thiebou-kethiakhe.pngAlso known as thiebou niébé, this is a classic but simple Senegalese dish of smoked and dried fish (kethiakh), salted and dried fish (guedji), dried beans, vegetables and seafood with mixed vegetables served on a bed of rice.
Prep time: 20 minutes/Cook time 90 minutes/Serves: 5-6
Method:
250ml (1 cup) oil
250g (1/2 lb) kethiakh (smoked and dried fish), broken into pieces and with bones removed
1 piece of yët (fermented and dried sea snail), washed and scraped clean
2 onions
2 fresh bell peppers (green and yellow)
3 garlic cloves
2 green bell peppers
3 small habanero chillies
200g tomato purée
180g cowpeas (dried beans), soaked for 1 hour
3 bay leaves
Chilli powder
1 teaspoon Maggi cube, crumbled (or all-purpose seasoning)
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 carrot
1 small cabbage
1 cassava, peeled, sliced and cored
1 aubergine (eggplant)
1 piece of pumpkin
100g tamarind paste
500g prawns, peeled
125g of ‘pagnes’ (dried whelks)
1 piece of guédj (preferably guédj yass [dried fish]), broken into pieces and with most of the bones removed
500g smoked fish (smoked but not dried)
1 tsp of sugar
1kg of rice
1 lemon
Method:
Clean the yët by scraping the top with a knife.
Heat the 250ml oil in a pot, add the pieces of kethiakh and the ‘yët’, frying for about 5 minutes, until browned.
Add 1 chopped onion, 2 finely-minced garlic cloves and 1 chopped green bell pepper. Stir to combine and fry for 2 minutes to brown. Nos stir in the tomato purée, letting it dissolve in the oil. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until it turns a dark red colour.
For the nokoss, blend together the remaining onion, garlic clove, green bell pepper, a fresh chilli, salt and black pepper to taste and chilli powder to taste. Add this purée to the pot.
Now stir in the soaked beans along with 1.5l (6 cups) water, the bay leaves and a teaspoon of stock powder or all-purpose seasoning. Wash the vegetables then add the carrot, cabbage, cassava, aubergine, pumpkin and fresh pepper (keep these whole) to the pot.
Now add the prepared smoked fish and the prepared dried fish. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes then add the prawns and the dried whelks. Stir to combine, bring to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes over medium heat, removing the cooked vegetables in the order peppers, pumpkin, aubergine, cassava, carrot as they become ready.
As the sauce cooks the oil will separate at the top of the stew. Skim this off and set aside in a small bowl.
Now pour the rice into the top of a couscousier placed above the sauce. Cover and cook for 10 minutes then remove the couscousier. Remove the smoked and fish and the dried fish and place in a salad bowl with any remaining vegetables and the seafood. Add a ladleful of the stock to keep them warm.
Pour another two ladlefuls of the stock into another bowl and dissolve in the tamarind. Add the red oil that was reserved to this pot along with a teaspoon of sugar to sweeten the mixture slightly.
Now add the steamed rice to your pot with the sauce and beans. Stir well to combine, then cover and cook for about 25 minutes, stirring every 7 minutes or so, until the rice grains are tender and the liquid has dried up. If the rice is still a little sloppy by the end of the cooking time, continue cooking for a few more minutes until dried out.
To serve, turn the rice into a large bowl. Add the fish and seafood along with the vegetables on top. Decorate with the prawns then cut a lemon into wedges and arrange decoratively.
Serve as a sharing dish.
