Hi guys, it’s another Recipe Wednesday. Yay!!! We hope you have been enjoying the various dishes we have posted of recipes around Africa and you have tried making some as well.
This week we are in Saint Louis, located North-west of Senegal at the mouth of the Senegal river and known for the Saint Louis bridge, its bird sanctuary and Goreé Island. To see more of Saint Louis, click here.
Our recipe for today is Theibou Jen, which is Bluefish with Red rice and vegetables. This is the national dish of the Senegalese people and to be honest, looks really good.
Alright! Utensils out, let’s get cooking.
Ingredients:
Serves 10
2 cups broken white rice or regular basmati rice
1/2 cup peanut oil
2 large onions, diced
1 plum tomato, peeled and chopped, or 1/4 cup finely chopped canned tomatoes (pulp only)
1 cup tomato paste
6 cups water
1 generous pinch sugar
5 pounds whole blue fish or other firm, white-flesh fish, cut into 10 steaks about 1 1/2 inches thick, heads reserved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
7 tablespoons rof stuffing for the fish steaks
1 bay leaf
1/2 large green cabbage, cut into 3 wedges
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
1 (1-pound) yuca, peeled and cut into thirds
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into large chunks or wedges
12 okra pods
1 habanero pepper
1 tablespoon tamarind paste, diluted in 1/4 cup water
4 to 5 tablespoons fish sauce
limes, cut into wedges, for garnish
Okra-pods
yuca
Blue-fish
limes_sliced
Butternut_squash
habanero-peppers
Method:
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté onions until soft but try not to burn it. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Add the tomato and stir, then dilute the tomato paste in a cup of water and add to the mixture in the pot. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt and stir to dissolve. Simmer until oil rises above tomato mixture, stirring occasionally (add water where necessary and ensure the tomato mixture is not burning at the bottom of the pot.
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Make two inch long slits on each steak and stuff each crevice with one teaspoon of rof.
Add the remaining water and bay leaf to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Add the fish steaks into the broth, along with the fish head, cabbage, yucca, butternut squash, habanero and okra. Bring to boil then simmer. Cook for an hour, removing the fish after 30 minutes and leaving the rest of the vegetables to boil.
Add the tamarind paste to the broth and simmer until oil rises above the broth. Take a few spoons of the broth and put in a bowl then add the fish sauce. Remove the habanero if you don’t want your sauce too spicy. Add seasoning as necessary.
Add the washed rice to the pot, adding the brought out sauce if necessary or so the broth can cover the rice. Cover the pot tightly and cook for 30 minutes.
Put rice on a plate and spread the vegetable and fish over it, adding the sauce also. Serve limes on the side.
Enjoy.
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Recipe by Lake Isle Press
Miriam Chiazor
