Lakotokoto

The Acholi sesame sauce: raw simsim washed, ground, and cooked with onion, tomato, and dried fish until thick, eaten with millet bread

Origin: Gulu & Acholiland, Northern Uganda

From the journey of Sesame.

Lakotokoto is a sauce of raw sesame, simsim, made by the Acholi people of northern Uganda. The seed is washed clean, sometimes lightly pounded and winnowed to remove the husks, and ground to a paste; some cooks press out part of the oil, others keep it. The paste is cooked with onion and tomato and with dried fish, beef, or offal until it thickens and bubbles, and the name, it is said, comes from the sound it makes on the fire. Its flavour depends on what goes in with the sesame, which is why every family's lakotokoto tastes a little different. It is eaten with kwon kal, the stiff millet bread of the north, with cassava bread, or with sweet potatoes, and it is a dish of communal meals and family celebrations. Northern Uganda grows almost all of the country's sesame, and the Acholi and Lango kitchens use it constantly: ground into odii to enrich vegetables and the pigeon pea sauce dek ngor, roasted and pressed into patties, and in lakotokoto, where it is the dish itself.

Ingredients

Sauce

  • 250 g raw white sesame seeds (simsim)
  • 150 g dried or smoked fish, soaked for 30 minutes and flaked (or 250 g beef, cubed)
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 600 ml water
  • 1 tsp salt, or to taste

To Serve

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

Method

  1. Wash the sesame seeds well in several changes of water, rubbing them between your hands, and drain thoroughly.
  2. Grind the seeds with a few spoonfuls of water to a smooth, thick paste, in a grinder or on a grinding stone.
  3. Put the onion, tomato, fish, and water in a pan and simmer for 10 minutes, until the tomato has broken down.
  4. Stir in the sesame paste and salt and cook over a low heat, stirring often, for 20 to 25 minutes, until the sauce is thick and bubbling and the oil begins to show on the surface.
  5. Serve hot with millet bread, cassava bread, or sweet potatoes.

Notes

Beef, goat, or offal can replace the dried fish. Some cooks press the ground simsim through a cloth to remove part of the oil, which gives a lighter, less bitter sauce.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

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