Theme Meal: An Evening in Sierra Leon, Africa

Menu:
Entrée 1: Yassa (Sengalese Braised Lemon Chicken on Bed of onions)
Salad: Black Eyed Pea Salad with cucumber, tomato and red pepper dressed in olive oil and
lemon juice (Saluda Nebbe)
Side: Jollof Rice
Dessert: Chokka (Key Lime Cake)

Figure 1: Salad Nebbe

Figure 2: Key Lime Cake (Chokka)

Figure 3: Jollof Rice

Figure 4: Yassa
The Inspiration
My junior year of college I studied abroad in Sierra Leone, Africa for 4 months.
This was something I had wanted to do since I was 14 and it was one of the most
amazing periods in my life. After finally being able to save up enough to travel
there, I remember wondering if I had made the right decision signing up to stay for
4 entire months. It was one of the most out-of-comfort-zone experiences that
brought upon the most growth I have had in my life thus far. I also remember
thinking the whole time, “don’t take a single moment for granted”. Thankfully, I
basked in every moment, every adventure and most importantly—from a dietetic
perspective—every meal.
Some of the meals and snacks I enjoyed were things you could find in the United
States (but better!), such as fresh mango and papaya grown locally that we would
have for breakfast each morning, or freshly popped popcorn seasoned with ground
garlic root and cassava spices. Some meals however, I had never even heard of. On
New Year’s Eve, we had freshly caught barracuda that still sticks with as one of
the best meals I ever had. When creating the menu for this themed meal, I wanted
to represent the most authentic dishes of West Africa. All of the dishes I prepared
were items we had multiple times and were always delicious and filling for our
long days of hiking, sight-seeing, and providing nutrition education for local
mothers and infants in the villages.
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Recipe for Yassa:
Ingredients:
 3 chicken breast halves (bone-in)
 4 onions peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
 1 scotch bonnet pepper
Marinade
 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
 1/4 cup canola oil or olive oil
 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
 4 medium garlic cloves, crushed
 1/2 teaspoon salt
For Browning and Braising the Chicken
 Kosher salt
 1 tablespoon cooking oil (olive, canola, or grape seed)
 1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth (I recommend Swanson’s)

Instructions:
Marinate the Chicken: Put the chicken and onions into a large glass bowl. Cut a few slits in the
habanero pepper and add it to the bowl. Whisk marinade ingredients in a small bowl and pour on
top. Toss. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours or
overnight.
Brown the Chicken and Caramelize the Onions: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Heat 1 tablespoon oil
over medium-high heat in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven. Remove the chicken from the
marinade and sprinkle pieces with a few pinches of salt and a few grinds of pepper, to taste.
Brown chicken on both sides in batches, three pieces at a time, about 5 minutes per batch.
Transfer to a plate and set aside. Spoon out some of the chicken fat from the pot, leaving about
one tablespoon.
Caramelize the Onions Set the hot pepper aside and scrape the onions and all the marinade into
the pot over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes to get the onions hot and
cooking. Cover the pot and turn the heat to medium-low. Let the onions cook, stirring
occasionally, for about 10 minutes more, until they are soft and starting to caramelize. Regulate
the heat so they don’t burn.
Use a spatula or wooden spoon to move onions aside, as you lay chicken pieces into the bottom
of the pot, and then mound the onions on top of the chicken pieces. Place the hot pepper in the
middle of the pot. Pour in chicken broth. Turn the heat to medium high and bring the broth to a
simmer.

Recipe for Jollof Rice:

Ingredients:
 2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped (about 5 ounces each)
 ½ medium Scotch bonnet pepper (or use a habanero pepper), stem removed
 ½ medium onion, roughly chopped
 3 small red bell peppers, roughly chopped (about 5 ounces each)
 ½ cup vegetable oil
 1 ½ teaspoons salt
 1 teaspoon curry powder
 1 ½ teaspoons cayenne
 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
 1 tablespoon plus 1 heaping teaspoon onion powder
 2 bay leaves
 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
 1 tablespoon dried thyme
 2 ½ cups medium-grain rice
Directions:
In a blender, combine tomatoes, scotch bonnet pepper and onions; purée. Pour out half the purée
into a bowl; set aside. Add the bell peppers to the purée remaining in the blender and pulse until
smooth. Add to the mixture that was set aside and stir to combine.
Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add blended vegetables along with the salt,
curry powder, ground chile pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, bay leaves, ginger and thyme.
Bring mixture to a boil.
Stir in the rice until well mixed, then reduce the heat to low. Cover pot and let cook until rice is
al dente, about 45 minutes. Check after 30 minutes; if rice is sauce-logged, remove the lid to
cook off the excess sauce. If rice seems dry, stir in 1 to 2 cups water. Allow the rice at the bottom
of the pot to char a bit to infuse it with a smoky flavor.

