Today’s guest post is by Aleyna Diouf, also known by her blog handle: Une Toubab à Dakar. She’s a French mom of three with a Senegalese husband and an incredible talent for writing about the joys and struggles of living cross-culturally.
I’ve asker her to share some of her recipes with us so that we can learn to make the most of ingredients that are locally available, but that we may not be very familiar with in the US. Thanks, Aleyna!
Here in Senegal there are many refreshing drinks: bissap (both red and white), bouye, ditakh, ginger drink, sow and many others that I’m sure I don’t know of!
One of my personal favorites is ‘le ginger’. Below I’ll share my favorite recipe, but there are many variations.
Le ginger
Makes 2 liters
300g ginger root
300g of sugar
50 cl pineapple juice
juice of one lemon
Peel the ginger and cut it into pieces. Grate or crush the root. Place the pieces in a glass container with 1/2 liter of boiling water. Let it sit at least one hour, but preferably overnight!
Strain out the ginger and add 1.5 liters of water. Add the sugar, lemon juice and pineapple juice.
Pour it into a bottle or pitcher and chill it. For best results, let it sit 24 hours before serving. It gets even better!
On a sidenote, I’ve tried the chemical versions of juices (like Foster Clarks) but nothing is as good as real pineapple juice. Same goes for the little bottles of artificial flavorings – natural is always my preference!
For those who may be interested, I’ve heard ‘le ginger’ goes particularly well with white rum!
Dakar Eats 
After you grate the root and add the boiling water do you let it sit in the refridge or out on the counter top?? Thanks
You let it in the boiling water in the open cause it is the only way to get the greatest taste from ginger root instead of cooling.
(just close it with too for container to keep in steam for better results)