Tô with Sauce Gombo

Name: Tô with Sauce Gombo
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Burkina Faso
Ingredients: 3 cups millet or corn flour; 5 cups water, divided; 1 lb fresh okra, chopped; 1/2 lb beef or smoked fish; 2 tomatoes, chopped; 1 onion, chopped; 2 tbsp palm oil; Seasoning cubes, to taste

6 servings15 min prep40 min cookMedium Burkina Faso

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The Story Behind It

The Tale of Tô with Sauce Gombo

Story updated September 17, 2026

Tô, a stiff paste of pounded millet or sorghum, has fed Sahelian peoples for centuries and is the anchor of the Mossi table in Burkina Faso. It's traditionally paired with sauce gombo, an okra-based sauce whose central ingredient likely originated in East Africa or South Asia before spreading across the continent.

Ingredients

Scale:· 6 servings

3 cups millet or corn flour
5 cups water, divided
1 lb fresh okra, chopped
1/2 lb beef or smoked fish
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp palm oil
Seasoning cubes, to taste

Instructions

1For the sauce, simmer beef with onion and seasoning cubes in water until tender.
2Add chopped okra, tomatoes, and palm oil, and simmer 20 minutes, mashing slightly, until the sauce turns thick and slightly sticky.
3For the tô, bring 3 cups water to a boil and whisk in half the flour to form a base paste.
4Gradually stir in remaining flour, cooking and stirring vigorously over low heat until it forms a smooth, stiff dough, about 10-15 minutes.
5Shape the tô into rounded portions using a wet spoon.
6Serve the tô alongside the okra sauce.

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