Recipe for Saluda Nebbe:

Ingredients:
 ¼ cup fresh lime juice about 2½ limes, juiced
 1 cup chopped parsley
 ½ cup olive oil or canola oil
 3 cups cooked black-eyed peas follow package ingredients you need to soak the beans
overnight for best texture and then cook them so you need to plan ahead
 5 scallions roughly chopped
 1 red bell pepper stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes chopped
 1 medium cucumber seeded and finely chopped
  2 serrano peppers or 1 habanero or Scotch bonnet chile stemmed, seeded, and minced
 Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the lime juice and parsley. Continue mixing as you slowly drizzle
in the olive oil to make a smooth dressing.
Add the black-eyed peas, scallions, bell pepper, tomato, cucumber, and minced pepper to the
bowl. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and use a big spoon to toss the salad. Cover and
set aside at room temperature for at least 1 hour, or refrigerate up to overnight. Serve chilled or at
room temperature.

Recipe for Chokka

 1/2 cup white sugar
 1 tablespoon and 3/4 teaspoon butter, softened
 1 eggs, beaten
 1/2 lime, juiced
 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
 1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x8-inch baking
dish.
2. Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes; beat in eggs and
lime juice. Stir flour and baking powder into butter mixture until combined. Pour batter
into prepared baking dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven until brown for 25 minutes.
Budget, Equipment and Recipe Cost
Table 1 Budget for Themed Meal
Ingredient Specificatio Unit size Quantity Unit cost Edible Total Cost
n needed portion %
White Granulated 4lbs Bag 1 cup $3.58 100% $0.89
Sugar
Egg 1 dozen 1 eggs $0.85 88% $0.073
(12)
Butter Softened, 16oz .5oz $3.15 100% $0.099
salted
Lime Zest and 1 lime 1 lime $0.20 100% (due $0.20
juice of lime to using
zest and
lime)
AP Flour 5lb bag ¾ cups $2.09 100% $.41
Baking 8oz 1 Tsp $1.35 100% $0.025
Powder
Onions White 3lb bag (6 4½ $2.19 81% $1.64
onions)
Scotch 2 1½ $1.52 72% $1.14
bonnet
pepper
Olive Oil 16.9oz 1 ½ cup $2.75 100% $1.30
Chicken Skinless, 3 full 3 Full (6 $4.29 1 $4.29
Breasts boneless or breasts, servings)
bone-in minus
some EP
due to
trimmings
Lemon 32oz ½ cup $2.55 100% $0.32
Juice
Garlic minced 4 count 4 $1.55 84% $1.55
Cloves
Dijon 12oz 2 TBSP $1.65 100% $.13
mustard
Salt 26oz 1 tbsp $0.55 100% $.018
chicken Low sodium 32oz 1 cup $1.35 100% $.33
broth
Tomato crushed 15oz 5oz $0.65 89% 0.22
Red pepper 4 count 4 (20oz $3.00 72% $3.00
total)
Curry 3.12oz 1 tsp 1.50 100% $0.072
powder
 Garlic 3.12oz 1 ½ tbsp 1.05 100% $0.24
powder
ginger 3.10 oz 1tsp 1.05 100% $0.069
Thyme 3.12 oz 1 tbsp 1.05 100% $0.23
Bay leaf 17 leaves 2 $3.44 Technicall $.40
(about y 0%
26oz) (steeped
for flavor
and then
removed)
cayenne 3.12oz ½ tsp 1.05 100% $.0345
Rice White, long 48oz 1 ¼ cup, $2.05 100% $0.34
grained uncooked
Black eyed Cooked, 15oz 7oz $0.80 100% $.37
peas canned
cucumber 1 each 1 $0.75 92% $.75

