Directions: |
Directions:TO PREPARE THE FISH STEW
Dissolve the salt in the water.
Prepare the vegetables as follows:-
Peel and dice both the calabreze and cassava into 1 inch
pieces.
Wash, top and tail the okra pods, making sure you have no
hard pods Quarter the turnips and sweet potatoes.
Peel the carrots and cut into 1 inch rounds
Cut the eggplants into 1 inch slices
Cut the cabbage into 8 pieces
Mince the onions
Prepare the sea bass by cleaning and cut into 1 ½ inch thick
steaks, score the steaks with a sharp knife.
Prepare the stuffing for the sea bass steaks by placing the
parsley, garlic, bird chili and scallions in a food processor and
pulsing until they form a thick paste. When the paste is ready
poke the stuffing into the slits, previously made by scoring the
sea bass steaks
Heat the oil in a large stockpot and brown the onion. Add the
smoked fish, tomato paste and ¼ cup of the salted water.
When the onion has browned, place the sea bass in the pot
with the onion mixture and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the remaining water. Bring to the boil, cover and lower the
heat. Add the vegetables as follows: calabaza, sweet
cassava, turnips, cabbage, sweet potatoes, eggplants,
carrots, okra and habanero chili. Remove and reserve the
habanero chili when the thiebou dienn is spicy enough to
taste.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Remove the sea bass steaks, keeping them whole, and place
them on a serving platter. Cover with a little of the cooking
liquid and keep warm.
Cook the thiebou dienn for a further 15 minutes, thereafter
removing the vegetables and arranging them on a platter.
Keep warm.
Reserve 2 cups of the liquid to make the sauces.
Bring the remaining liquid to the boil, add the rice, cover and
cook for 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice
is done.
While the rice is cooking, pulverize the habanero chili and add
it to 1 cup of the reserved liquid. Heat, stirring occasionally,
and place it in a sauce dish.
Heat the remaining cup of liquid and place in a separate sauce
dish.
When ready to serve, mound the rice on one platter and the
fish and vegetables on another. Alternatively, place the rice in
a deep dish, arrange the vegetables and fish on top, and eat
Senegalese-style with your right hand (only!) or with a large
spoon.
Add, whichever sauce you prefer, the one with or without the
habanero chili according to your taste.
You and your guests or family will undoubtedly find this
Senegalese Rice and Fish Stew well worth the trouble taken in
it's preparation. Apart from using canned tomato paste, the
recipe is the same as that which would have been taken to
America and the Caribbean by slaves transported from
Senegal, one of the areas, heavily raided by slave traders©© |
This recipe for SENEGALESE RICE AND FISH STEW is from