This must be up there amongst the contenders for the national dish of Côte d’Ivoire. Attiéké, a couscous made from grated, fermented and dried cassava served with fried plantains, fried fish pieces served with a tomato-based sauce. It’s the plantain (aloko) that bulks up the meal with one plantain served per person for a light lunch but 2 or even 3 per person saved for supper. Attiéké is fairly readily available in stores that sell African ingredients, where you will most typically find it dried in 500g (1 lb) bags. A 600g fish should be cut into two pieces, larger fish should be sliced into steaks.
Prep time: 20 minutes/Cook time: 45 minutes/Serves: 2 (+over-night marinating)
Ingredients:
500g bag of dried attiéké
2 very ripe plantain bananas
1 whole fish (eg sea bream, mackerel, tilapia) cleaned, scaled and cut into two pieces
1 large onion
1 lemon
1 ripe tomato
3cm (1 in) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 garlic cloves, peeled, germ removed and crushed
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 Maggi cube, crumbled
500ml (4 cups) vegetable oil, for frying
1 Scotch bonnet chilli
Method:
Wash your fish pieces: first with clear water then with the lemon. Rinse and reserve.
For the fish marinade, blend together 1 tsp oil, 1/2 Maggi cube, the garlic and ginger in a small bowl or ramekin. Season to taste with salt and black pepper mixing everything to a paste. Rub this paste all over your fish pieces, then sit in a bowl, cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and set aside to marinate in the refrigerator, preferably over nigh.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, peel the plantains then cut into slices, lightly salt them then fry in the hot oil until golden on both sides. Remove from the oil and set aside to drain on kitchen paper.
Add the fish to the oil and fry for about 10-15 minutes (depending on thickness) until the skin is crisp and the fish is cooked through. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside to keep warm.
For the tomato sauce: chop the onion and fry in a hot pan with a little bit of oil. Add the tomatoes and adjust the seasoning then add the whole chilli. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down into a sauce.
For the attiéké: Tip the attiéké flour into a bowl and moisten with the 250ml (1 cup) water.
Heat water in the base of a couscousier (or a large pot that a colander can sit in). Gather the moistened attiéké in a tea towel and place in your couscousier or colander. Cover with a lid and steam for 20 minutes.
When the cassava couscous mixture is tender transfer to a bowl, season with salt and mix in a tablespoon of groundnut oil to help separate the grains then fluff with a fork.
Your attiéké is now ready. Arrange on serving plates along with the fried plantains, fish and tomato sauce.
