It's been a while but taste of Arica returns to the Creativ blog to once again wet your appetite for african food. This time around the orgin of our profile dish comes from West Africa.
Thieboudienne, or ceebu jen, is a traditional dish from Senegal. It is made from fish, rice and tomato sauce. Its other ingredients include onions, carrots, cabbage, cassava and peanut oil. Its ingredients are common in the
country. The name of the dish comes from Wolof, meaning rice and fish.
The dish is seen by many as the national dish of Senegal but is also popular in other francofone countries on the west coast of africa. The french themselves have also taken to and the dish can be ordered from several african restaurants around Paris, a city where Senegalese food is fast becoming a favourite amongst the people.
I must confess I am a fussy eater but essentially Thieboudienne is a fish and rice dish so I am tempted. Are you?
Below are the ingreidents.
INGREDIENTSFOR THE FISH AND STUFFING:
¼ cup finely chopped
parsley
2 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
6 cloves garlic, minced
2
scallions, minced
¼ small yellow onion, minced
Kosher salt and freshly
ground black pepper, to taste
8 (4–oz.) filets grouper or red snapper
FOR THE THIÉBOUDIENNE (RICE)
½ cup canola or palm oil
2 medium yellow onions, roughly
chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped
1 (12–oz.) can tomato paste
6 cups fish or vegetable stock
6 small carrots,
halved crosswise
1 large eggplant, cut into large chunks, or 4 small Thai eggplants
1 medium turnip, peeled and cut into 12 wedges
½ cassava root,
peeled and cut into 1 ½″ chunks
⅓ cup dried white hibiscus flowers
2 tbsp. tamarind paste
2 tbsp. fish sauce
4 cups basmati rice
Lime wedges, to serve
Until next time african food lovers....
Ben (Kwesi)
Twitter: @Kwesitheauthor | @Creativafr