Total Cost per meal: $3.02; Sell at $10.09 for entire meal or $7.90 without dessert; Estimated
food cost %: 30%

Table 2, Equipment Required

Equipment
Standard Cooking equipment available in home cooking supply

Table 3 Nutrition Analysis

Nutrition Yassa Jollof Rice Salad Chokka
Kcal 422kcal 210 209kcal 158kcal
Protein 32g 4g 8g 2.8g
Sugar 1.7g 2g 6.4g 16.8g
Carbohydrate 28g 35g 23g 25g
Total Fat 25g 6g 10g 3.5g
Saturated Fat 4g 1g 1.9g 1.8g
Cholesterol 111mg ----- 0mg 37.4mg
Sodium 520mg 244mg 16.8mg 98.5mg
Fiber 2g 2g 8g 0.5g

Nutritional Analysis Report:

Since the majority of the recipes I made were adapted from websites, I used these sources as a
guidelines for calculating the nutrition. However, I did go back through and calculate the
nutrition of each unit size from the recipe after adaptation to ensure the nutrition was as accurate
as possible. Overall, I would say that recipes were fairly healthy. For example, the Saluda Nebbe
provided 8g of fiber which is a dietary element most of us do not get enough of. This was thanks
to the high veggie content as well as the black eye peas. I was pleased with how the Chokka
turned out due to its relatively low calorie and fat content. It was still very light, fluffy and
flavorful, making for an excellent dessert.
Although this meal would bring in around 850 calories (without dessert), it could easily be
lowered by enjoying a smaller amount of each side or a smaller piece of the chicken. When
enjoying this with my family, none of us took the full “suggested” serving size since it was larger
than expected. Based on an average 2000kcal diet which is recommended for most Americans,
this meal could definitely fit into your intake by having some lighter meals throughout the day or
maybe limiting snacking on that given day.

Planning Schedule:
 Organized and retrieved required food, based on order of cooking
 Planned to cook Yassa first; mise en placed all veggies for all recipes and began
marinating chicken
 While chicken was cooking after marinating and prepping veggies, I began with
preparing dessert so it could bake
 Then did jollof rice; while rice was steaming and being brough to a boil I quickly
prepared salad and place it in fridge so it would be ready later.

Any pre/post satisfaction surveys created and analysis of results in table format:

I utilized this survey for my family to fill out and for me to collect data on how they liked this
meal. Overall, the reviews were positive. I had them fill out a card for each meal item; the
highest rated item was the Yassa, while the lowest was the salad since most of my family
members are not huge fans of black eyed peas.
Individual Reflection:
Since this project was done on a smaller scale than most larger food service operation, the cost
per unit was slightly higher since none of the items were purchased in bulk. However, it is
important to note most of these items I had already had around my home, so I did not have to go
out an buy them. I did include the selling price for observation, and I did look up most items on
the Aldi Instacart website, since I shop at Aldi for almost all my groceries.
To perform the calculating on EP (edible portion) I used the universal conversion factors to
account for amount of discard from cutting, chopping, and de-seeding. If I was doing this for a
larger scale operation, I also would have done a case cost. For example, if I needed 3 cans of
lemon juice but 6 came in a case for $26.45, then the unit price for the 3cans must be calculated
this way. By purchasing on a smaller scale though, the number of units I bought was easier to
account for verbatim due to not purchasing in bulk.
For the nutrition component of this project, I used nutrition care pro and myfitnesspal to identify
the majority of nutrients in individual food items. As mentioned above in the nutritional analysis
report, I used the recipe adaptations as guides for nutrition information but re-calculated it all
myself.
If I had to do a theme meal again, I would choose this theme again in a heartbeat. Traveling to
Africa meant the world to me and will remain one of the brightest and happiest memories for the
rest of my life.
Sources:
Recipe for Saluda Nebbe adapted from https://www.internationalcuisine.com/west-african-salad/
Recipe for Key lime cake adapted from: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/244880/west-african-
lime-cake/
Mary, B. G. Foodservice Organizations. A Managerial and Systems Approach. 8th. ed. The
Menu. 2018.
2. Mahan, L. K. Escott-Stump, S. & Raymond, J. Krause's Food & the Nutrition Care Process.
13th ed. Nutrition in Weight Management. W B Saunders Co. 2020