À l’Africaine is a French phrase in cooking that now has many different meanings, varying from flavouring to garnish.
There used to be an assumption by some writers that it meant accompanied by cucumber, eggplant, potatoes and zucchini.
Larousse Gastronomique both elaborates and restricts this a bit, saying it is a garnish of small potato balls cut from black (dark, blue-fleshed) potatoes that are blanched then sautéed in butter, or small zucchini sticks.
Now, however, it is harder to generalize what it is likely to mean.
In desserts, it can mean with bananas. In savoury dishes, it can mean:
-
- flavoured with cumin, coriander and pepper;
- garnished with coconut or potatoes and marrow (the squash); or
- served with peanut oil and couscous.
Really, it can now mean anything that strikes the whim of the recipe writer to mean.