Thieboudienne

Recently I was on Holiday in Dakar, Senegal.  We had a lot of fish, but I didn’t have the chance to eat this typical african dish, so I made it at home to compensate…

Ingredients (4 persons):

• 3 cups of rice
• 4 large pieces of fish (such as dorade)
• 5 fresh tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 bouquet of parsley
• 1 large carrot
• 4 potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 small eggplant
• 1 small cabbage or some Brussels sprouts
• 200 ml peanut oil
• 2 bouillon cubes (vegetable)
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 green chillies
• salt and pepper
• 6 small okras
• 1.5 liters of water

Method:

• chop the parsley, the tomatoes, the green peppers and the garlic cloves fine.
• cut the carrots, potatoes, onion, eggplant and cabbage into large pieces.
• Mix the parsley, 2 garlic cloves, 2 green chilies, salt and pepper in a mortar.
• Fill the fish with the mixture.
• Heat the oil, and add the onion, tomatoes, tomato paste, the rest of the garlic, the remaining green chillies, salt and pepper.  Cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat.
• Add the fish, the bay leaves, a stock cube and a cup of water. Cook for 15 minutes and put the fish aside. Keep it warm in the oven.
• Let the rice soak in the water.
• Add the vegetables (carrots, eggplant, potatoes, cabbage) to the tomato sauce, and let it simmer for 25 minutes.  During the last 5 minutes, also add the okras.
• Remove the vegetables, and keep them also warm.
• Add the rice and the water to the tomato sauce and let it cook on low heat until ready.
• Serve on a plate with the rice at the bottom and arrange the vegetables and the fish on the rice.