West African food

It's a busy time in our year, right before the holidays. My husband's working long hours, and my job as an elementary school speech-language pathologist means that my students are wound up for the break. So, my husband asked me to meet him after working late for dinner. As I arrived, I started looking for places to go, somewhere we had never been that had decent reviews. Up popped "Mama Sinmi's Chop House." It's a West African restaurant in OKC, situated right next to the East African restaurant "Queen of Sheba." We'd never gone to either one, so it was an interesting idea.

Think breadsticks/chips/tortillas, we got this before we ordered

We were greeted by one of the owners who gave us our menus and some water. We did our usual looking at the menu, glances at each other, and then finally asking what the other person was going to get. I think the owner by this time knew we were first-timers, though she asked to make sure. After talking with her a bit, she suggested the sample plate: suya, meat pies, bean cake, plantains, goat meat pepper soup, jollof rice, and okra soup with fufu. It was plate after plate of food.

Red sauce is like sweet marinara

Suya: spiced tender beef on skewers. John really liked this dish. I enjoyed the super tender beef, but it was a little too spicy for me. I could eat it with some of the red sauce though.

Inside a meat pie

Meat pies: buttery pastries filled with beef, carrots, peas, and yam (I think). These were okay, but would have been much better with a little gravy inside. That being said, I would totally pick them up at a bake sale or fair.

The second plate had bean cake and plantains both covered in red sauce.

Bean cake: black eyed peas that are pureed with spices then steamed. This was really good too, more than we anticipated. Both of us consider it a favorite.

Plantains: these were sliced on skewers, grilled until caramelized then topped with red sauce. I was a little worried I'd think these were bananas, but they were heartier while still being slightly sweet from the caramelization.

The last three dishes were individual but came out together.

Goat meat pepper soup: a hearty broth with chunks of goat meat (and fat) in it, some onions too. This was one of those things that I was like, "eh" at first but when I went on to something else, I kind of craved the taste. The goat meat was really good too.

Jollof rice: rice fried in palm oil with tomatoes and spices (garlic and ginger probably) covering some lettuce with dressing (probably Thousand Island). John liked it and basically ate the whole of it. I was less than enthusiastic, but I don't really like fried rice in general. John liked it enough that when we went back to get it again (for more pics too), he got the entree portion which came with meat and a side of plantains.

Okra soup and fufu: okra and spinach soup that's very thick due to the okra mucus with fufu (the white things on the side that are pounded yam). I absolutely love this and we ended up going back less than a week later so I could get a whole entree of it. It was incredible and if I don't stop now, I will write a long love letter to this amazing food. It is just the right level of salty which pairs well with the fufu. Fufu is bland, like mashed potatoes without any seasoning. It's pounded though, so it's like mochi, kind of glutinous. We figured it was like bread. You dip it in the soup, which gives the fufu some flavor. The one we got on the sample plate was not this big, this is the entree size with chicken (a chicken leg) in it. I think I prefer the vegetarian version, but I haven't tried it with beef.