Dek Ngor

The Acholi pigeon pea sauce: split lapena cooked to a thick cream and enriched with sesame paste, eaten with millet bread at weddings and naming ceremonies

Origin: Gulu & Acholiland, Northern Uganda

From the journey of Pigeon Pea.

Dek ngor is the pigeon pea sauce of the Acholi people of northern Uganda, eaten also in Lango and West Nile. In the Acholi language the pigeon pea is lapena, and the dish is often called dek ngor lapena. The dried peas are prepared by hand: soaked briefly, dried in the sun, split on a grinding stone, and winnowed to remove their husks. The split peas are then boiled until they collapse into a thick, cream-coloured porridge, and the sauce is finished with odii, a paste of roasted sesame or groundnuts, and sometimes a little shea butter, moo yaa. It is thick enough to be a food in its own right. It is eaten with kwon kal, the stiff millet bread of the north, or with sweet potatoes, cassava, or maize meal. It is also a dish of occasions: at weddings, at graduations, and when a newborn child is named, dek ngor is expected on the table.

Ingredients

Sauce

  • 300 g split pigeon peas (lapena, or toor dal as a substitute), rinsed
  • 1.2 litres water
  • 1 pinch bicarbonate of soda (in place of magadi, the traditional rock salt)
  • 1 tsp salt, or to taste
  • 4 tbsp sesame paste (odii) or smooth peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp shea butter (moo yaa), optional

To Serve

  • Millet bread (kwon kal), sweet potatoes, or boiled cassava, to serve

Method

  1. Put the split peas in a heavy pan with the water and bicarbonate. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring often, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the peas have broken down completely into a thick, smooth porridge.
  2. Add the salt. In a bowl, loosen the sesame paste with a few spoonfuls of the hot peas until smooth, then stir it into the pan.
  3. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring, until the sesame is fully blended and the sauce is creamy and glossy. Stir in the shea butter, if using.
  4. Serve hot with millet bread, sweet potatoes, or cassava.

Notes

Acholi cooks traditionally split and husk whole dried lapena by hand; split pigeon peas sold as toor dal are the practical substitute. Odii made from sesame gives a nuttier, darker sauce than peanut butter. Many families mix the two.

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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