal · 20g protein · 44g carbs · 15g fat · 12g fiber · 5g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Torborgee is a pungent, boldly flavored Liberian stew of red cowpeas and bitter eggplant (bitterballs) cooked with smoked meats and fish, slicked with red . It is assertive, deeply savory food that reflects Liberia's love of strong, layered flavors.
The dish builds complexity from soft-cooked cowpeas, the bitterness of African garden-egg eggplant, an array of smoked and dried proteins, and the earthy richness of , traditionally an aged 'toborgee' oil that gives the stew its distinctive pungent depth. A speciality of Lofa County, it is the kind of stew that rewards a taste for intensity.
Served over rice, the staple of the Liberian table, in Monrovia and beyond, torborgee is everyday home cooking, beans, , and preserved seafood cooked into a robust, savory whole.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and nut-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
1 lb smoked meat
6 oz smoked fish
2 cups red cowpeas (or red beans), soaked
1 lb bitter eggplant (bitterballs / African garden egg), quartered
1/3 cup red
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1-2
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Simmer the soaked cowpeas in water until tender, about 1 hour, then set aside.
2
In another pot, simmer the smoked meat (or mushrooms) and fish (or tofu) with the onion, garlic, and Scotch bonnet to build a savory base.
3
Stir in the red palm oil and the quartered bitter eggplant and cook until the eggplant softens.
4
Add the cooked cowpeas and simmer until the palm oil colours the stew deeply and it thickens, about 25 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Let it simmer until the palm oil floats up and the flavours round out; torborgee should be thick and intense, spooned in a small portion over lots of rice.
5
Season well with salt and serve over plenty of white rice.
Monrovia tradition.
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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. Torborgee is not a greens stew: it is built on beans or bitterball, the African eggplant, and what defines it is fermented palm oil rather than any leaf. Potato greens means the leaf of the sweet potato plant, not the tuber's, chopped fine and cooked down with smoked fish and meat.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Liberia
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.
Kanyah (Peanut and Rice Sweet)Ground roasted peanuts and toasted rice flour pressed with sugar into a dense, crumbly sweet, a Liberian classic.
Browse all Liberia 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 Liberia meal
Liberian Lemongrass TeaDrink
Kanyah (Peanut and Rice Sweet)Dessert
Palm Butter RiceLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Torborgee?
A pungent, spicy Liberian stew of red cowpeas and bitter eggplant with smoked meats and fish, slicked with red palm oil.
Where does Torborgee come from?
Torborgee is a Liberian dish from Monrovia, Liberia.
Can Torborgee be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Torborgee 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 Torborgee 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 Torborgee take to make?
About 85 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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