🍢 SNACK
Koliko (Togolese Fried Yam)
Thick chips of white yam, salted and fried until crisp and golden outside and fluffy inside, eaten hot with a raw pepper sauce of chili, tomato and onion.
Togolese · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 30 min · plus 20 min hands-off time
~315 cal · 4g protein · 74g carbs · 1g fat · 11g fiber · 4g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Koliko is the Togolese name for fried yam, and in Lomé it is everywhere: a portion of hot yam chips bought from a street fryer, eaten on its own or beside grilled fish or chicken. Yam is a staple across Togo, and frying it is the quickest and best-loved way to eat it between meals.
The yam is peeled, cut into thick chips, salted and left for a little while, then fried until it is flaky and crunchy on the outside and soft and moist inside. Some cooks parboil the chips in salted water first for extra tenderness. Across Togo, Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire the same yam chips are sold next to fried to go with grilled meat.
What makes it a meal is the pepper that comes with it. Togolese cooks grind fresh chilies with tomato and onion into a raw, fiery paste, yébéssé-si, and a spoonful of it goes on every bite.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and 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 4
- 1 kg white African yam (puna or ñame), not sweet potatoHard to find? floury potatoes - Sweeter and less starchy than true yam, and the chips will not have the same dense, flaky bite.
- 2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
- about 1 litre vegetable oil, for deep frying
- 4 to 6 fresh red chilies ( or bird's eye), for the pepper sauce
- 1 medium ripe tomato, for the pepper sauce
- 1 small onion, for the pepper sauce
Instructions
- 1Peel the yam, cut it into rounds about 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick, then cut each round across into thick chips. Rinse the chips well and drain.✎ Chef’s noteSome people's skin itches from raw yam. Oil your hands or wear gloves while peeling.
- 2Toss the chips with the 2 tsp salt and leave them for 20 minutes.
- 3Meanwhile make the pepper sauce: grind or blend the chilies, tomato and onion with a pinch of salt to a coarse, rough paste. Do not cook it.
- 4Heat the oil in a deep pan to 175C (350F). Pat the chips dry and fry them in batches, with room to turn, for 8 to 10 minutes per batch, stirring now and then, until golden and crisp.✎ Chef’s noteFor a softer centre, some cooks first boil the chips in salted water for about 4 minutes, drain them well and fry them straight away.
- 5Lift the chips onto paper to drain, sprinkle with a little more salt and serve hot with the pepper sauce, on their own or beside grilled fish.
Togolese street food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lomé. Gboma is not spinach. It is the leaf of Solanum macrocarpon, the African eggplant, and spinach is only the substitute cooks reach for elsewhere. The same dish is called shoko in Ghana and Benin, and akoume, the fermented maize dough it comes with, is also known as to.
🗺️
Togo. Togo is a narrow strip running from the Atlantic to the Sahel, and its food changes as you go up it. The coast has fish, coconut and cassava; the middle has yam and maize; the dry north turns to millet, sorghum and shea butter, and the same household dish shifts its starch accordingly rather than its logic.
🌍
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 Togo
Gboma DessiA rich Togolese spinach stew simmered with tomato, red palm oil, and beef or fish.
AyimolouA one-pot of rice and beans cooked together and served with a spicy pepper sauce, Togo's breakfast.
DjenkouméA savory red maize-meal paste cooked with tomato and palm oil, served with grilled chicken, a Togolese celebration favorite.
Browse all Togo recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Koliko (Togolese Fried Yam)?
Thick chips of white yam, salted and fried until crisp and golden outside and fluffy inside, eaten hot with a raw pepper sauce of chili, tomato and onion.
Where does Koliko (Togolese Fried Yam) come from?
Koliko (Togolese Fried Yam) is a Togolese dish from Lomé, Togo.
Can Koliko (Togolese Fried Yam) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Koliko (Togolese Fried Yam) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Koliko (Togolese Fried Yam) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Koliko (Togolese Fried Yam) take to make?
About 1 h 10 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 30 minutes cooking, plus 20 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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