Thiéboudienne, or ceebu jën, is the dish Senegal is proudest of, and a full version is an afternoon's work. This is the way many families cook it on a weeknight: fewer vegetables, one pot, and the rice cooked in the same tomato broth that cooked the fish. Local rice from the Senegal River Valley is what makes it taste right; it absorbs the broth without turning to mush.
Serves: 4 to 6 · Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 cups Tonton Jeb Senegalese Local Rice, rinsed
- 4 thick fish steaks or fillets (grouper, snapper or cod)
- For the rof (stuffing): a bunch of parsley, 4 garlic cloves, 2 spring onions, 1 small chilli, salt, all finely chopped or pounded
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 7 cups water
- 2 carrots, 1 piece of cassava or 2 potatoes, ¼ cabbage, 1 small eggplant, in large pieces
- 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp or the juice of a lime
- Salt, black pepper, 1 bay leaf
Method
- Cut a slit in each piece of fish and push in a spoon of rof. Season with salt.
- Heat the oil in a wide pot and fry the fish 2 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
- Cook the onion until soft, add the tomato paste and fry for 3 minutes until it darkens and smells sweet. Add the chopped tomatoes and bay leaf.
- Pour in the water, bring to a boil, and add the vegetables. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- Return the fish for 10 minutes, then lift out the fish and vegetables onto a plate and keep warm.
- Measure the broth: you need about 4½ cups for 3 cups of rice. Add water if short. Stir in the tamarind or lime.
- Add the rice, cover, and cook on low for 20 to 25 minutes until the broth is absorbed. Let it rest 5 minutes off the heat.
- Pile the rice on a large platter, arrange the fish and vegetables on top, and serve with lime wedges.
Tips from the pantry
- The crust that forms at the bottom of the pot, the xoñ, is the best part. Scrape it up and serve it too.
- A spoon of Tamarind pulp in the broth gives the gentle sourness of the original recipe.
- Leftover rice fried the next morning with an egg is a Senegalese breakfast in its own right.
