Thieboudienne (Senegalese fish and rice)

Thieboudienne aka chebu jen is a traditional dish from Senegal. Thieboudienne is a classic fish and rice dish from Senegal, and can be considered a jollof rice with a twist. This is a very versatile and flavourful Senegalese dish – the new savoury addition to your dinner recipes. It is a customisable recipe that can be made with a wide variety of vegetables and fish, which are considered the basics when making thieboudienne. Read on to learn how to cook thieboudienne with our step-by-step recipe guide. Any day can be a good day with this deliciously rich rice recipe.

 Ingredients

• 3-4 firm fleshed fish (croaker, hake, tilapia or snapper, etc)
• Chopped green onions
• Finely chopped parsley
• Large onion, sliced
• Tomatoes sauce
• Minced garlic
• Uncooked rice (basmati, local rice – your choice)
• Vegetables (carrots, okra, eggplant, sweet peppers)
• Potatoes or cassava or yam
• Smoked fish
• Salt and pepper to taste

Tip: traditionally, the ingredients use for thieboudienne generally include cassava, pumpkin, cabbage, potatoes, eggplant, okra, carrot and turnip. However, feel free to choose your favorite, improvise and adapt to personal preferences.

Method

1. For the fish stuffing; mix and blend parsley, garlic cloves, hot peppers, and maggi (bouillon cube)
2. Clean fish carefully, drain, and dry them. Make 2 to 3 deep diagonal cuts in each fish. Rub the fish with lemon and salt the fish and set aside.
3. Marinate whole fish with the blended mixture, stuff each fish cut with the mixture. Leave them to soak in the marinate for an hour or more, while you ready the vegetables.
4. Clean and wash potatoes/yam (peel, wash and cut into large chunks)
5. Clean Carrots, eggplant, and sweet peppers (cut into large chunks)
6. Heat up vegetable oil in a big frying pan, fry fish for about 3 minutes on each side until fish is brown. Remove the fish and set aside
7. Reduce the heat and add the chopped onions, garlic and tomatoe sauce. Add remaining fish marinade, if any. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.
8. Add a little water, then put in yam and potatoes about 5 minutes, then followed by eggplant, carrots and the peppers last, simmer for until tender. Remove the vegetables and set aside
9. Rinse the rice and add. Put enough water to cover the rice – about 3 cups. Cover the pot and allow to cook about 20 – 30 minutes. Check, stir and make sure rice is finely done.
10. Add vegetables and fish back to the pan, stir together and cook for about 5 minutes.
11. Serve hot with lemon slices.
12. Enjoy!

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