Book review: Sweet Salone – recipes from the heart of Sierra Leone

It can be a hard line to balance when presenting a nation's cuisine through a cookbook. How can you do the culture justice while providing recipes that chefs and home cooks can realistically follow? How do you immerse the British public in the food of a nation without scaring them off with recipes and methods difficult to reproduce outside of the country?

Maria Bradford finds that balance perfectly with her Sierra Leonean cookbook Sweet Salone. She grew up in Freetown before migrating to England, where she set up her catering business Shwen Shwen. Her recipes flit from home comfort to national pride and party favours, even including a selection of Sierra Leone-inspired cocktails towards the end.

The book cover is inspired by country cloth (or Kpokpoi) – a traditional textile – and it gives an insight into the rich and vibrant images of food and people within. Bradford has cleverly kept the traditional and the tweaked separate with sections: street food, Afro-fusion starters, Afro-fusion mains, and traditional mains, are followed by desserts and tipples. "Mixing techniques and flavours aids diversity," she writes. "I make no apology for bringing the reinvention of African dishes and ingredients to a broader audience."

In the fusion section braised beef short ribs swim in a rich peanut and coconut milk sauce, and cassava pancakes are presented with onion stew and pan-fried seabass. This is in comparison to the traditional section, where many dishes are given their Krio names, such as plasas (a stew made from sweet potato leaves) or shapka (egusi soup).

Bradford's creativity shines alongside her heritage. Take, for example, her plantain and feta hand pies with oven-dried tomato salsa or a dish based on a meat pie from Sierra Leone which is suitable for vegetarians. Her cassava chips with truffle oil, Parmesan and saffron mayo wouldn't be out of place at a top-notch restaurant.

Whichever section you choose, you can discover Sierra Leone through food in a book that gives you the chance to expand your horizons.

Sweet Salone by Maria Bradford (Hardie Grant, £30)